The Bad Beginning is the first novel of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. The novel tells the story of three children, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, who become orphans following a fire and are sent to live with Count Olaf, who attempts to steal their inheritance.
The book was published on September 30, 1999, by Scholastic Inc. and illustrated by Brett Helquist. An audiobook was released in 2003, several special editions of the book have been made and the book has been translated into many different languages.
Video The Bad Beginning
Plot
Violet Baudelaire is age fourteen and has a love for inventions; Klaus Baudelaire is twelve and an avid reader; Sunny Baudelaire is a baby who uses words only her siblings and parents understand, and has several surprisingly large and sharp teeth, which will come in handy. The children are told by a family friend, Mr. Poe, that their parents have died in a fire that destroyed their home. They are placed in the care of Count Olaf, said to be a distant relative although the children had never heard of him before. Olaf's house is a ramshackle with filthy living conditions covered in disconcerting eye images; it has a tower which the Baudelaire's are forbidden from entering. Count Olaf is unpleasant, easily angered and forces the children to perform laborious chores. It becomes clear that Count Olaf is scheming to collect the Baudelaire's fortune. However, Violet will inherit when she turns eighteen, so he must be creative.
One day, the Baudelaire's are set the task of making dinner for Olaf and his theatre troupe. They make puttanesca, but when Olaf arrives he demands roast beef. The children reminded him that he never asked them to make roast beef and Olaf becomes angry, lifting Sunny into the air and striking Klaus across the face after the children tell everyone he has only given them one bed.
Olaf gives the children roles in his new play, in which Violet will marry Olaf. The children realize something is amiss and use the library of their neighbor, Justice Strauss, to research law. Klaus learns that the marriage in the play will be legally binding and that Olaf can inherit their fortune from it. He confronts Olaf, who gets one of his associates to put Sunny in a bird cage, dangling from outside the window of his tower. He threatens to kill her if Klaus and Violet do not follow his plan. Violet constructs a makeshift grappling hook and uses it to climb up the tower. She finds the hook-handed man (a member of Olaf's theatre troupe) waiting to capture her. Klaus is brought up to the tower and they are locked together in the room until the play begins.
After Violet signs the marriage document, Olaf interrupts to tell the audience that their wedding was legally binding. Justice Strauss and Mr. Poe both object, but concede that the law requires them to hand over the Baudelaire fortune to Olaf. Violet interrupts to proclaim that the marriage was not legally binding, as she signed with her left hand despite being right-handed. Justice Strauss agrees that this invalidates the marriage. Before Olaf can be arrested, one of his associates turns the lights in the theatre off and he is able to escape. Justice Strauss tells the Baudelaire's that she is willing to adopt them; however, Mr. Poe says that this would go against their parents' will and takes them back to his household until he can find another guardian for them.
Maps The Bad Beginning
Foreshadows
Like all other books in the series (with the exception of The End) The Bad Beginning includes a foreshadowing of the sequel in the last drawing, in this case being a snake curled around a street light as the Baudelaires leave with Mr. Poe, foreshadowing the events of The Reptile Room.
Critical reception
In 2012, School Library Journal named The Bad Beginning the 48th best children's novel. Publishers Weekly praised Snicket's prose, observing, "The author uses formal, Latinate language and intrusive commentary to hilarious effect, even for readers unfamiliar with the literary conventions he parodies." The review went on to laud Helquist for his "exquisitely detailed" and "elegantly designed" artwork. The trade publication Library Journal praised both Snicket's narrative and prose: "While the misfortunes hover on the edge of being ridiculous, Snicket's energetic blend of humor, dramatic irony, and literary flair makes it all perfectly believable." Kirkus Reviews noted the uncomfortably macabre tone of the novel, warning that because "the Baudelaire children are truly sympathetic characters", the novel is "not for the squeamish". Catherine Pelosi of Kids' Book Review responded positively to The Bad Beginning, describing it as "exciting, humorous and appropriately dark".
Special editions
The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition
The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition (ISBN 0-06-051828-6) was published by HarperCollins on September 23, 2003. In addition to a box, new cover, and additional illustrations, this edition contains a fourteenth chapter filled with author's notes, many of which foreshadow later events in the series or provide excessive detailed information about the events in The Bad Beginning itself.
The Bad Beginning; or, Orphans!
The Bad Beginning: or, Orphans! is a paperback edition of The Bad Beginning designed to mimic a Victorian penny dreadful. It was released on May 8, 2007. The book features a new full-color cover, seven new illustrations, and the first part of a serial supplement entitled The Cornucopian Cavalcade, which in this edition includes the first of 13-part comic entitled The Spoily Brats along with a page of Victorian-era false advertisements, both produced by Michael Kupperman; an advice column written by Lemony Snicket along with a page listing every entry in A Series of Unfortunate Events (some of which are fictional); the first part of a story entitled Q: A Psychic pstory of the psupernatural by Stephen Leacock;
Other special editions
Two more editions of The Bad Beginning were published by Egmont Publishing on October 1, 2003--The Bad Beginning: Special Edition (ISBN 1-4052-0725-6) and The Bad Beginning: Limited Edition (ISBN 1-4052-0726-4). They come in a larger format and contain three plates of color artwork that are redrawn from the original edition of the book and two plates of new color artwork. The Limited Edition is bound in leather and contained within a box, similar to the Rare Edition, and each copy was signed by Daniel Handler. There is also a new "Short-Lived Edition", released for general sale on June 14, 2012.
Audiobook
Two audiobook versions of this novel were released. The first version was released in September 2003. It was read by Tim Curry and featured Daniel Handler, under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket, who read a portion, A Conversation Between the Author and Leonard S. Marcus, which won an "Earphones Award" on AudioFile, which described the audiobook as "fabulously funny" and complimented the conversation involving Handler.
The second version was released in October 2004, after the release of the film, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. This multi-voice cast audio book was narrated by Tim Curry and featured Jim Carrey, Meryl Streep, and Jude Law. This version also included sound effects and a soundtrack. This edition of The Bad Beginning was an Audie Awards finalist for Children's Titles for Ages 8+ in 2005, and a Grammy Award Nominee for Best Spoken Word Album for Children in 2005. AudioFile gave the audiobook a positive review, although stated that "the cast of seven at first sound self-consciously formal until one realizes that the acting is supposed to be as mannered as the clever writing".
Adaptations
Television
The book was adapted into the first two episodes of the first season of the television series adaptation produced by Netflix.
Film
Elements of The Bad Beginning were featured in the 2004 film adaptation of the first three books in the series, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Translations
Most foreign editions have borne titles which are direct translations of the phrase "the bad beginning", including:
- Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian Lo? po?etak (Algoritam, 2001: ISBN 953-6450-77-1);
- Brazilian Portuguese Mau Começo, translated by Carlos Sussekind (Companhia das Letras, 1999: ISBN 85-359-0094-2);
- Czech Zlý za?átek, translated by Eva Brdi?ková (Egmont ?R, 2001: ISBN 80-7186-600-8);
- Dutch Het Bittere Begin, translated by Huberte Vriesendorp (Ploegsma, 2006: ISBN 978-90-216-1520-2);
- Finnish Ankea alku, translated by Mika Ojakangas (WSOY, 2001: ISBN 952-5418-00-6);
- Greek: "? ???? ????", translated by ???? ?????????????? (???????? ????????, 2002:960-406-186-0);
- Italian Un infausto inizio, translated by Valentina Daniele (Salani, 2003: ISBN 88-7782-951-6);
- Polish Przykry pocz?tek (The Unpleasant Beginning), translated by Jolanta Kozak (Wydawnictwo Egmont Polska, 2008: ISBN 83-237-1449-5);
- Romanian Început îndoliat (Egmont, 2002: ISBN 973-583-363-8);
- Russian ???????? ?????? (Azbuka-Klassika, 2003: ISBN 5-352-00360-4);
- Spanish Un mal principio, translated by Néstor Busquets (Montena, 2004: ISBN 0-307-20934-2);
- Swedish En olustig början (Richters, 2002: ISBN 91-7711-334-9);
- Turkish Kötü Günler Ba?larken (Do?an Egmont, 2002: ISBN 978-975-323-582-2).
However, the Indonesian version, Mula Malapetaka, translates to "The First Catastrophe" (ISBN 979-22-0301-X); the French Tout commence mal..., "All Begins Badly", translated by Rose-Marie Vassallo (Éditions Nathan, 2002: ISBN 2-09-282353-1); and the Quebec French Nés sous une mauvaise étoile, "Born Under a Bad Star", apparently also translated by Rose-Marie Vassallo (Éditions Heritage, 2007: ISBN 2-7625-2942-5), the Korean version ???? ? translates to "The House of the Eye" (ISBN 89-546-0834-5), and the Japanese version ??????? translates to "The Worst Beginning" (Soshisha, 2001: ISBN 4-7942-1070-1).
References
External links
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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