Poison for Breakfast

I’m a huge fan of Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, and this is written, again, by the fictional Snicket. It was wonderful to experience once again that incredible Snicket voice. He has a way of writing that is unique and amazing.

This is both a mystery to figure out how the author was poisoned and a treatise on philosophy, teaching readers about, well, everything!

That is part of the fun with Snicket. While not talking down to readers, he introduces big words and concepts, explains them, and is hilarious.

Poison for Breakfast is a marvelous collaboration of Snicket’s wit, wisdom, and fictitious excellency.

This book pushes the reader to examine their life in novel ways while also pushing them to take a step back and make sure not to overanalyze the simplicity. Snicket combines fiction with philosophy and humor with knowledge in ways not commonly found today.

It is both insightful and eye-opening while charming and funny at the same time. 

Lemony Snicket is no stranger to unfortunate events, but this standalone book contains perhaps the worst of all: the news that he, the author, has consumed poison while eating the first meal of the day. Of course, this being a Snicket story, there’s more going on. This book is a bit mystery, and a bit philosophy (or is it the other way around?). More importantly, it is also a meditation on the wonderfulness of books and reading, a part of life that remains important even if one is quite sure one has been poisoned and now has an indeterminate amount… show more.

I am a huge fan of Lemony Snicket’s writing style, after all he calls my book extraordinary and claims it made him lose his mind. This latest of his is poignant, witty, and clever. The basic plot tells the one-day adventure of a man who upon discovering a note during eating breakfast claiming that he has been poisoned, sets out to uncover the mystery. But the book is so much more than its plot. It is full of brief moments of pause and philosophy that really get to the true absurdness of life. 

The title sounds heavy. It's Lemony Snicket after all. But in pure Lemony fashion, this breezy 'memoir' digresses into tales of sardonic woe that children can scoff at and adults can laugh at. The perfect book for a trip on a train or plane, the jokes are dry and the story is beautifully simplistic: he had poison for breakfast. So what now? 

I did not see a way for me to make a list about books that did not include at least one vampire novel (see number 1) and a reference to Lemony Snicket. So here we are. 

The narrator finishes his morning routine to find a note informing him that he has been poisoned. What a concept! When your school teacher told you about starting your essays with a hook, this is what they meant. Lemony Snicket is a masterful storyteller, and this book is just one more example of that. Following a dead man walking as he investigates his impending… show more.