Poison for Breakfast (2021) by Lemony Snicket
A bewildering journey of thought and philosophy.
Laura’s Rating: 2/5 Stars
Plot: Lemony Snicket is enjoying his usual breakfast when someone slides a note under the door. It reads “You had poison for breakfast.” Snicket begins a pursuit to find out who left him the note, fearing that he may expire at any time due to the alleged poison. As it states in the book, this story is about bewilderment (and you will find yourself bewildered.)
Analysis: As a huge A Series of Unfortunate Events fan, I was very excited to try a different book by Lemony Snicket. The book has his signature wordy style of writing, with tangents and silly, off-the-wall examples. While I enjoyed this style in ASOUE, it felt a bit tedious and overdone in this book. Maybe that is me reading as an adult instead of as a child, or maybe the style didn’t fit this book quite as well. Either way, I was mostly bored by this book, which wanders from topic to topic seemingly at random. There are anecdotes, bits of philosophy, and vague mentions of poems and books (later identified in the notes).
There’s a whole chapter about eggs. There’s musings on philosophy. There’s an adventure that devolves into a jumble of thoughts. The book is quirky and unique, but I was disappointed in Poison for Breakfast.
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