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FindingJane
Nov 30, 2016FindingJane rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
This book is maddeningly cryptic and not in a good way. Questions pile up like clothes that have been carelessly tossed into a rickety closet so that you have to go digging in order to get that shirt you want. I realize that simile got away from me but it’s of a piece with this novel. Matters rotate around a chintzy statue that almost everyone wants and no one seems to understand. People with whimsical names hover, eavesdrop, steal, lose, recover and bicker. Some of the dialogue is so pointless that it reads like a Nanowrimo exercise…just meaningless dribble meant to fill up a page and get to the 50,000-word count. This is definitely not one of Mr. Snicket’s better works (in spite of eponymously naming his first-person narrator) and makes me wonder if his particular type of quirkiness is getting too tired. It might be best to forget this new series and stick with his “A Series of Unfortunate Events” novels.