Rating: 4 stars
“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.”
Dear Reader,
Onto the fourth unfortunate installment we go.
This time, the Baudelaire children end up at a lumber mill, where they are forced to work if they want to live there. The question is do they even want to live there? I’m sure by now they want to settle in once place where they can actually take time to grieve their late parents.
This time around, COunt Olaf disguises himself as a receptionist who goes by the name of Shirley, and even the most blind eyes can asily see that this is in fact a disguised Count Olaf. It becomes somewhat infuriating that nobody else sees what the children are telling them.
I’d say that the children are treated the worst in this book as they are forced to do manual labour to earn their place at the mill, where I assume they don’t really want to be at to begin with, but they don’t really have a choice to argue, do they?
I think these books could give off horror vibes if you thought about it for long enough, but the fact that they are aimed at middle grade kids kind of contradicts my idea. Who says they can’t have horror aspects and still be aimed at kids.
I went into this book blind as I’ve seen the movie a whole load of times, and it only covers the first three books, so reading this without any other influence was amazing, as I never knew what was around the corner.
With all due respect,
Jade Evans
Tea Stains and Book Spines 