The Bad Beginning: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 1

I really enjoyed listening to this wonderfully dark little story. I would recommend it to any adult who grew up with the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy books as the authour employs similair tricks to play with your expectations of the story and get unexpected laughs.
But I hereby deduct one star for Tim Curry's coughing which really grated on me by the end!
Parents: if your child doesn't enjoy this book it may be a warning sigh that they need to spend less time running around outside and more time sat indoors reading. Please take immediate action!

While I enjoyed the audio book the story did not captivate me: I put it down to being 'too old'. I'm sure that it will appeal to younger readers as Steve Curry has read it very well and brings the characters to life, in particular the evil Count Olaf. As another reviewer stated he overdid the coughing which becomes very annoying towards the end.

Our 7 year old boy has read and listened to all the How to train your dragon series (narrated by the brilliant David Tennant) and we've been looking for something equally engaging. These books are great fun and we've been listening to the audiobook in the car. Our son thinks the stories are really lively and exciting plus the way new words are explained is really effective and never patronising. We'd recommend these to anyone that wants something that stimulates the imagination without being too scary - and long journeys whizz by. Our 5 year enjoys them but needs a little explanation to understand what's going on.

My kids absolutely loved this audiobook, it did a great job on a long car journey and they instantly wanted the second book in the series.



Excellent narration from Tim Curry, pitch perfect for the text.

From the dire warnings at the start of this story to the twisted and unhappily-ever-after promise at the end, Lemony Snicket enchanted me. His Roald Dahlesque revolting baddies were delicious, his grown up goodies artfully naive or inept, whilst the 'poor orphans' deal with each successive blow with a matter of fact bite, invention or book.
The humour is wry and the way he plays with words and their meanings remind me of those treasured books from my childhood. From the biting baby with an aptitude for an artfully placed 'goo'or 'gah' to the well-meaning but useless Mr Poe with his ever present cough, this masterfully read book is likely to hook you in and leave you wanting more.

Here I am another adult listening to the children's audiobook and enjoying every moment. The plot is brilliant and the sense of humour very dry and witty that you can't help but smile, laugh and chuckle all at the same time. I have now queued all 12 or so books for 'my next listen' and looking forward to the next one with eager anticipation.
Signed over forties trendy mother!!

got fed up listening to dribble