Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket is a pen-name for the American author Daniel Handler, who will always be one of my favorite writers. He wrote many children books under the name Snicket including "A Series of Unfortunate Events", where he also serves as the narrator. The name may refer to Handler or the fictional character in the books, which causes confusion among readers. In his works, in the section "about the author" he writes: "Lemony Snicket was born before you were and is likely to die before you as well. He was born in a small town where the inhabitants were suspicious and prone to riot. He grew up near the sea and currently lives beneath it. Until recently, he was living somewhere else."

Snicket has a humorous and witty style. He has a habit of interrupting the narration to share his thoughts with the readers.  For instance, he starts each book by warning the reader that these series are miserable and never have a happy ending and. He disrupts the narration to make up a happy ending right before the last chapters and advises his readers to just go with that ending and burn the book! He always provides a shockingly hilarious example to make his point clear. For instance: "Taking one's chances is like taking a bath, because sometimes you end up feeling comfortable and warm, and sometimes there is something terrible lurking around that you cannot see until it is too late and you can do nothing else but scream and cling to a plastic duck." Another thing is he always explains the difficult vocabulary he uses so that you wouldn't need to look something up when you read his works.  As the case of the word "composer", he says: "Composer" is a word which here means "a person who sits in a room, muttering and humming and figuring out what notes the orchestra is going to play." This is called composing. But last night, the Composer was not muttering. He was not humming. He was not moving, or even breathing. This is called decomposing." He also likes to make his readers experience some of the things the characters go through.  He expresses that in this passage: "The book was long, and difficult to read, and Klaus became more and more tired as the night wore on. Occasionally his eyes would close. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over."

He has a very dark and gloomy view of life and he sees the world as a cynical place. He repeatedly expresses it and says things like: "perhaps if we saw what was ahead of us and glimpsed the crimes, follies, and misfortunes that would befall us later on, we would all stay in our mother's wombs, and then there would be nobody in the world but a great number of very fat, very irritated women." Snicket's paranoia and no trust to his surrounding also add to the feel of hopelessness he gives in his books. He often says thing like: “Strange as it may seem, I still hope for the best, even though the best, like an interesting piece of mail, so rarely arrives, and even when it does it can be lost so easily.” He dedicates all his books to Beatrice; his dead lover. He once wrote: “It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things.” He never takes a picture that shows his full face. He does that because he is afraid he might be tracked down by his pursuers!

Lemony Snicket's writing is so close to heart, that readers (such as me) are never bored of his books.  He makes readers feel like they know him on a personal level. He does that by adding the letters to his editor at the end of each book, which are hilarious! His constant concern for his readers is also very touching. He keeps warning them about the misery his books tell and sometimes he gives sound advice like, “If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, particularly if the thing is cats.” His charming timid character also plays a key factor. He often says very unexpected things like, “I suppose I'll have to add the force of gravity to my list of enemies.” Readers get so attached to him, that they forget he is a fictional character! Well you can't blame them, it is very confusing.

    Lemony Snicket will always have a special place in my heart. Everything from his writing style to his quirky character to his captivating language interests me as a reader. He writes in the last book of the series entitled "The End": "The end of The End is the best place to begin The End, because if you read The End from the beginning of the beginning of The End to read the end of the end of The End, you will arrive at the end."