As far as characters go, Sunny is still my favorite of them all. She is speaking clearer now, still in very few words but usually identifiable ones. She seems to be growing up fast I am very curious if she’ll grow some more teeth in the near future :P (right now she only has four). Also, Lemony Snicket himself is weaving more and more of his own story in the book: so far we know that he was (is?) very much in love with Beatrice (this particular book is dedicated to her by the way); she married someone else and then she died of unknown reasons — presumably something having to do with Esme Squalor (the mystery deepens). I am wondering if Beatrice is by any chance the mother of the three Baudelaire kids, hee hee, as she sort of fulfills all the conditions (she was married to someone else than the author, she knew Esme Squalor, she died). An interesting character in this book (albeit one with a very short presence in it) was Babs — the Head of Human Resources at the hospital, whose firm belief is that children should be seen not heard and adults should be heard and not seen (which is why no one has ever seen her, she communicates to people via intercom) :)

The author’s warning to the reader in this book (as you have probably noticed by now I sort of collect them) is:

But there is another reason why a writer would end a sentence with “stop” written entirely in capital letters, and that is to warn readers that the book they are reading is so utterly wretched that if they have begun reading it, the best thing to do would be to stop STOP. This particular book, for instance, describes an especially unhappy time in the dreadful lives of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, and if you have any sense at all you will shut this book immediately, drag it up a tall mountain, and throw it off the very top STOP.

I find it fascinating how he says the very same thing at the beginning of each book, and yet in very different ways and words :)

Speaking of the author I was amused to notice some of the names he chose to give the hospital patients: we have an Emma Bovary, and also a Mikhail Bulgakov and a Haruki Murakami :)

What I liked most: It is interesting to note how, with every book I get more and more curious about what happens next and how on earth will the series end. Surprisingly enough I am not in the least bit bored with the series although this in no less than the 8th book! :)

What I liked least: Nothing, hee hee :) Of course I have my doubts about Sunny being taken for a grown-up woman (and Klaus too) but oh well, everything is possible in this kind of books :P

Recommend it to? Anyone who liked the previous books, of course (while the first few books were sort of stand-alone, sharing only their characters, the latest few are connected and at least the previous one is needed in order for this one to be properly understood and enjoyed).

This book is a sequel to:
The Bad Beginning
The Reptile Room
The Wide Window
The Miserable Mill
The Austere Academy
The Ersatz Elevator
The Vile Village

This book is followed by:
The Carnivorous Carnival
The Slippery Slope
The Grim Grotto
The Penultimate Peril
The End

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