In the second book of this series,
the Baudelaire children must again endure terrible misfortune. In psychological terms, the obvious message
is that it is possible to survive disaster, even if everything does not end
happily ever after. What’s more, these
stories in A Series of Unfortunate Events put emphasis on the children’s
ability to use their own skills to sort out their problems, without someone
else coming to rescue them.

I found The
Reptile Room a little less gripping than the first book in the series,
because it seems to be an exercise in frustration. The children this time are sent to live with a wonderfully
eccentric relative who is an expert in reptiles, although the narrator makes
clear from the start that they will not be able to stay with him forever,
because he will die. There’s little
doubt that the fiendish Count Olaf will be involved again. After the first book introduced us to a wide
range of new characters, it seems that for the most part, readers will now have
to content themselves with less novelty, and will have to get used to the same
people cropping up in different places again and again. In this book, the children plan to go on a
trip abroad, which at first seems that it will take them towards safety, but
then it becomes clear that if they go abroad they will be in awful danger, and
so they have to make sure they do not go away. They keep on trying to tell adults what the problem is – Mr. Poe again
is responsible for them – but it seems that the adults refuse to pay
attention.

The
children show remarkable perseverance in the face of these difficulties. This is all the more remarkable because the
children are still keenly feeling the loss of their parents. It is painfully clear that they cannot
completely rely on anyone to look after them; even the adults who are
good-hearted have their limitations, and cannot foresee all the dangers posed
by Count Olaf.

As in the first book, this has the
wonderful feature that child readers, and possibly even adult readers, will
learn many new words and phrases, including the nature of “dramatic irony,” –
the narrator Lemony Snicket takes great care to explain them. As with the previous book, the inventive and
articulate use of language makes this author stand out from the crowd.

The audiobook
is read by Tim Curry, who again does a fabulous job. There is a brief appearance by Stephen Merritt, of the New York
band The Magnetic Fields, this time appearing under the “Gothic Archies,”
performing a short song, “In the Reptile Room.” It may not be the part of the tape that appeals to most children,
but for me, it was the highlight of the whole listening experience.

Links:

Real Audio
Except from The Reptile Room

Review of The Bad
Beginning.

Lemony Snicket
web site

© 2002 Christian Perring. First Serial Rights.

Christian Perring,
Ph.D., is Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College,
Long Island. He is editor of Metapsychology Online Review.
His main research is on philosophical issues in psychiatry.
He is especially interested in exploring how philosophers can
play a greater role in public life, and he is keen to help foster
communication between philosophers, mental health professionals,
and the general public.

Categories: Fiction