Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Vile Village - Lemony Snicket

The Vile Village
By: Lemony Snicket
Published: 2001
Audiobook Read by: Tim Curry
My rating: Delightful








Rule # 72,319 clearly states: "No orphan with the name of Baudelaire may have anything good happen to them."

It's a good thing the Baudelaires are experiencing so many unfortunate events because the penalty for breaking the rules in the Village of Foul Devotees (VFD for short) is burning at the stake! Of course with so many rules to follow it is a given that eventually they will break one of them, so burning at the stake is virtually inevitable! The children find themselves in this distasteful village through a new government program for orphans that follows the motto: "It takes a village to raise a child." Unfortunately, VFD has a different definition for "raising a child" and Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are subjected to yet another round of misery! Of course this misery includes Count Olaf in his most ridiculous disguise yet as well as having to do a lot of chores. The only bright spots in this new experience are their new friend, the town handyman, Hector, and the discovery that the Quagmire triplets are right there in VFD waiting to be rescued! I think we all know by now that nothing will go right for children but we also know that nothing will stop them from trying!!

This was another fun book for us filled with all kinds of interesting albeit improbable events. I love the imagination that went into this series. I have to laugh at the completely far-fetched ideas the children come up with that in real life wouldn't even come close to working but for them succeed perfectly! There should be a warning on these books that says, "Do not try these things at home, they WON'T work!!" Don't get me wrong, I love the craziness in these stories, that is why I keep listening to them!! :)

We listened to the audiobook read by Tim Curry. What can I say that I haven't already said? Tim is the absolute perfect choice for these books! We love him!!

Overall, this 7th book was just as good as the rest. I have been impressed by the consistent quality of the series and am looking forward to the rest of them!!

16 comments:

  1. You are so faithful to read all of the books. I'm glad you are having so much fun with them.

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  2. I am enjoying them quite a bit but I must confess I was thinking about suggesting we get a couple of different books to give us a break. I'm not sure how the kids will feel about it though! :)

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  3. I haven't read this one, but I do enjoy me some Lemony Snicket, think I might just have to look into this one

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  4. I must confess I haven't read past the second one yet but I really like this series.

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  5. I couldnt get into the series. I kept getting the imagery garbled in my head, and then I'd stop reading, and lose the book for a month or two, followed by then losing the plot, so... ugh. I stopped trying to read them. I might give them another shot since your review is so intriguing.

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  6. hmm,, sounds so great.. where could i read this book,,?

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  7. I must admit that I love listening to Tim Curry's reading of these books...The Ersatz Elevator is a great one. The way he says, "So IN" makes me laugh every time.

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  8. visiting from "a peek into karen's world" now following


    http://becca-mycrazystuff.blogspot.com/

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  9. Stopping by from Karen's blog! Congrats on being featured as her Blog of the Week!!

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  10. Thank you for reading this book and sharing it with us. I'm stopping by from Karen's blog as I've just followed her. I think I already follow you, but I'll check before I leave - maybe just Writing Nut.

    Denise<3

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  11. I've heard a lot of good things about these books. What age do you feel they are appropriate for, because I'm looking for more books to read to my children.

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  12. Baygirl, Snicket certainly has one of the most unique and imaginative styles I have ever seen! I have very much enjoyed these books, especially since I am listening to them with my kids! Thanks for dropping in!

    Junebug, thank you for stopping by! I have heard from a lot of people that they didn't read the whole series and I can understand why. They are pretty repetitive and if I wasn't listening to audiobooks of them I probably wouldn't make it through either. But they certainly are lots of fun! :)

    Paula, I agree the world of these books is completely bizarre despite being written to sound normal! I think that's part of the fun for me and the kids, we love laughing at the craziness of it all! Thanks so much for stopping by!

    Yaheu, I'd say the best place to read these books would be hiding in a creepy old attic under a blanket with a flashlight! :) Thanks for stopping by!

    Teachinfourth, we love Tim Curry! The three books that the author narrated were much less entertaining! It is absolutely amazing what Tim can do with the voices in these books! :) And he does such a marvelously evil sounding villain! Thank you so much for visiting me!

    Becca, Thanks for stopping by and for following! I love getting new followers! I'll be over to visit you very soon! :)

    Roberta, thank you for dropping in! I was so surprised and excited when Karen featured me, it was such an honor! :)

    Denise, thank you for stopping by and for following! I'm glad you found Karen, she's ton's of fun and I'm sure you'll enjoy following her! I'll be around to your place for a visit very soon! Maybe I'll bring some cookies! :)

    Katherine, my kids are 10 and 12 and they absolutely love them! I would think your oldest would enjoy them but his little brother probably wouldn't follow them very well. Despite being about very unfortunate situations and tragedies, they are not disturbing at all. They also have a kind of educational element because any time there is a word or phrase used that is slightly out of the ordinary, it is defined, sometimes in an odd way, but most of the time it's pretty accurate. I've even learned a couple of new words myself! :) I'd say get the first one and give it a try, you can always wait a while before you read the next one! :) Thanks so much for your visit!

    Once again, a big THANK YOU to all of you who have stopped by and left comments! That's what makes blogging so much fun! :) I'll be dropping in on you all very soon! :)

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  13. I read the first half of the series, and i liked it--but they do really stress me out--a little bit.

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  14. Emilia, they really are a bit depressing aren't they? I just try to laugh at the absurdness of it all! :) Thanks for stopping by! :)

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  15. Oh the Lemony Snicket books are so enjoyable even though it's depressing what those poor children go through. I remember I bought the first couple for my little brother ages ago and then we went to see the movie. I love how they use their smarts to outwit the no-good adults.

    P.S. I'm visiting from Karen's blog and wanted to say congrats on being featured there. Hope you're enjoying the weekend :)

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  16. Thanks for stopping by Dorkys! Karen is great and I was so honored to be featured!

    These are very odd books since they make depressing situations so much fun to hear about! I love the resourcefulness of the children and how they come up with so many crazy ways to defeat Count Olaf's evil plans! We got the movie and watched it too but it was nowhere near as good as the books! :)

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