Customer Reviews

The Reptile Room (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 2)

5 star:		(120)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The story continues with the three baudelaire orphans, as they are brought to their new home with their Uncle Monty. This book follows a very similar pattern to the previous book, but I must admit I still found it entreating, and of course hardly time consuming at all.

Lemony snicket really provides his readers with a fun filled story. I found it funny, extremely witty, and for you older people, such as I, he does tend to stick in small references that only we would catch. There were few things that I did not enjoy in the book, such as the recap on what happened in the previous tale, and some of the ruining gags, such as Sunny's speech patters, do tend to get a little repetitious at times. Still I can appreciate why the author uses these things in his books, and could see how someone of the proper age group would probably appreciate such things much more than myself. All in all a good book, and if you have kids for goodness sake, read it to them!

After reading this whole series, I discovered that the reptile room is the most unique book out of all ten published so far!
The reason for this simply being, that Uncle Monty is the only guardian they like and that they enjoy being with.

This book is such an interesting read, some may call it 'unputdownable'. It begins with them travelling along a dreadfully smelly road, but soon their spirits lighten up once they see their uncle monty, the snakes in the reptile room and the fact they all had their own rooms !

Violet feels right at home designing and ttesting traps for the snakes the planned to catch on their expedition to Peru, Klaus certainly enjoyed all the reserching and the library, and Sunny became the best of friends with the deadly viper, which of course was a mis-nomer which when you read it you will understand.

Everything is fine until their life is ruined - AGAIN, by the treacherous Count Olaf, but no one can beat the baudlaire kids, so pick this book up and prepare for yet another great book by lemony Snicket and all in all enjoy reading about the mamba du mal to Count olafs unbelievable disguise.

So don't miss out on this fabulous book, you'll be glad you bought it!

Sequels frequently do not keep the promise of the first book, but it is not so here. The poor, poor orphans just can't find true happiness. It almost seems that everything will be okay, despite the many Cassandra warnings of the author, and then that dastardly villain, Count Olaf, re-appears and spoils everything.

From internal clues in the first two books, I would suggest that the setting is England or Canada. For example, there is a reference to royal gardens in book one. However, in the "Unauthorized Autobiography" the postcard has an American postage stamp: the Shakespeare commemorative from decades ago. I wish someone would comment on the setting.

The book feels British and as if it is actually directed toward adults, more so than in book one. It's difficult to pinpoint examples to demonstrate this--perhaps the definition of words is a bit more whimsical and funny.

Whatever the case, I eagerly anticipate book three.

Since being forced to live with their crazy, money-hungry uncle, Count Olaf in the last book, THE BAD BEGINNING, the three Baudelaire Orphans, Violet (14), Klaus (12), and Sunny (an infant), are horrified to think about what could happen now, as they are being brought to live with another relative, Uncle Monty. After all, they have been through so much as it is, and deserve only happiness. Luckily, that is what they find with Uncle Monty, as he is giddy, and fun, and treats the three Baudelaire Orphans quite well. He even allows them to assist him in his office, known as THE REPTILE ROOM. Everything is going along great, until a money-hungry relative from the Baudelaire Orphans' past comes back to destroy everything that they have earned, including Uncle Monty.

I found THE BAD BEGINNING to be a fantastic book when I read it a few months ago, however I found THE REPTILE ROOM to be even more engrossing. The three Baudelaire Orphans are lovely characters, whom you sympathize with from the opening sentence to the closing sentence. Their unfortunate lives create mystery and mayhem, and make the reader feel as if they are right there with Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, experiencing everything that the characters' are experiencing. This is a must-read for all who enjoyed THE BAD BEGINNING, but be forewarned, this is a very quick read, so make sure you have the third installment THE WIDE WINDOW on hand, for you will want to delve deep into it's pages the moment you turn the last page of THE REPTILE ROOM.

Erika Sorocco

Lemony Snicket stays faithful to his strategy in the first book in this series, the Baudelaire siblings are still going through unhappy situations, the vicious Count Olaf is back, and the author's writing style remains unchanged. The book is fun to read and I recommend it to people of all ages, but please pay heed to the warning the author presents in the back cover. In essence, this warning is: if you are looking for a happy story, go search elsewhere.

After Count Olaf's plan to get the Baudelaire orphans money failed, he was lucky enough to escape. The three siblings, Violet (the inventor), Klaus (the reader) and Sunny (the biter) are placed with a relative in the country. Dr. Montgomery is a herpetologist, thus he studies snakes, and he receives the three children in an extremely friendly and loving way. Uncle Morty teaches the kids about snakes and reptiles and everyone is living happily, but grimmer times will soon arrive. Count Olaf reappears and he is meaner than before, his plot to obtain the riches from Baudelaire orphans is heinous and the count will stop at nothing to achieve his goal.

The author continues using the technique of defining words that do not need be defined in his attempt to ridicule some children books. He even lets Klaus express the frustration some readers may feel when Mr. Poe is explaining to him what ridicule means and Klaus snaps back "I know what 'ridicule' means". Snicket also shows what a great sense of humor he has and he uses it to criticize some legendary classics, like Little Red Riding Hood and The Boy Who Cried Wolf. For example, in the case of the latter, he states that the moral of the story is not that people should not lie, but "Never live somewhere where wolves are running around loose". I am looking really forward to read the next installment in this enchanting series.

Don't be too discouraged when you read the second installment of "A Series of Unfortunate Events". I don't like this one as much as the rest simply because the entire story was localized in the children's new guardian, Uncle Monty's residence. Nevertheless, it's a good change of events for those who're reading the first book "The Bad Beginning" and this one back-to-back. Although Olaf was up to his tricks once again, I feel that he was not as malicious this time around and the end was quite funny as well in comparison to the first book which gave me the creeps.

Have you ever met a snake by the name of the incredably deadly viper? Well, Sunny, Klaus, and Violet have. After their parents died in a horible fire the Baudelaire children have had very many unfortonate things happen to them. There is an evel man after the very large fortune there parents have left behind and they once lived in this mans home, but now there lives seem to have gotten better. They are now living with Uncle Monty who owns many reptiles, one whom he name the Increadably Deadly Viper. Only after this very large snake bites small, little Sunny are they told that the Increadably Deadly Viper is harmless. Just as there lives seem like thay have come to peace Count Olaf shows up. This only leads to more disasters. If you like adventure, suspence, and thrill this book is for you. On a scale from 1 - 10 this book is defianately a 10.

As the Baudelaire children--Violet, Klaus, and Sunny--narrowly escape the marriage scheme of Count Olaf and his theatre troupe of THE BAD BEGINNING, we pick up with Mr. Poe once again leading the children to the home of another relative. Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, a revered member of the Herpetological Society, is a man who has spent his life studying snakes. As the children arrive at his home, via Lousy Lane, they are at first leery of "Uncle Monty" and his REPTILE ROOM. They soon learn, however, that their newfound Uncle is a kind man, providing them each with their own room and entertaining activities that they each enjoy--space and materials to invent for Violet, books and a reading nook for Klaus, and plenty of biting material for Sunny.

As the orphans settle in to their new abode, Uncle Monty teaches them about snakes, most especially his new discovery, the Incredibly Deadly Viper. As we learn that said snake is a misnomer--the word "misnomer" here meaning "a wrong name"--the children become excited about the upcoming trip to Peru to study new snake life. Unfortunately, as most everything in the lives of the Baudelaire children is, Uncle Monty's new assistant, Stefano, is no other than Count Olaf in disguise.

Alas, just as with their previous adventures, no one listens to the children's concerns until it is too late. As Stefano aka Count Olaf threatens the children into silence, he begins to hatch his evil plan, which includes getting rid of the snake-loving doctor and absconding to Peru with the children, where he can wait for Violet to come of age, grab her fortune, and dispose of the children.

Saved in the nick of time--yet again--by a convoluted series of events, we find the children once again looking for a kind relative to care for them. As THE REPTILE ROOM ends, Mr. Poe drives off into the sunset with a miserable Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, and we wait to see which new series of unfortunate events will befall the children.

Another quick read, THE REPTILE ROOM is highly recommended depending on the maturity of your child. Another dark tale of misery and woe, this book is highly entertaining for those who understand that it's fiction.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

The Reptile Room is the second book in the series of unfortunate events library,so it is one of the earliest of the 13 book serie,and i also consider it to be one of the best in the whole series.Lemony Snicket got this way of writting that keeps you reading,in the sense that you know what`s going to happen but you still read.Or his advisements to not read his books only seem to make them better...

Snicket has a simple formula:his books aren`t with happy endings unlike every(or nearly)other books,they are dark stories that keep getting darker in each book.The Reptile Room picks up exactly were the Beaudelaires,Violet,Klaus and Sunny(right spelling and all)left us.they have now been sent to their oncle Montgomery who has a house full of reptiles,and is probably the most attaching tutor they`ve ever gotten.You can really get who is oncle Monty and feel attached to him,it is one of Snicket`s most clever scenarios to date.

The Beaudelaire children tought they got rid of count Olaf once and for all,let me tell you that is not true.The count disguises as oncle Monty`s assistant.Monty won`t beleve it is count Olaf even if the chldrens say so.The count murders oncle Monty and disguise it as if one of his snakes bited him.The children have to be very clever to solve everithing.

Everithing is arranged in a way that makes the book a great read,it is one of the best unfortunate events....

In this tragic adventure story, a death happens but who is the one that is harmed? It could be anyone. A mystery! The Reptile Room is the sequel to the Bad Beginning and I would say that Lemony Snicket has done an excellent job of creating a strategy. The strategy was making the quickest change of feelings at the end of each chapter to leave you on a cliff hanger.

In our categories of characters, we’ve got Count Olaf the nasty, ghastly and selfish guardian to the Buadelaire children. At first, thinking of him makes me feel like he is alive, spying on me right now with the eye on his ankle. He also has one assistant mentioned in this book. It’s the guy with the hooked hands pretending to be a doctor, so when the mystery person dies, Stephano (Count Olaf) can escape and bring the Baudelaires to somewhere. this way he will receive something. In the Baudelaire clan, there is Violet, the eldest sibling. She has the most mechanical brain you can ever find! She invents, when people need her inventions, even at times when her inventions are not necessary. The second sibling, Klaus is a bookworm, that is what people give as a nickname to people who read a lot. But Klaus reads any type of books, boring ones too. Now, Sunny Baudelaire, the youngest sibling has four super sharp teeth that are very handy when the siblings are trying to escape from Count’s Olaf clutches of doom.

This book starts out with a boring ride down Lousy Lane to find their second guardian. The car stops and there they are in front of this huge mansion. The new exciting guardian invites them in for tea, cake and raw carrots. It seems safe for the siblings, so why not enjoy the time? But the good time doesn’t last long when something happen to someone. So the dreadful, wicked and vile Stephano (Count Olaf) comes in for revenge. During the horrible appointment of the ankle eye murder, the Baudelaire find out that they are going to a place to find a new type of something. Disaster appears and what will happen? When the morning light slits through the windows, the Baudelaire siblings go to the Reptile Room and a scream for the pale faced down???

This book has a lot of feelings and themes. Violence is what Count Olaf contains. Maybe he was born with evil cells or some disease turns him super dreadful. He killed the mystery person with happiness and a wicked smile. Smart brains come well to figure out who killed the person. Actions, word sentences gave Klaus his brain whizzing with smart cells. Trickiness helped the Baudelaire escape with Sunny's friend, the Incredibly Deadly Viper. Violets has time making a key for the suitcase of answers.

Who will be the one to find out who the mystery person that dies? Will you find out or not? Reading it can be a good way to do so. It also is a good way to find out what is the thing with the words, “something and someone”. This book can be for children of all ages. But it may have paragraphs written with violence, and I hope it doesn’t give anyone ideas for killing people. So, I would give it four reptiles out of five reptiles. When Lemony Snicket was writing the book I think his mind was on Beatrice Baudelaire, his love. His love must cause the love for the children too. In the back cover his hope was on the dear kind editor. With each note he writes the clues grow in the book. Have a slithery, slime time reading it!!!!!!!!!!