The Wide Window
by Lemony Snicket
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A Series of Unfortunate Events 3: The Wide Window / 9780061757150
I came to this series after already watching the tie-in movie "Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events". I had been fairly certain I would like the series for its dark humor, and the first and second books in the series most certainly did not disappoint, so I was not too surprised when I also loved "The Wide Window".
Like the rest of the novels in this series, this book is very slender and can be whipped through in a few short hours - if it has any drawbacks at all, it would perhaps be the price-to-page ratio. However, the story is engaging and well-told and it's impossible to not be drawn into the drama of the Baudelaire orphans as they struggle to survive in the home of their cowardly Aunt Josephine over the bitterly cold Lake Lachrymose. Having already seen the movie, it was easy to imagine Meryl Streep's eccentric rendition of Aunt Josephine within the text, and the book is a delight for the extra flavor details that occur here but had to be left out of the film.
A note about the audiobook edition of this book: unlike the previous two books, which were narrated by Tim Curry, this installment of the series is narrated by "Lemony Snicket" (who in this case I assume is the author, Handler). The narration is adequate, but seems somehow pale in comparison to Curry's rich undercurrents. The overall narration is still good, and worth a listen, but if you're working your way through all the audiobooks, be prepared for the change in narrators.
~ Ana Mardoll
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2 comments:
I'm often mildly disturbed when a narrator switches mid-series. (Especially away from Tim Curry! Nooo!) It's like having new actors show up in the soap opera, playing old characters. It happens, but it's really disconcerting. Unfortunately, I have to watch the $/hrs of entertainment budget pretty closely, and these aren't at my local library yet, so I'll have to hold off. *shakes fist at budget cuts*
@Dav,
I *think* the Free Library of Philadelphia has them for rental, and I have a post here about how to join them: http://www.anamardoll.com/2011/04/ereader-free-library-of-philadelphia.html
Definitely worth the very small yearly fee if you enjoy library books / audio books. :)
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