This turgid lump of a novel continues the sad decline in Mr. Irving's work that we saw with <i> The Fourth Hand</i>. It was a chore to finish, and I would have given up, except that Mr. Irving has written so many great books, I kept expecting this one to get better or for something clever and great to happen. It really never does.
The story follows the life and career of Jack Burns, a successful movie actor with a troubled childhood. When the story opens, Jack is a child who has been abandoned by his father and living with his mother, a relatively famous tattoo artist. The stage seems set for the sort of quirky characters and situations which Mr. Irving writes so well. But what… Read more
The Baudelaire orphans are back in another miserable story about their unhappy and desolate lives. The Grim Grotto continues to the story which has become progressively deeper and more complex since the series took on more of a movie serial format around book five or so of the series. Readers of the last 4 or 5 of the novels will enjoy this one, which delves deeper into the various mysteries surrounding the three Baudelaire children. It is unfortunate that the publishing schedule for these books leaves such a long time between instalments, as many questions are again left unanswered (what is VFD? What is the significance of the sugar bowl? who is Beatrice?)
