As Lemony Snicket writes The Penultimate Peril, his overall objective is to entertain the reader with breathtaking scenes. Neither he is trying to persuade an individual in believing that the outcomes may be authentic, nor informing the personality of various characters. He includes that this book “is the perfect thing to drop into a pond” (1). Snicket uses foreshadowing to describe a glimpse of an event that is waiting to occur in the latter section of the book. This fictional and suspenseful novel continues in the same pattern as the other books in the series. “Each mystery the Baudelaires discovered only revealed another mystery, and another, and another...” (4). There are many unsolved mysteries continuing on throughout the twelve books, one leading after another.
Perhaps, the theme may be that there are difficulties in an ordinary person’s life that blocks them from what he or she wants to accomplish; possibly resulting in a change of behavior. It does not have to deal only with physical blockades, but also mental ones. As an example, most teenagers face some type of peer pressure while attending high school. The Baudelaires faced an evil villain, which led to great commotions.
It all started when a fire destroyed their home, perished their parents, and created frightening chaos in their lives. In result of this great destruction, they were taken care of by “temporary guardians.” Unfortunately, the Baudelaires were followed by an evil villain, seeking to possess the huge fortune that was left behind. He chased after the children in all of his series, creating unfortunate events to occur in each of them. As the Baudelaires are passed on to a guardian to another, they bring misfortunes to each one; all resulted in either injury or death. I have read all of the previous eleven books and they all contain dangerous situations, where the Baudelaires’ lives are heavily risked by the schemes that Count Olaf made.
The Penultimate Peril illustrates the Baudelaire’s attempt in retrieving the sugar bowl, with the sly and untrusting Count Olaf following them sneakily throughout their rigorous paths. Their journey began from a taxi ride with Kit to Hotel Denouement, where they met two identical brothers named Frank and Ernest. The children were given a task to categorize people, of the hotel, whether they are good or bad members of the V.F.D. Once again, Count Olaf was able to find the location and depart to where they were. A lot of unpleasant guests were present at the hotel, many of which were their previous “guardians.” It was difficult for them to handle numerous villains at once.
When I first began to read this novel, I had the same feeling that I had for his previous books. I was anxious to find out what happened to the Baudelaires. I was also curious what happened to Count Olaf because he manages to get away with everything, without getting caught. He may be the “bad guy” of the story, but somehow, it is interesting to read upon and see his next actions toward his conquer over the fortune. I know that his book is full of sorrow, but the distress keeps me curious to read more. They were the definition of “page turners” and I can’t wait till I read the last book. I am hoping that it would consist of a remarkable ending to sum up the previous ones.
Snicket may include that this book will “change the world” having “one less dreadful story for people to read” (1). He also states that “you will be happier not to read the grim story I have written” (2). Even though he may describe the bad qualities of this book and include reasons not to read it, I continued reading. All his fictional works of literature are very suspenseful, and fill the reader with anxiety, apprehension, and fantasy. Nonetheless, one can acquire great knowledge of vocabulary simultaneously. In all the books, there are several highly-recognized words and their meanings. Overall, I loved reading The Penultimate Peril, which kept me feeling curious and suspenseful from the beginning to the end. I would recommend this specific book to everyone who loves to read mystery books.
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