This was a book I didn't expect to affect me the way that it did. I saw the Jim Carrey movie a long time ago and I wanted to read the series before I checked out the new Netflix show. It's short, middle grade, and I knew I could get through it quickly. 
 Ugh. 
 My heart. 
 The Bad Beginning is not a happy book. In fact, it's so sad that the narrator literally tells the reader to find another book unless he or she want to read something that is going to create tears. Following the untimely death of the Baudelaire siblings' parents, the unluckiest orphans in the world are sent to live with a distant relative, Count Olaf. For as great of a father as they had, Count Olaf was the exact opposite. He's mean, vile, nasty, and psychopathic. 
 Yup. He wants the three dead so he can inherit their vast fortune. But what can three youngsters do when they have nobody to help them? 
 While this book is meant for middle grade, it does an excellent job portraying grief. These are three sad, forlorn children that desperately want someone to love them. They want their friends to care. And they get nothing. It's heartbreaking! 
 "Maybe someone wants to visit us," Klaus said, without much hope. In the time since the Baudelaire parents' death, most of the Baudelaire orphans' friends had fallen by the wayside, an expression which here means "they stopped calling, writing, and stopping by to see any of the Baudelaires, making them very lonely." You and I, of course, would never do this to any of our grieving acquaintances, but it is a sad truth in life that when someone has lost a loved one, friends sometimes avoid the person, just when the presence of friends is most needed. 
 This is so poignant that it literally made me cry as I read it. I've dealt with more death and illnesses than should be fair and each time I remember everyone that's been there for me. I also remember everyone who hasn't. The excuses that I've heard time and time again make me roll my eyes: I didn't want to crowd you, I had work (24/7?), I thought about you the entire time... 
 Grief makes us feel more lonely even when we're surrounded by people. Good friends recognize that and find ways to reach you. This book does an excellent job showing that when things really get tough, people don't want to be bothered to help. 
 Mr. Poe, for instance, didn't want to deal with them. While he was sad for their loss, and wasn't an evil person, he was busy with work and his own family. He couldn't concern himself with three kids that didn't belong to him. He did what was required and that was it. 
 And for three children that needed help more than they could say, it was heartbreaking to read. I'm glad their ingenuity helped get them out this time. However, this narrator has made it clear, this series is a sad one and I should prepare myself for more tears. 
 Also, Count Olaf can suck a dick.