Going from print to screen, I wonder how the movie will turn
out....
For those of you who havent read them yet, these books are amazing.
As a big fan of quality children's writing, I was completely
engrossed in these books. Each narrative is strong, compelling, and
unique. The author retains his structure while not allowing the
plots to get too formulatic and boring. While you can see by the
end of book 2 that a pattern is emerging (that is all I'll say
here) -- and the fact that the series continues -- it seems to me
that this helps the reader know that somehow the children will
survive whatever ordeal they find themselves in, which is a great
device. It alleviates our anxiety, and more importantly, a child's
anxiety, that real harm might come to the kids, while letting us
relax enough to enjoy the story as it unfolds.
I once read an essay by Maurice Sendac in which he described how
hard it was to get published. The common thinking was that you
can't wirte about things that scare children, like death. These
dark fears are tabboo. He argued that children do think about such
things, and that writing about them in a careful way respects
children and their real concerns and provides them with a place to
air their deepest fears. The success of his books, I believe, is in
large part due to his respect for children.
These books, I believe, provide the same sort of thing, though they
are much funnier than Sendac. The children are so bright and clever
that they are wonderful heros. The grownups never seem to listen to
them or realize that these are really insightful and intelligent
people. I suppose this might be interpreted by some parents as
undermining adult authority, but the writing is so good and the
characters so ridiculous that bright kids would not see them as
actual representations of real adults. This is very much along the
lines of Roald Dahl, who is known for his horrible grownups who
treat children as foolish little no-nothings. Children are much
more insightful than many adults give them credit for, and bright
kids love reading stories in which they can be the smart heros,
solving the mysteries and beating the villain. This has been such a
standard plot device for so long that I needn't list how many
classic books have used it successfully. Just a few are the Nancy
Drew and Hardy Boys series, Matilda (and many of Dahl's books),
Treasure Island, The wonderful Tintin series, of course harry
Potter, etc., etc.). Kids love being the heros, and, like Harry
Potter and many of these others, the key is in making the children
heros, while allowing them to be terribly afraid while scary things
are happening to them. Without this fear they feel, the stories
would, of ocurse, be flat and stale and not ring true.
If Snicket didn't apply the assorted techniques to prepare his
readers, I might feel otherwise, but I would have LOVED these books
as a kid.. Finally, one must read things as they are intended. Many
of Grimm's Fairy Tales are very scary and violent, but alas, they
are fairy tales. These books are contempory fairy tales. Being made
into a movie, they should have been made by Tim Burton (Edward
Scissorhands, Batman, The Nightmare Before Christmas, etc.) who is
one of the few people who could give them that air of unreality
which would make them so thrilling and fun, without terrifying
children and scaring them for life.
These are fantastic books which I highly recommend buying for the
children in your life -- those who are old and bright enough to
appreciate them as they are intended. Before you give them away as
a gift, though, do sit down for a couple hours one stormy evening,
make some tea, turn off the blasted television, and enjoy (at least
the first of) these highly entertaining books.
The first 3 of the Lemony Snicket books have been adapted to
screen...and the trailers look good enough!!! very close to what my
imagination came up with when I read the books.
Starring Jude Law as Lemony Snicket, Kim Carrey as Count Olaf and
Merryl Streep as Aunt Josephine and showing soon at a cinema near
you!
There are a total of 11 books in the series....the first three were
adapted for the movie...
1) The Bad Beginning
2) The Reptile Room
3) The Wide Window
For more info on Lemony Snicket, visit his official site :
www.lemonysnicket.com
Highly recommended.....go buy the books!!!
