The Beatrice Letters - Lemony Snicket > Reviews > The Baffling Beatrice Letters

Author's product rating:   

Would you listen to it again?
Story
Characters
Listenability

Advantages:	Interesting read
Disadvantages:	Expensive for what it is, confusing, doesn't solve the mystery

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Lemony Snicket (pseudonym of Daniel Handler) writes the dark comic children's books A Series of Unfortunate Events. After reading the back of the first book in this series I was intrigued and wanted to find out more. Since then I have read the entire series (all 13 books), and I have also read Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorised Autobiography. So when I found out that there was another book, The Beatrice Letters, I had to buy it to try and solve the mystery of Beatrice whom every book is dedicated to.

If you have been following the tragic and unfortunate events in the lives of the Baudelaire orphans then you will have heard of Beatrice, as throughout the books references are made about her. If you are going to read this book in hope to solve all of the mystery surrounding this subject, I think you might be disappointed (I was), as it seemed to raise more questions about Beatrice than it answered.

I read this book in about an hour, as it isn't very long. I thought the book was very confusing and I didn't really feel like I knew much more after reading it. However, after thinking about this book as well as The End (book 13) I think I have a bit of an idea about what was going on. Now that I have this idea I might read it again and see if any of it becomes any clearer (after all it won't take me long to read).

Some of the letters are on note cards, others are typed. Photographs are pasted inside, these are not meant to come out. The way they were stuck in I though they were flaps to lift up (as there are other flaps within the book) but this is not the case. As a result of this I have creased one of the photo's. There are punch-out letters (as in the alphabet not written letters), which according to what I've read, reveal an alarming message about the author's beloved. I haven't pushed these out as I think it will spoil the book. I have written down what all the letters are and I hope to be able to re-arrange them to discover the 'secret' message.

I think it would be easier to solve the mysteries if I had someone to discuss my 'findings' with. I also think this would be more fun. The letters are written in an interesting and intriguing way, in a very similar style to the actual series. In some parts they are a little boring and don't seem to make much sense. As I was reading it, I did enjoy most of it as I kept thinking everything would become clear.

I ordered the book from Amazon, and it arrived yesterday. I couldn't wait to start reading it. The book is hard back and inside it contains a poster and a book containing letters to and from Beatrice. The book resembles a concertina file; complete with elastic to keep it shut. The inside of the 'file' contains a plain looking book and a poster containing 'clues'. These are inside the pockets of the file. The actual book, containing the letters is paper back. The front of it just says The Beatrice Letters. If it was like this on the shelf of a shop, I don't think many people would buy it. But because it is inside a hardback file (which has an intriguing looking cover) and comes with a poster, it retails at £12.99. (I paid £8.50 plus p & p from Amazon.)

If you, or someone you know is a keen fan of the Lemony Snicket series then I would recommend you read this. Maybe you'll make more sense of it than I did. I am glad I have read it because if I hadn't I would be constantly wondering what the letters contain, however it didn't live up to my expectations. I think maybe I rushed it a little bit. It may have been better if I had read it in more than one sitting so I could have had longer to think about what I was reading.

All of my Lemony Snicket books are a shelf in my wardrobe (including The Unauthoriszed Autobiography) but this one won't fit as it taller (and wider) than the other books. However, I do think the layout of the book is quite a novel idea and it wouldn't be so effective if it was smaller.

I think this book is expensive for what you actually learn from it (and for the short time it took me to read) but I think it is quite nice to accompany a Lemony Snicket collection.
If you haven't read any of the other Lemony Snicket books then this will make no sense whatsoever as you do need a some background knowledge of the stories.

The book is aimed at 9-12 year old (as is the whole series) but I think it is still suitable for older readers who enjoy the original series.

*Hint*

If you have read The End by Lemony Snicket, think about this (especially the end of The End) when you are reading the Beatrice letters as it may make it clearer.

Thank you for reading, bluejules xxx