The Miserable Mill: Book the Fourth (A Series of Unfortunate Events)

  

Lemony Snicket, Brett Helquist (Illustrator)

The world's unluckiest trio of children have their most perilous adventure yet in The Miserable Mill, the fourth book in Lemony Snicket's delightful tales of woe, A Series of Unfortunate Events. Orphans Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire have yet to find a guardian they can live with and, after the disasters that occurred during their last living arrangement, they are now headed for a lumber mill in the town of Paltryville (most of the names used in these tales are as revealing as they are entertaining), located just beyond the gloomy, black Finite Forest.

Another misadventure is virtually guaranteed when the children arrive at the mill and discover an eye-shaped building (the eye being Count Olaf's signature symbol) located right next door. Supposedly the building is an eye clinic, but the children have their doubts. Life with their newest caretaker doesn't look very promising either, as the children are forced to work in the mill and bunk in a dormitory with the other employees, all of whom are paid in coupons. Then Klaus breaks his glasses and has to visit the eye clinic. He doesn't return for hours -- and then when he does, he acts very strangely.

Violet begins to suspect that Klaus has been hypnotized and her investigation of the eye clinic reveals Count Olaf in his latest disguise. It's one the children can see through easily, though they can't seem to convince any of the adults around them that the eye clinic receptionist named Shirley is actually Count Olaf. Only by using their singular strengths -- Violet's knack for inventing, Klaus's book smarts, and Sunny's T-Rex-like bite -- can they escape their latest horrible fate.

While many of the events that occur on these pages are indeed bleak, miserable, and unfortunate, the indomitable spirits of the Baudelaire children and Lemony Snicket's gleeful telling of their tale makes reading them irresistible. As a side benefit, there's also a marvelous education in linguistics hidden amidst the mishaps.

Dear Reader,

I hope, for your sake, that you have not chosen to read this book because you are in the mood for a pleasant experience. If this is the case, I advise you to put this book down instantaneously, because of all the books describing the unhappy lives of the Baudelaire orphans, The Miserable Mill might be the unhappiest yet. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are sent to Paltryville to work in a lumber mill, and they find disaster and misfortune lurking behind every log.

The pages of this book, I'm sorry to inform you, contain such unpleasantries as a giant pincher machine, a bad casserole, a man with a cloud of smoke where his head should be, a hypnotist, a terrible accident resulting in injury, and coupons.

I have promised to write down the entire history of these three poor children, but you haven't, so if you prefer stories that are more heartwarming, please feel free to make another selection.

With all due respect,

Lemony Snicket

*

4번째 이야기..

읽을수록 숨이 막히더군요...

불쌍한 아이들....ㅠㅠ

Mrs. Rose's Garden

by Elaine Greenstein, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Children


Every year at the County Fair, someone else's vegetables are larger and Mrs. Rose goes home ribbonless. This year, she concocts a special mix that works wonders--her vegetables are so big that Mrs. Rose is sure she'll win all the blue ribbons. When gardening becomes more a chore than a pleasure, Mrs. Rose has an idea that will make all the contestants at the County Fair blue-ribbon winners. Full color.

When Mrs. Rose grows a prize crop of vegetables guaranteed to win all the blue ribbons at the County Fair, she is inspired to a generous act involving the gardens of her friends.

 

The Wide Window: Book the Third (A Series of Unfortunate Events)

by Lemony Snicket, Gothic Archies

Fortunately for young readers, Lemony Snicket has dedicated his life to informing readers of all the misfortunes that plagued the three Baudelaire orphans -- the unluckiest children to ever live. In The Wide Window, the third book in the series, the Baudelaire children are sent to stay with a distant aunt who lives on a cliff's edge overhanging the aptly named Lake Lachrymose, a foreboding body of water serviced by the Fickle Ferry and filled with sharp-toothed leeches who have deadly appetites.

Of course, the tale wouldn't be complete without the presence of the evilly scheming Count Olaf and one or more of his twisted sidekicks trying to get their hands on the children, or more accurately, on the children's fortune. Once again Olaf is in disguise, though the children recognize him immediately thanks to his unibrow and the bright, evil shine in his eyes. The tell-tale eye tattoo on his ankle seems to be missing, however, since Olaf's disguise this time is as a peg-legged sea captain.

The childrens' newest guardian, Aunt Josephine, is a master of phobias and an expert on grammar. She's frightened of tons of things -- some of them reasonable, such as the deadly leeches in Lachrymose Lake who took the life of her husband, and some of them not so reasonable, such as her fear of using the telephone. One thing she isn't afraid of, however, is correcting improper grammar. And as the Baudelaire children get several impromptu lessons on proper usage, so do readers. In fact, it's Josephine's obsession with language that helps the children uncover Count Olaf's latest scheme.

These stories require a hefty suspension of belief on occasion, but that's part of what makes them so much fun. Illustrator Brett Helquist adds to the pleasure by bringing the characters to life in drawings that often exhibit touches of the same wry humor found in the narrator's voice.

*

1~3 중에 3편이 가장 흥미로웠어요.

허리케인도 그렇고 거머리 이야기도 그렇고...

조세핀 숙모의 죽음은 몽티 삼촌의 죽음보다 덜 슬프더군요.

	거친 파도를 배경으로 왠지 보들레어가의 세남매의 인생도 순탄치 못하다는 생각이 드네요.
	조세핀 숙모를 만나기 위해 선박에서 기다리고 있는 세남매
	무시 무시한 바다 거머리들
	레모니 스니켓과 하퍼 콜린
	책 뒷편

 
(눈물 호수의 비밀)

The Reptile Room: Book the Second (A Series of Unfortunate Events)

  (파충류의 방)

by Lemony Snicket, Brett Helquist (Illustrator)

The three unluckiest children in the world and their greedy relative, Count Olaf, return for another misfortunate adventure in The Reptile Room, the second book in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. The Baudelaire children survived their first encounter with the dastardly and scheming Olaf, but the Count doesn't give up easily. Nor does the Baudelaire luck ever seem to improve.

At first it seems as if 14-year-old Violet, 12-year-old Klaus, and their baby sister, Sunny, have finally had a turn of good luck when they meet their newest guardian. Dr. Montgomery, or Uncle Monty as he prefers to be called, is a herpetologist. One whole room in his house is filled with snakes of all kinds, including some very deadly specimens. But despite his slithery interests, Uncle Monty is a fun-loving and generous caretaker who treats the Baudelaire orphans with love, respect, and kindness. But as anyone who's read the first book in this series knows, good fortune won't stay long with the Baudelaires. For starters Count Olaf returns, disguised in a manner that doesn't fool the kids for a minute -- though they can't seem to convince any adults. Then Uncle Monty dies (supposedly after being bitten by one of his highly poisonous snakes) although the kids are convinced he was murdered by Olaf. And of course, Olaf and his sideshow cronies have dreamed up yet another plan to get their hands on the Baudelaire fortune.

The plot has holes big enough to drive a truck through and more than a few contrivances come into play. Nonetheless, there is something irresistibly alluring about all the bad luck and mayhem that befalls these fast-thinking children, who use their inventiveness, book smarts, and bite-ability to survive. Equally engaging is the mysterious narrator, Snicket, who taunts, tempts, and teases his way through the tale, revealing intriguing snippets of his own life and providing an ongoing lesson in the nuances of language.

*

이야기가 점점 흥미로워 책에서 눈을 뗄수가 없었어요.

몽티 삼촌의 죽음은 무척 슬프네요..

	마치 무시무시한 뱀이 써니를 잡아 먹을듯 보이지만, 실상은 뱀과 써니는 놀고 있는 중이랍니다.^^
	파충류 학자 답게 몽티 삼촌의 정원에서 뱀의 형상이 빠지면 섭섭하지요.
	뱀 목줄
	작가인 레모니 스니켓과 일러스트작가인 하퍼 콜린즈
	책뒷편

The Bad Beginning: Book the First (A Series of Unfortunate Events)

   (눈동자의 집)

by Lemony Snicket, Brett Helquist (Illustrator)

The Bad Beginning is actually a great beginning. It's the first book in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, a wonderfully different and disastrous children's story starring three highly unlucky siblings. In this first book, readers are introduced to the unfortunate Baudelaire children -- 14-year-old Violet, 12-year-old Klaus, and their infant sister, Sunny -- when they learn they've just been orphaned by a terrible house fire.

The executor of the Baudelaire estate -- a phlegm-plagued banker named Mr. Poe -- sends the children to live with a distant relative: a conniving and dastardly villain named Count Olaf, who has designs on the Baudelaire fortune. Count Olaf uses the children as slave labor, provides horrid accommodations for them, and makes them cook huge meals for him and his acting troupe, a bunch of odd-looking, renegade good-for-nothings. When the children are commandeered to appear in Count Olaf's new play, they grow suspicious and soon learn that the play is not the innocent performance it seems but rather a scheme cooked up by Olaf to help him gain control of the children's millions.

All this bad luck does provide for both great fun and great learning opportunities, however. Violet is a budding McGyver whose inventions help the children in their quest, Klaus possesses a great deal of book smarts, and Sunny -- whose only real ability is an incredibly strong bite -- provides moral support and frequent comedy relief. Then there are the many amusing word definitions, colloquialisms, clichés, hackneyed phrases, and other snippets of language provided by the narrator (a character in his own right) that can't help but expand readers' vocabularies. Though the Baudelaire children suffer myriad hardships and setbacks, in the end they do manage to outsmart and expose Olaf's devious ways. But of course, with luck like theirs, it's a given that Olaf will escape and return to torment them again some day. If only misery was always this much fun.

*

영화 때문에 선택한 책인데, 재미있었어요.

한국은 5권만 출판된걸로 아는데, 여기는 벌써 10권까지 있더군요.

10편까지 있다니...

보들레어 가의 아이들이 불쌍하다는 생각이 드는군요.

	올라프와 보들레어 세 남매가 만나는 장면으로 첫 표지를장식했네요.
	불이 난 보들레어가의 집에 불끄러 온 소방관 아저씨들
	폐허가 된 집
	레모니 스니켓의 옆선과 일러스트가인 하퍼 콜린의 그림
	책 뒷표지