Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events, as some

Are you my ex-girlfriend

>>8992318
I think the whole point was to leave questions - the series was very deliberately different from other childrens' books, so it makes sense that he would give you a message of "life is often complicated and unsettling with no clear answers" rather than the usual "and they all lived happily ever after".

>>8992327
I don't know, maybe? did you have a 1/2 inch dick and always leave me unsatisfied in all regards of life???

>>8992350
I mean yeah, that was the point and I appreciate the concept and like the books the way they are, I was just wondering if other people had ever heard or came up with theories regarding the many unanswered questions

I read it as a kid and even then thought it was pretty empty.

I'm watching the Netflix series and imagine that Klaus and Violet have a secret incestuous relationship and that's why they always exchange those awkward, long stares.
Only way I can bear to sit through it with my boyfriend who unironically enjoys it

File: 1447887381530.jpg (7KB, 231x218px) Image search: [Google]

7KB, 231x218px

>>8992366
>did you have a 1/2 inch dick and always leave me unsatisfied in all regards of life???

Oh god it is you isn't it

I remember really enjoying the first few books as a kid but as the overarching plot became the main focus and got more and more contrived I lost interest heavily. I don't think I even read the last couple.

>>8992834
Same here. Something about a fire department or other. I particularly remember the Austere Academy because of how bizarre and anime it was

File: timetodie.gif (502KB, 500x223px) Image search: [Google]

502KB, 500x223px

>no idea what this is
>everyone's favorite childhood book series
>look it up
>first book 1999
>already in college
>oh

>>8992834
Pleb
>>8993473
Nigger get off 4chan shouldn't you have a family and shit

>>8992820
Your boyfriend is very gay.

>>8992327
I am going to fuck your ex

>>8993473
Dude i recommend reading it anyway, it goes much deeper than most give it credit for

>>8994590
No it doesn't. Life is short. Read a book written for adults.

>>8993637
Once you're here you never leave. Oh sure you think you will. You tell yourself that your life will be sorted out by a certain age. But the fact that you are here at all shows you fucked up somehow.

>>8994608
I came here to drink whiskey and feel feels, and I'm all outta whiskey.

>>8994594
Listen here, the socioeconomic conditions of that world are completely diffrent than our own; and unlike other children's books that can go on end to explain in no short detail all the differences Lemony just drops the reader in and leaves it at that.

>>8994623
Not that he dosent explain it, but he doesn't throw it in the reader's face, he leaves clues in the nature of how things in the world operate and how characters interact with each other.

I didn't realize it was a series. I read the one where their house blows up and their parents die and at the end they attack some sort of house and someone lets a basket down by a rope or something. Can't remember what else happened.

>>8994623
>>8994640
>tfw you filled in the gaps of a children's story so it felt like less a waste of time

Why don't you just write your own book then?

>>8992366
Don't use this to try and shit on your exes. It makes you look bad.

Just say you're looking for more out of a relationship or something.

>>8994656
>didn't realize it was a series
>A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
>1
>THE BAD BEGINNING

>>8994623
Care to elaborate?
I mean, I think I know what you mean it's seemingly a collection of autonomous city-states but I'd like to hear you expound.

>>8994715
I started this thread to hear other people's theories as I am not as analytical as I'd like to be. That being said, to me the world appears to be a libertarian paradise with almost no regulation on buissness or personal lives. We can see this in the way buissness is handled throughout the series. Mr. Poe, on behalf of the bank, is given absolute power over the fostering of the children in the settleing of the Baudelaire will and is also tasked with maintaining a watch on them to ensure that they remain in good health. Not that he is good at his job but those are his assigned tasks from his own mouth. Its not implausible that a banker would act as executor of a will but the fact that he does all this with absolutely zero government supervision. Another example is the lucky smells lumber mill, I'm not an expert in unions or work safety but in pretty sure if you filled your taxes (provided people in this world pay any) and claim almost nothing in workers pay but incredible profits if there was any regulation someone with authority would have visited that worksite and again if either the first one never returned or was hypnotized and nothing changed. I doubt all of them would take the free eye exam

>>8994771
Im doing a poor job of explaining myself but im on mobile and at college so please forgive me

>>8994771
>>8994775
No, that's right.
>mfw Lemony Snicket is a Democrat tract
V-Violet would still be fash with me, r-right?

I think the most interesting thing about it is that Lemony Snicket played on some Magnetic Fields songs in real life

>>8994775
Id like to go more in depth, specifically with their soicial climate and technology, but im better at talking to someone than sorting out my own thoughts and short on time at the moment

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/10/postmodernism-for-kids/381739/
Patrician series

OP here, on break from class i see nothing has really taken place since i left.

>>8992318
Honestly, there's a lot more answers than you would remember. I reread it in anticipation of the series and I picked up on a ton more at least in terms of what VFD is, where the Sugar Bowl ended up, why Olaf wanted it, etc. There's no hard answers, but you can understand in general.

>>8996097
Could i get you to elaborate?

>>8996133
Well, VFD stands for Volunteer Fire Department, Lemony namedrops it at last in the last chapter of The End. However, I think the "fires" are much more symbolic of preserving knowledge, ie: saving books from a fire. At one point in The Penultimate Peril I believe, Snicket says something about walking into a library and saying "the world is quiet here", which is VFD's slogan. There's also the literary puzzles they have to solve to get into VFD headquarters. It also fits with the nature of repeated literary references in the text. VFD is an organization dedicated to preserving art

The sugar bowl ends up with Lemony in The Penultimate Peril, he is the taxi driver that offers the Baudelaires a ride late in the book and the decline and take the boat away from the burning hotel with Olaf.

The sugar bowl contains evidence for some sort of crime, probably the Baudelaire parents killing Olaf's parents. Although Esme is involved too, she wanted the sugar bowl more than Olaf did, in book 10. Honestly this one I'm not certain on, but there's certainly implications that it contains evidence

>>8996267
You are the one person who has brought me a theory, thank you. The resulting Google search follow up has been most rewarding

>>8994783
Of course dear anon, of course

>>8996716
Thank you.

>>8994709
Kek

I remember thinking that these books are much better than most children focused literature.

I would actually let my kids read this as opposed to Harry Potter, The Hunger Games or Twilight.

>>8994890
I think he's using the indifference of the social structures to illustrate what I think the key theme of the series is. Namely I believe that these books are about self reliance and trying to deal with an indifferent and unkind world.

All much better themes than nearly any other YA lit.

>>8997441
I agree the themes it goes into and it's handling of them is fantastic for its target demographic

was walking past penn the other day and saw it lit up on one of the adverts

this was my series as a child. never got into harry potter like the rest of my class

books kinda sucked after book 9 or 10 or something and i think i quit around then. idk how many books there are

probably wont watch the series even though i really liked it as a kid...time to move forward yeah?

>>8996267
man i really gotta read this series again
also, the hardcover books were beautiful, from the design to the artwork, and each different snicket devotional to beatrice in the beginning of each book
really created a captivating universe

>>8998083
You should. I have no regrets. It was incredibly comfy and nostalgic, I picked up on a ton more of the literary references, and it only took a bit over a week.

Has anyone in this thread read All The Wrong Questions, the prequel series to this? I read the first book right when it came out but I didn't really enjoy it that much so I never got the second one.

>>8998165
ATWQ isn't as good as the ASOUE, but there's a few worthwhile bits of lore, and the characters are fun.

Seth's no Brett Helquist as well. He's good, it just isn't the same.

>>8994833
wow. never heard that before. what a weird connection.