Summary:
The Reptile Room, by Lemony Snicket, is about the Baudelaire children going to their Uncle Montgomery's house to be taken care of by him. While staying at their uncle's house, many unfortunate events happened.
THE REPTILE ROOM
By Lemony Snicket
The characters of the book include the Baudelaire children (Violet, Klaus and Sunny), Stefano (Count Olaf the children's enemy), Dr Lucafont (assistant of Count Olaf), Mr. Poe (family friend who worked at a bank, took charge and decided who would take care of the children), Dr Montgomery (uncle of the children) and Gustav (real assistant of Dr Montgomery). Violet the oldest Baudelaire child likes inventing new things. The second Baudelaire child Klaus likes reading. Klaus would read and read during the night. Sometimes Violet would even find a book in his hand with his glasses still on, sleeping. The last Baudelaire child Sunny, likes using her four sharp teeth to bite and chew on anything hard.
Most of the settings are at the house of their uncle Montgomery. Dr Montgomery's house has hedges trimmed into live-looking snakes on the outside. In the inside there are stained glass lights dangling from the ceilings and portraits of him hanging on the wall. The house is so big they each get a room for themselves. The main room inside the house is the Reptile Room. The Baudelaire children go into the Reptile Room every single day. The main feature inside the Reptile Room is the huge windows which let in light for the reptiles to bask. There are many different species of reptiles never seen before.
The book is about the Baudelaire children going to their Uncle Montgomery's house to be taken care of by him. While staying at their uncle's house, many unfortunate events happened. The Baudelaire children were intended to go to Peru with their uncle and Stephano (their uncle's assistant). Uncle Montgomery didn't know that Count Olaf was Stephano in disguise. The real assistant Gustav had been murdered by Count Olaf. Count Olaf then sent a message saying that Gustav had retired and Stephano (Count Olaf) took over as assistant of Dr. Montgomery. Before the trip to Peru many more unfortunate events happened.
On the way to Dr. Montgomery's house the Baudelaire children pass Lousy Lane which has grey silky fields and apple trees that produce apples so sour, you just had to look at it to feel ill. Lousy Lane passes through the Grim River which is mostly mud. The river encircles the horseradish factory which leaves a bitter smell.
On Dr. Montgomery's last expedition they had found a snake only he and Gustav had seen. Because they found it they got to name it. They named it the Incredibly Deadly Viper. Dr. Montgomery had showed this reptile to the Baudelaire children and before they could react, the snake unlocked the door of the cage and bit Sunny on the chin. After the snake bit Sunny, she got back up to bite the snake. Dr. Montgomery explained to them that that the snake wasn't poisonous at all; the name of the snake was just a misnomer which meant using a word which in this case means "a very wrong name." Dr. Montgomery wanted to get back all the people who teased him about his name which was Montgomery Montgomery.
When Stephano arrives at Dr. Montgomery's house, the Baudelaire children had noticed him as Count Olaf. They start threatening Count Olaf so Count Olaf starts threatening them using a knife to scare them. Count Olaf even threatened Sunny by saying he would chop her toe off.
Another unfortunate event was when a heavy brass reading lamp went flying out of Klaus' bedroom window. The lamp landed on Uncle Montgomery and almost killed him. Klaus took the blame even though he knew he kept the lamp in his bedroom alcove.
The Baudelaire children woke up on the day of the trip to Peru to see their uncle dead inside the Reptile Room. Later on they had an accident with their family friend Mr. Poe. The Baudelaire children told Mr. Poe about the death of their uncle and they called the doctor. Dr. Lucafont said that Dr. Montgomery died of a snake bite from the Mamba du Mal. Later, Klaus described that the Mamba du Mal killed its prey by squeezing then poisoning leaving their prey bruised and poisoned at the same time. The problem was Dr. Montgomery was pale and not bruised. At the end, they found out that Stephano (Count Olaf) had murdered Dr. Montgomery by poisoning him. Count Olaf made it look like a snake bite by poking two holes with the needle used for poisoning Dr Montgomery.
The last unfortunate event happened was when Stephano was driving in Dr. Montgomery's jeep to the Prospero (the boat they were going to travel on). They had a car accident. Stephano, in shock, collided with another car. There was a horrible tearing sound of metal and glass as the black car crashed into the jeep of Dr. Montgomery. But luckily, the driver of the black car was Mr. Poe, the Baudelaire children's family friend.
At the end of the story Mr. Poe finds out that Stephano is really Count Olaf. And because of Sunny they found out that Dr. Lucafont was really one of Count Olaf's assistants.
The interesting part of the story was when Klaus read the book about the Mamba du Mal. I think the most interesting fact about the Mamba du Mal is how the snake kills its prey by poisoning and squeezing leaving the prey not only poisoned but bruised.
What I liked about the book was how the story was well explained and the words were easy to understand. There were even definitions next to some of the words which seemed hard to people. The complexity of the storyline can be understood by anyone over the age of 11.
The Reptile Room was a very good book to read. I understood it well and thought it was informative. I would give this book 9 out of 10.
I would recommend this book to be read by anyone 11 years or older. Children under 11 may have some difficulties understanding the storyline. The book is sad but informative.
This is the complete article, containing 994 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
