The Wide Window (2000)
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The Wide Window Book Review
The Wide Window is a 2000 children’s novel by Lemony Snicket. It’s the third entry in the series which is weaker than the original, but a slight improvement upon its predecessor.
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“Just because something is typed –
whether it is typed on a business card
or typed in a newspaper or a book –
this does not mean that it is true“
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Yes, I found this one very good once again across the board, but let’s first start with the overall storyline. The trio arrives to live with Aunt Josephine, and instantly we the readers are introduced with an unforgettable imagery of a house standing on the hill above the lake, just waiting to fall over the cliff. This author is great at establishing places, and here he didn’t disappoint.
In fact, this is in terms of world building and imagery by far the best installment in the series so far. When the kids go to search for the aunt in that cave, we are introduced to not only the cave, but also the intimidating dark lake and its inhabitants – the blood-sucking leeches. I found the action in this entry stupendous, and the stakes felt very high constantly, and the finale in particular was both chilling and very dark.
So in terms of the overall storyline, it worked stupendously as it’s epic in world building and dangerous in its situations. But let’s talk about the characters. Violet continues to be very clever and also highly courageous, and she was great at planning once again. The same goes for Klaus who thankfully gets more to do with each subsequent entry in terms of the action.
But surprisingly enough, the once weakest Baudelaire kid ended up being the standout here. Yes, Sunny Baudelaire is absolutely terrific in this book. She not only helped the three escape from Olaf’s henchman (a person of undefined gender), but she also exposed Captain Sham in one wonderful sequence near the end.
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And that brings me to Count Olaf who is here Captain Sham and that name was ludicrous and on-the-nose in my book. But even though at first the disguise storyline got feeling very old very quickly, Olaf later on became so damn menacing, scary and downright an extremely competent villain who gets shit done that I ultimately loved him once again. He’s simply the highlight of every book in my opinion.
But I genuinely can’t stand Mr. Poe and I continue to get frustrated by his apparent lack of logic or reason whatsoever. He’s so stupid that he never manages to see through Olaf, and it literally takes a miracle for him to finally recognize him. And then he can never stop him escape because he’s that slow and dim-witted. Yes, he works in the context of each story as an obstacle, but he’s very annoying nonetheless.
But let’s talk about Aunt Josephine who’s one of the most complex highlights of the book. She’s not terrible like Olaf, but she also isn’t Uncle Monty in any shape or form, and I loved that complicated nature to her. She’s scared of everything and she is a terrible guardian for the children, but she still cares for them deeply and that dynamic was very interesting to witness.
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It led to that very complex in terms of emotion second half where the kids’ feelings for her were so confused. I loved that about The Wide Window, but the author himself was so aggressively unsubtle in describing that emotion that it really felt like dumbing it down for kids which I really hated. But still, that core was there and I found it fascinating.
The Wide Window is very unsubtle in its writing and at first repetitive, but later on it becomes complex and highly epic in terms of imagery, action and world building. It’s the most diverse part so far in terms of places visited and one of the darkest. I also loved the villain and the new guardian. It’s another great entry in the series.
