#daniel handler

if you answer “no” to these questions you’re doing a lot better than Lemony Snicket

Are you currently hanging off the outside of a moving train?

Are you retelling the story of your ex girlfriend’s three children being chased by a really misunderstood theater kid who also happened to be your best childhood friend and your sister’s lover?

Are you currently on the lamb?

A Series of Unfortunate Events is masterful.

It pulls from all worlds of knowledge, all variations of literature, religions, philosophies, cultures, even cuisine. It’s not just a fictional story of a secret organization and some orphans, it’s a metaphor for censorship, for the corruption of the justice system, the neglect of the foster system, the questionable nature of public education, but the equally complex nature of sheltering yourself from harsh truths, even if those truths could also help you.

The morality of the neutrality of librarians (a phrase which here means, “whether or not a librarian should give a patron whatever they ask for, even if what they want is misinformation”). The endless search for answers in a confusing world. The rather bleak understanding that every generation basically acts the same way as the previous ones, unaware of the neverending cycle. If there are really such things as “good” and “bad” people. And the eventuality and unavoidability of death.

And Snicket, as the reader’s guide, never tells you what to think, only what certain terms mean, and leaves the reader to come to their own conclusions. He trusts our own intelligence.

I cannot properly convey how much I appreciate Daniel Handler for putting this series into the world.

"I will love you as misfortune loves orphans, as fire loves innocence, and as justice loves to sit and watch while everything goes wrong."