Triskaidekaphobia

Kevin Coolidge

Dear Reader,

If you have just started reading this column, it’s not too late to stop. You can slowly put the paper down, and walk away. Nobody in their right mind would want to read about the horrible and dismal words or woe that are sure to follow. I implore you to find something more pleasant to read like the obituaries….

If you are still reading, you may know an author named Lemony Snicket . Lemony Snicket is the pseudonym novelist Daniel Handler uses for his series of darkly comic children's books known as A Series of Unfortunate Events-The book series will be 13 novels when completed. The 13th and final book, The End- is scheduled for release on Friday October 13th, 2006. The books follow the hard luck of the Baudelaire orphans, Violet, Klaus and Sunny. Snicket narrates their piteous adventures and misfortunes at the hands of evil Count Olaf, a master of disguises and truly bad thespian(that’s a fancy way of saying actor). The first book in the series, The Bad Beginning, was published in 1999. As of September 2006, twelve books have been published (with titles such as The Horrible Hospital and The Carnivorous Carnival), and a feature film has been released which encompasses the first three books. Daniel Handler, a resident of San Francisco, has been favorably compared to Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, and has also published novels for older teens and adults, including The Basic Eight (1999) and Watch Your Mouth (2000).

Much is made of the unhappy nature of the story. The book's back-cover warns the reader of the dreadful things described within each volume and respectfully suggests reading something else instead. Each volume begins with a dedication to the memory of Lemony Snicket's beloved Beatrice(from The Bad Beginning: "To Beatrice - darling, dearest, dead."). While the books are marketed primarily to children, they are also written with adult readers in mind-the series features many references likely to make sense only to adults.
The books can be classified as absurdist fiction( a genre of fiction that centers on the behavior of absurd characters, subjects or situations) due to the eccentric characters, quirky writing style and generally improbable storylines.At the end of each book, there is also a letter to Snicket's editor, instructing him on how to find the next book. Each of the Series of Unfortunate picks up from the last, finding the three orphans in some new situation, typically not of their making. The locale of each book's critical events is identified in the book's title.
Lemony Snicket narrates with respectful, subtle humor. Despite the general absurdity of the storylines, Lemony Snicket continuously maintains the story is true and that it is his "solemn duty" to record it. I find that they books are a great way to introduce new vocabulary words to the young reader, and that the author encourages the use and love of books. In every book the Baudelaires encounter and/or use a library of some sort and the orphans use their research to save themselves from various tragic events. All of the books in the series have thirteen chapters, and thirteen is considered an unlucky number by many (triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number thirteen) but me? I’m looking forward to Oct. 13th, and The End….