A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator

Children’s book series about three hapless orphans

I was looking for some easy summer reading (last summer, still very behind on reviews!), and I came back to this series which I have been chipping away at while watching the TV series.

“The Ersatz Elevator” by Lemony Snicket is the sixth book of 13 in the “A Series of Unfortunate Events” collection. Following the events in the previous book, where the Baudelaire children make and subsequently lose new friends after a brief stay at a boarding school. Their new guardian, Esmé Squalor, lives in a fancy penthouse at the top of a very tall apartment building and is obsessed with keeping up with trends. Her husband Jerome complies with her every demand. However, even at the top of such a tall building, the Baudelaire children are not immune from Olaf’s schemes, and once again surrounded by incompetent adults, it is up to to the Baudelaires to try to save their friends.

This was a really interesting book because there was a bit of a gear shift in the way that the Baudelaires are let down by the adults who are meant to care from them. In previous books, adults have disbelieved them, been cruel to them or simply have not been up to the task. This was the first book where I felt like there was an adult who could have helped the Baudelaires, but simply chose not to because it was easier not to rock the boat. This felt like the biggest betrayal of all.

Again, I am really enjoying the TV adaptation. Even though it feels like it has lost some of the grimness of the book series which is what makes it stand out, the sense that there are adults actually trying to assist the Baudelaires is a nevertheless welcome addition.