The third installment of the lives of the ill-fated Baudelaires (A Series of Unfortunate Events No. 3: The Wide Window - Lemony Snicket)

Member Name: bluestar19

Product:	A Series of Unfortunate Events No. 3: The Wide Window - Lemony Snicket
Date:	12/11/08 (30 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hard to put down

Disadvantages: General storyline is predictable

If you have read the first two books, you can probably guess the way the story goes. It starts with the miserable tone as the Baudelaire's move onto another residence, this time they meet a superstitious old lady known as Aunt Josephine (don't worry she is not Count Olaf in disguise) you will see him later. Her house is on the edge of a cliff overlooking Lake Lachrymose, the lake in which her husband died. Klaus especially liked the house though since it contained a large library, even if its books were based on grammar.

Soon after "Captain Sham" arrives (I won't tell you who he is but the name gives you a clue). Aunt Josephine thinks that the captain is real, but the Baudelaire's smell trouble early on. Perhaps it's because they are used to trouble finding them or them finding trouble (whichever way you want to look at it). One night, the Baudelaire's are suddenly awoken by a loud shattering noise of the "wide window" breaking (the wide window is a huge window in Aunt Josephine's Library). When going to investigate the source of the noise they discover a note from Aunt Josephine detailing her suicide.

Klaus's keen eye notes that the letter contained many grammatical errors and highly unusual for someone with a wealth of grammar books at their disposal. On closer inspection of the mistakes the Baudelaire's discovered a hidden message spelling out "Curdled Cave". As they went in search of a map of the lake, a lightning storm hit the house causing it to tilt precariously off the cliff.

I won't spoil the plot any further but you can see the direction it is heading in. That is the only problem with this book and others in the series. I think the book is too predictable since you get more of the same; Baudelaire's lives full of misery, bad fortune and Count Olaf. However having said that, I found this book to be utterly unputdownable even though it was one full of desolation. There are many twists and turns until the end which make it ever the more interesting and overall it is a highly recommended read.

Summary: More of the same from Snicket - not necessarily a bad thing