The Wide Window (A Series of Unfortunate Events #3)
Author: Lemony Snicket
Published: 2000
On Goodreads
My Rating: 
Rated F for overwhelming fear that leads to terrible guardianship.
If you are interested in reading a story filled with thrillingly good times, I am sorry to inform you that you are most certainly reading the wrong book, because the Baudelaires experience very few good times over the course of their gloomy and miserable lives.
The Baudelaires: Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are sent to live with their Aunt Josephine in Lake Lachrymose. I wish I could tell you that this was the end of their strife, which here means trouble or conflict, but, sadly, it is not. A hurricane is moving in and Count Olaf, in a new disguise, has devised a deadly plan to get to their fortune, his villainy reaching darker depths. However, I urge you to set this story aside because it is indeed abysmal with no happy ending in sight. Containing deadly leaches, cold soup, a terrifying lake voyage and a library with nothing but books on grammar, are you sure you want to read it?
A Series of Unfortunate Events is 1 of 3 books series I am rereading this year as a part of my New Year’s Resolution. This is book 3 of 13.
ASOUE Reviews
This installation to the ASOUE series went in an entirely different direction than the first and second books did. Right off the get-go the Baudelaire’s are thrown into a dismal situation full of fears in a place that basically screams: DON’T LIVE HERE! It almost cages them in, leaving them feeling like they may never feel safe. And how could we forget the evil villain, Count Olaf or the unhelpful and rather useless Mr. Poe?
Lake Lachrymose is one place I would NEVER live. Like ever. Killer leeches. Cold and wet weather. A house not on a cliff but over it. No thank you! However, it was a very intriguing place. The Baudelaire’s actually arrive on Damocles Dock AKA a spot telling them this place leads to nothing but peril. And the dining options certainly made me shudder. The Anxious Clown. Who would go there!? I don’t know if you know this about me but I hate clowns. They creep me the feck out. This place is just abysmal! Which is the point and so well done. So of course, this book certainly didn’t lead to any happy endings.
Count Olaf got it easy this time. He truly stepped up his disguise game by dressing up as a boat captain with a peg leg, but his name does kind of give him away: Captain Sham *snort*.
Poor Aunt Josephine is so filled with fear that she basically has panophobia. She is afraid of just about everything! It’s pretty crazy and sad because that makes her such a horrible guardian for the Baudelaires. However, this does put into perspective that not everyone is meant to be a parent. Sad but true. And Aunt Josephine gave it her best shot but she just couldn’t get past her fears to help them. She caved under them like her house did in the hurricane. And Count Olaf was so close that the Baudelaires risked killing themselves so as not to end up in his hands.
Overall
This book definitely proved that the light for the Baudelaires is only getting dimmer and the times will only get darker for them. That, and that the adults seriously have holes in their brains for not listening to them. Seriously though, Mr. Poe is the worst. This was a beautiful read about confronting, and sometimes not winning, over your fears. Snicket’s breaking of the fourth wall still leaves me even more engorged in the series, like I’m there seeing it with my own eyes. What a way to engage!
Quotables:
“Just because something is typed—whether it is typed on a business card or typed in a newspaper or book—this does not mean that it is true.” (p. 57)
“Tears are curious things, for like earthquakes or puppet shows they can occur at any time, without any warning and without any good reason.” (p. 79)
“To have each other in the midst of their unfortunate live felt like having a sailboat in the middle of a hurricane, and to the Baudelaire orphans this felt very fortunate indeed.” (p. 214)
More to come soon…
-K.
P.S. Song today? Breathe In Breathe Out by Matt Kearney
Find Me:
Thoughts? Let’s chat in the comments below!
The Scarlet Reader 
Leave a Reply