And Then? And Then? What Else?
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected May 21, 2024
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- $12.99
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- Pre-Order
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
You never love a book the way you love a book when you are ten.
Writing as Lemony Snicket, Daniel Handler has led several generations of young readers into that special and curious space of being hopelessly lost, and joyfully finding yourself, in the essential strangeness of literature. The wondrous and perilous journey of the Baudelaire orphans sprung from the author’s own path, from his childhood discovery of Baudelaire’s poetry through the countless peculiarities of his pursuit of a literary life—abject failure and startling success, breakthrough and breakdown, concordance and controversy—lit along the way by the books and culture he loved best.
At once a personal memoir and a literary exploration, a how-to book and a critical inquiry, a sequence of stories and a series of events, And Then? And Then? What Else? is a book not just for anyone curious about the creator of Lemony Snicket, but for anyone who loved books when they were a child, and still loves them now.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Handler (author of the A Series of Unfortunate Events books as Lemony Snicket) takes a charming if diffuse look at the people, literature, and films that shaped him. Topics on offer include misogyny in movies like Vertigo and Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Roald Dahl's antisemitism, Handler's experiences having his work adapted for the screen, and the "mysteries" underpinning his happy 26-year marriage. The author's stated purpose is to share "the lunatic ways" such musings "explain what I've done and what I'm doing," and by and large, he delivers. In a punchy, stream-of-consciousness style, Handler excavates his childhood—including a chilling, flatly delivered recollection of sexual abuse—and his fraught relationship with novel-writing, pulling readers into his funny, fractured world. The wide net he casts can, however, make the proceedings feel slightly rudderless, with too few through lines to tie the book's entertaining parts into a satisfying whole. Still, this offbeat, discursive outing will entertain and enlighten Handler's many fans.
