 US Cover ofThe Bad Beginning | |
| Author | Lemony Snicket (pen name ofDaniel Handler) |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Brett Helquist |
| Cover artist | Brett Helquist |
| Language | English |
| Series | A Series of Unfortunate Events |
| Genre | Gothic fiction Absurdist fiction Mystery |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
Publication date | September 30, 1999 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 162 |
| ISBN | 0-06-440766-7 |
| OCLC | 41070636 |
| Fic 21 | |
| LC Class | PZ7.S6795 Bad 1999 |
| Followed by | The Reptile Room |
Book the First: The Bad Beginning is the first novel of thechildren's novel seriesA Series of Unfortunate Events byLemony Snicket. The novel tells the story of three children,Violet,Klaus, andSunny Baudelaire, who become orphans following a fire and are sent to live withCount Olaf, who attempts to steal their inheritance.
The book was published on September 30, 1999, by Scholastic Inc. and illustrated byBrett Helquist. An audiobook was released in 2003 with narration byTim Curry, and several special editions of the book have been made. The book has been translated into many different languages, and inspired afilm based on the series starringJim Carrey and aNetflix TV series starringNeil Patrick Harris.
Violet Baudelaire is fourteen years old and loves creating amazing inventions; Klaus Baudelaire is twelve and an obsessive reader; Sunny Baudelaire is a baby and has four surprisingly large sharp buck teeth, with which she loves to bite. While they are at Briny Beach, the bankerMr. Poe tells them that their parents have died in a fire that destroyed their home. He places them in the care of Count Olaf, said to be a distant relative although the children have never heard of him before. Olaf's ramshackle house is filthy and covered in disconcerting images of eyes; it has a tower which the Baudelaires are forbidden from entering. Count Olaf is unpleasant, easily angered, and forces the children to perform odious chores. It becomes clear that Count Olaf is scheming to collect the Baudelaires' fortune. The only solace the children find is spending time with their neighbor,Justice Strauss.
For the next few days, Olaf keeps the Baudelaires busy by forcing them to clean his house. The Baudelaires disagree but do not dare to object. One day, the Baudelaires are set the task of making dinner for Olaf and his theatre troupe. The troupe contains two white faced women, a hook-handed man, a bald man with a long nose and a person of indeterminate gender. The siblings makeputtanesca, but when Olaf arrives, he demands roast beef. The children remind 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 Klaus tells everyone Count Olaf has given them only one bed and a pile of rocks for the three of them to sleep on and to play with.
After a few days, Olaf forces the Baudelaires to participate in a play written by "Al Funcoot" calledThe Marvelous Marriage, forcing Violet to play the role of his bride. After smuggling a book from Strauss's library, Klaus realises that the marriage in the play will be legally binding, meaning Olaf will gain control of their fortune. He confronts Olaf, who has one of his associates put Sunny in a birdcage, 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 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 objects, but concedes 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 and the wording is 'own hand'. Justice Strauss agrees that this invalidates the marriage. Before Mr. Poe can arrest Olaf for his actions, one of his associates turns the lights in the theatre off and he is able to escape. Justice Strauss tells the Baudelaires that she is willing to adopt them; however, Mr. Poe says that this would go against their parents' will, as Justice Strauss is not a relative. He decides to take them back to his household until he can find another guardian for them. The Baudelaires reflect on their uncertain future as they are driven away.
In 2012,School Library Journal namedThe Bad Beginning the 48th best children's novel.[1]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".[2] Catherine Pelosi ofKids' Book Review responded positively toThe Bad Beginning, describing it as "exciting, humorous and appropriately dark".[3]
The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition[4] (ISBN 9780060518288) was published byHarperCollins on September 23, 2003. In addition to a brown slipcase showcasing the original cover, a redesigned book cover with green eye-patterns throughout, additional illustrations, and a stand-up cardboard portrait of the Marvelous Marriage cast specially illustrated for this edition by Brett Helquist, this edition also contains a fourteenth chapter filled with author's notes, many of which foreshadow later events in the series or provide excessively detailed information about the events inThe Bad Beginning itself.[5]
A re-release[6] ofThe Bad Beginning: Rare Edition (ISBN 9780062847232) was published by HarperCollins as aBarnes and Noble Exclusive Edition in 2017. It contains all additional material apart from the portrait of the characters from The Marvelous Marriage cast, and is contained within a dark blue slipcase which sets it apart from the first Rare Edition published in 2003.
An ebook version dubbed theRare Edition Enhanced[7][8] (ISBN 9780062188090) published in 2012 is available for purchase on limited platforms including Barnes and Noble.[9]
The Bad Beginning; or, Orphans! is a paperback edition ofThe Bad Beginning designed to mimic a Victorianpenny dreadful.[10] It was released on May 8, 2007.[10] The book features a new full-color cover, seven new illustrations, and the first part of a serial supplement entitledThe Cornucopian Cavalcade, which in this edition includes the first of 13-part comic entitledThe Spoily Brats along with a page ofVictorian-era false advertisements, both produced byMichael Kupperman; an advice column written by Lemony Snicket along with a page listing every entry inA Series of Unfortunate Events (some of which are fictional); the first part of a story entitledQ: A Psychic pstory of the psupernatural byStephen Leacock.[11]
Two editions ofThe Bad Beginning were published byEgmont Publishing on October 1, 2003 —The Bad Beginning: Collectors' Edition[12] (ISBN 1-4052-0725-6) andThe Bad Beginning: Limited Edition[13] (ISBN 1-4052-0726-4). TheCollectors' Edition is priced at £14.99 while sealed copies of theLimited Edition on eBay shows on the barcode the price tag of £100 alongside a different ISBN number 9781405207263. Both editions are printed and bound in Italy.
Both editions come in a larger format containing three plates of color artwork that are redrawn from the original edition of the book, and two plates of new color artwork illustrated specially for the edition by Brett Helquist, depicting Count Olaf's raspberry breakfast and the Baudelaires in a library (the latter was later reused for the 2006 cover ofThe Puzzling Puzzles: Bothersome Games Which Will Bother Some People (A Series of Unfortunate Events Activity Book)).
TheLimited Edition is bound in leather and contained within a slipcase, similar to theRare Edition. Each copy contains a bookplate signed by Daniel Handler as the "official representative of Lemony Snicket".[14] It is said that only 1,000 copies were produced. In comparison, theCollectors' Edition does not come with a signed bookplate, slipcase, nor leather binding, but what sets it apart from theLimited Edition is the die-cut window design on the front cover.
A newShort-Lived Edition[15] was released for general sale on June 14, 2012. Published at an affordable price to introduce new readers to the series, it contains a sticker on the front cover with the tagline"THE SHORT-LIVED EDITION - Buy it for a pittance! - $3.99 - Then please read something else."
ADeluxe Limited Edition[16] (ISBN 9780063437531) is set to be released on October 14, 2025. In this limited-run deluxe edition,The Bad Beginning will receive a luxurious soft touch cover with gold foil stamping, full-color digital edges and endpapers, and bonus content from Lemony Snicket and Brett Helquist.[17]
Two audiobook versions of this novel were released. The first version was released in September 2003. It was read byTim Curry and featuredDaniel Handler, under the pseudonymLemony Snicket, who read a portion,A Conversation Between the Author and Leonard S. Marcus, which won an "Earphones Award" onAudioFile, which described the audiobook as "fabulously funny" and complimented the conversation involving Handler.[18]
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 byTim Curry and featuredTara Sands, Mitchell Federan, Dick Rodstein, Maggie Albright, L.J. Ganser, Oliver Wyman, and Carolee Goodgold[19]. This version also included sound effects and a soundtrack. This edition ofThe Bad Beginning was anAudie Awards finalist for Children's Titles for Ages 8+ in 2005,[20] and aGrammy Award Nominee for Best Spoken Word Album for Children in 2005.[21]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".[22]
Elements ofThe 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.[citation needed]
The book was adapted into the first two episodes of the first season of thetelevision series adaptation produced byNetflix.[citation needed]
| A Series of Unfortunate Events |
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| All the Wrong Questions | |||||||||
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