The Bad Beginning
- 176
- Pages
- about 3 h
- Reading time
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Our view
This entry in “A Series of Unfortunate Events” lives on its narrator and his dry, gloomy humour. He stops to explain things, hands out wry aphorisms and dwells on misfortune with evident relish, and it can work as well for adults reading aloud as for the children listening. The book is short and, as its title promises, only a beginning; readers who want something sunny should take that title at its word.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Be warned – to commiserate 25 years of misfortune and gloom, Lemony Snicket’s publishers have taken the untold risk of creating brand new collectors’ editions of A Series of Unfortunate Events, illustrated by the obscenely talented Emily Gravett. The temptation to buy a copy is severe indeed...
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.8 across 1,154 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 89% of the weight and the score stays at 7.8 — the Young adult average of 7.8 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.4 | 94 | 8% |
| Hardcover | 7.7 | 1.1K | 92% |
Frequently asked
What age is The Bad Beginning for?
The Bad Beginning sits on the Young adult shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 13 and up. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 176 pages — shorter than 99% of the ranked books in Young adult.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Young adult — and a score of 7.8, the closest to this book.
