Poison for Breakfast by Lemony Snicket
This book releases on Aug 31st, 2021 and I read a physical ARC.
If this book was any longer I would have DNF-ed. It’s a stream of consciousness, self-proclaimed philosophy book but it’s not a good or entertaining form of stream of consciousness like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. The kind of stream of consciousness that makes you feel drunk after. It just made me feel bored and sometimes offended.
Firstly, if you believe that you cannot separate an author from their work, then do not pick up this book, as Lemony Snicket, aka Daniel Handler, has quite a few allegations against him for inappropriate behavior and comments towards women. He has apologized for his actions if that matters to you.
If you can separate author from work, let me lead you to a few moments in this book that might change your mind, ones that are so tone-deaf and white-centric, in this day and age, that made me dislike vehemently the rest of the book:
An aside where he tells the reader that he preferred people call him Master Snicket as a young boy so that he could make the person saying it sound like a servant. If this doesn’t rattle you, then perhaps you are unaware of the current dialogue around harmful common use of terms such as master/slave. This comment is just so tone-deaf to the harmfulness of delighting in making people feel like servants. The toxicity of it all.
He refers to Persia as now being called something else and doesn’t recognize or acknowledge that.
Multiple references to white people who pretended to be from India and who profited from that lie and appropriated Indian culture, where he didn’t discuss how terrible that was, just bewildering.
Lastly, he goes to a public park where he talks about when a park opens people worry about who is allowed to come to it and the kind of trouble and activities they might get up too which reeks of white privilege and classism. Again, the toxicity.
This book was only helpful with some tips on how to cook eggs and a joke about how they are also good tips for cooking chicken. Late into the book, he mentions a song by The Mountain Goats, so really, just go listen to The Mountain Goats or Bright Eyes, it will be more enjoyable. -Ford
