Sometimes, rules are created to keep order. Sometimes it is right to have rules as you can’t have a million children running, shrieking, screaming, shouting and fighting all around school. You can’t
have all six of your youthful children making you old before your time. But sometimes, having rules can get out of hand.
Take my school, for example. There was an old rule which was lately eliminated. It was that children couldn’t raise their hands while the teacher was talking. So if the teacher made a mistake in the explanation and somebody tried to point it out, they would get a detention. To this date, many teachers still love this rule and enjoy threatening us with expulsion!
Baudelaire History
Just like it is a habit for people to begin good work with the name of God, I’ll begin this depressing review with the names of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. The Baudelaires led a happy life of inventing, reading, and biting with pleasure and at their leisure. But when a huge fire burned down the Baudelaire mansion, along with their parents, whose identity has not been disclosed as of yet, they were shuffled from relative to relative.
Count Olaf was the first, who commanded them to cook, clean, wash, and do any other thing of his wish, even to the extent of marrying him. After a very narrow escape, the Baudelaires found themselves going to Uncle Monty, the herpetologist, Aunt Josephine, the cowardly grammar fanatic, the mill in Paltryville, Prufrock Prepatory School and a penthouse apartment in which lived Count Olaf?s new secret girlfriend and her henpecked husband.
The Baudelaires found themselves making use of their skills in emergencies. Violet invented things to get them out of their predicament, Klaus researched things to get them out of their predicament, and Sunny bit.
Village of V.F.D.
The mystery of V.F.D. was first created in the fifth book, the Austere Academy, in which the Baudelaire?s friends, Isadora and Duncan, were kidnapped, but they managed to shout out these three letters. And now, after Count Olaf has escaped with Isadora and Duncan again, this time with Esmé Gigi Geniveve Squalor in tow, the Baudelaire orphans are left behind once again. Mr. Poe tells them about the new plans that villages have made ? to take orphans and raise them, according to the saying ?It takes a village to raise a child?.
Never mind that Mr. Poe had never let them stay with a very good friend of the Baudelaires, Justice Strauss, because he said that the Baudelaire parents had wanted their children to live with a relative, and now he is trying to cart them off to a village, which the Baudelaires have absolutely no relationship to. The Baudelaire?s eye falls upon a village by the name of V.F.D., and they don?t hesitate. Neither does Mr. Poe, who is always prattling on about how much work he has to do since he has been upgraded from a mere banker at Mulctuary Money Management to the Head in Charge of Orphan Affairs.
The Baudelaire?s journey is not successful, in a dirty, cramped bus, and they have to walk miles until they reach the village. Crows are everywhere, on the ground, on the buildings, pretty much everything. So the Baudelaires go to the Town Hall, or rather, the ?wn Ha?, because of the crows on it. The Baudelaires open the door, and they are greeted with a cold silence. But then, they have to stand at the door until their turn comes, and only people on the stage can speak. But then, when the Baudelaires finally go, it is revealed that only police officers can speak on the stage!
The whole village is against keeping the Baudelaires in their homes, so the children go with Hector, the caretaker of the village. The children enjoy Mexican food, until they see a note? It is certainly from Isadora, as it is a couplet. But how? When? The Baudelaires try to find out this mystery, as well as cleaning the entire town without even touching one crow. They also have to prepare sundaes for the Council of Elders. They wait for each message, which comes every day, but they are not able to make head or tails of them.
One consolation is that Hector is building a mobile home ? they will be able to fly up into the air and live there forever. But there are many other troubles coming the Baudelaire?s way ? a man is arrested as Count Olaf, the Baudelaires are accused of murder, the real Count Olaf returns, and many other things ? but I?m not going to spoil the surprise! So you will just have to read the book to see what V.F.D. is!
Conclusion
This book is one of my favorites out of the entire series. The dark, wry humour of Lemony Snicket is amazing, once again. You symphatise with the Baudelaires each and every moment in the book. Again, Lemony Snicket has written a lot about his darling Beatrice. I, myself, have a suspicion that she is really ? Oh, well, let?s get back to the book! I loved the suspenseful ending, it was simply brilliant. And Sunny?s first steps and her first words, and her siblings? realization that their baby sister is now independent, is brilliantly rendered.
I would recommend this book to you, if you will take my word for it!
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