The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket (1999)

After being interested in the books in A Series of Unfortunate Events for a few years, I finally picked up the first book, The Bad Beginning. I enjoyed that book and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, the movie based on the first three books of the series. Since I enjoyed the movie and the first book, I decided that I wanted to read more of the books.

In discussing The Reptile Room, I will mention things that could be considered spoilers for The Bad Beginning for people who haven t read that book yet. In that book, the Baudelaire children, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, became orphans when their parents were killed in a fire that destroyed the family home. Mr. Poe, a family friend and baker was in charge of the estate left to the children. He took them to live with their guardian, Count Olaf. He was an actor that was trying to get his hands on the inheritance. The children never trusted Count Olaf.

The Reptile Room continues the story of the Baudelaire children. Lemony Snicket served as a narrator for the story again, relating the story and injecting his thoughts. Several times he would say how unhappy the story was and encouraged readers to stop reading and find a different book to read instead. I thought that was unique. On the back of the book, where a short summary usually is, was a letter from Snicket telling of how miserable the story was. After finally proving that Count Olaf was up to no good, the children were on their way to a new guardian. Mr. Poe only knew that he was some kind of scientist. Dr. Montgomery Montgomery was a herpetologist. He insisted that the children call him Uncle Monty.

Uncle Monty was very happy to have the children living with him. He was planning to take them on a research trip to Peru. He wanted the children to use their talents to help prepare for the trip. The children were very happy with Uncle Monty and looking forward to the trip to Peru. Then Uncle Monty s new assistant Stephano arrived.

The Reptile Room focused on the short amount of time that the children lived with Uncle Monty. The book didn t have a long time span. When the children first arrived at his house, Uncle Monty said that they would be leaving for Peru in two weeks. The book ended on the day they were scheduled to leave. Most of that two-week time period was skipped over, saying only how the children spent their days in the reptile room with Uncle Monty and went to the movies each evening. The children were much happier with Uncle Monty than they had been with Count Olaf. The book really didn t show much of the relationship between Uncle Monty and the children, which I thought was a lost opportunity. Uncle Monty really didn t receive much attention, and I was disappointed by that. Maybe the author decided to not focus too much on Uncle Monty so that readers wouldn t get too attached to the character.

When Stephano arrived, the children didn t trust him right from the start, with good reason. Stephano had n ulterior motive for working with Uncle Monty. The children figured out his secret, but again couldn t get anyone to believe them. They weren t able to talk to Uncle Monty about their suspicions because Stephano was always around. Uncle Monty didn t trust Stephano either, but for a completly different reason. Violet and Klaus tried to use their talents to find a way to expose Stephano. Sunny even ended up involved. It has been well established that the children were very intelligent, but they did tell Stephano something they shouldn t have, which wasn t that smart. The children didn t fully think some things through, which can be normal for children. There was a small amount of mystery in the book. I would have liked it if there had been more mystery. I didn t really think that the book was suspenseful, but I was surprised by some things that happened. Children may find the book more suspenseful than I did. The book wasn t really violent, but it was dark in nature. It could be too dark for some readers, especially children. Some serious things, like death, were dealt within the book, but not in any depth. There are some things that might be upsetting to younger children.

The Reptile Room was well written. It didn t have a complex style. It was written in a way that older children shouldn t have any trouble understanding. The book flowed well even when Snicket added his thoughts to the story. Snicket continued to provide explanations and meanings of words or phrases that the intended readers may not know. A few of the explanations did ramble on a bit, but it didn t bother me. Some readers may not like the style or be distracted by the additions of thoughts and explanations. The explanations could help children learn some new words.

There really wasn t that much character development in The Reptile Room. The book was short, so not much of it was aimed at developing the characters. Uncle Monty wasn t around enough to be a fully developed character. He was around even less in the movie. Stephano turned up a little later in the book and he seemed to be more developed, though I do think that was because of his secret that the children figured out. His secret won t be a surprise to anyone who has seen the movie. It probably won t be much of a surprise to most readers that haven t seen the movie, but children reading the book may find it surprising. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny were the main characters of the book again, but even they weren t that developed. They weren t really flat, but their development could have been better. Mr. Poe was only in a few scenes, so he was probably the least developed.

CHARACTERS

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny - The Baudelaire siblings. They were trying to adjust to life without their parents. They went through a bad experience with Count Olaf and were hoping things would be better with their new guardian. Violet invented things. Klaus loved to read, and he remembered most of what he read. Sunny liked to bit things. The abilities of the children helped them out in different situations.

Uncle Monty - He was a herpetologist that had known the children s parents. He remembered seeing Violet and Klaus when they were much younger. He was a kind man that was happy to have the children with him. He encouraged them to pursue their interests.

Stephano - He arrived at the house to work as Uncle Monty s assistant. Stephano made the children very uncomfortable. He had a secret.

Mr. Poe - The banker that was in charge of the estate until Violet came of age. He wasn t that involved in what was going on with them.

The Reptile Room is a small hardback book that was published in 1999. There were a few small illustrations included throughout the book that were done by Brett Helquist. With the release of Lemony Snicket s A Series of Unfortunate Events, versions of the first three books in the series were released with book jackets featuring a picture from the movie on them. My copy of this book doesn t have the book jacket. The book was very short, like the first one, and was a quick read for me. Younger children probably wouldn t be able to read the book on their own, but older children should have no trouble.

I really enjoyed The Reptile Room, thought I would have liked it if Uncle Monty had been around more. The book was unique and very entertaining. People who liked The Bad Beginning will probably like this one as well. People who saw the movie and liked it may also enjoy reading the books. They are aimed at children, but they can be entertaining for adults as well.

A Series of Unfortunate Events Reviews
The Bad Beginning ~ The Wide Window ~ The Miserable Mill ~ The Austere Academy ~

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events ~