The Miserable Mill (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 4)

by Lemony Snicket

Book Overview

As their outrageous misfortune continues, the Baudelaire orphans are shipped off to a miserable boarding school, where they befriend the two Quagmire triplets and find that they have been followed by the dreaded Count Olaf.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439366798
• ISBN13: 9780439366793
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
• Length: 194 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Slightly disappointed

The book was very good, but I wish the picture they had put up to sell the book looked like what I actually got. My entire collection is the hardcovers with the colorful paper spine. This particular edition that I received was a black cover with a hard orange spine. So it doesn't match the rest of my collection.

superbe and good book

This is a fantastico book but shirley i dont think so not good shirley but if not 5 points are good for it please people buy this book you will make a profit out of it. Oh and plus i know that in the one of the people are Kit Snicket Guess who when you read it

andrew boisvert's reveiw

I thought that "The Miserable Mill" was an excellent book. I've read the books of the series that came before "The Miserable Mill" and thought they were also good. So i know how the story usually ends up with count olaf killing their legal guardian and the beudalaires barely escaping. This book still kept me interested though. Such as when they were traveling through the eire forest and pulled up at Lucky Smells lumbermill. Or when they were by themselves to find the office in which their new legal guardian was in. I foud it surprising that the children were expected to work in the lumbermill. I also thought that phil and charles were very nice to the beudalaires, but that Foreman Flacutono and even their owner were mean to them. I thought it especially mean when Foreman Flacutono tripped klaus and broke his glasses. It was kind of neat how the building resembled an eye that Dr. Orwell worked at and he worked with stuff involving eyes. I found it kind of surprising that Count Olaf would actually be in disguise as a women. The conflict when the beudalaires almost had to live with shirly (count olaf in disguise)was kind of surprising, but the beudalaires got there way out of it by never making any mistakes again. I also thought it was exciting when klaus got hyonotized again and almost sawed charles in the wood cutting machine, but violet snapped him out of the hypnosis just in time. So all in all i found this book to be a great book with many exciting events.

Another Miserable Adventure

We get to be miserable for a fourth time with the Baudelaire orphans, Violet, Klaus, and baby Sunny, in "The Miserable Mill." Once again the orphans have moved to another relative, this one the owner of the Lucky Smells Lumbermill in the rundown town of Paltryville. I'm not sure of the relationship of this new person to the children, and we really see very little of this wicked, uncaring person in any case. Furthermore, because he supposedly has a difficult name to pronounce, we never know his name, he is just called "Sir" or "The Boss". The children toil in the lumber mill from the time they arrive in Paltryville. Soon they have splinters and are tired and hungry, because they get nothing for breakfast, almost nothing for lunch and casserole for dinner. The Boss violates multiple labor and child abuse laws, but perhaps it might make some readers more appreciative of what they have given that many children in the world today face these same conditions. The children live in a dormitory with the other workers of the lumber mill, wondering when evil Count Olaf might make an appearance. Eventually he does, in a somewhat surprising way. Count Olaf appears relatively late in this book, and from the time he does the book moves and ends very quickly. In addition to Count Olaf, we have two other characters working with him to make things bad for the children. As has happened in the previous three books, the children are able, principally through their own efforts, to overcome the bad guys. Unfortunately someone does die in a gruesome, though not detailed, way. Once again the children are on their way to another home. Of the four books thus far, this one was my least favorite. The style of the books is such that bad things happen to these children on a regular basis, but in this book it seems as though bad things are happening to nearly everyone. This book is very depressing. I was also a bit annoyed with the extremes that the author went to in his exaggerations. This time we have baby Sunny using her teeth in a sword fight, and Klaus using chewing gum to move a log, among other things. This book seems to have ventured far into fantasy. The educational messages in this book are somewhat weaker than in the previous three stories, but there are still some. The author explains some things, but less often than in the first three books. Because of the dark, dreary images, and the death, which is not detailed to any extent, I would consider this book more appropriate for a 9 or 10-year-old. However, as always, you should know your own child and her or his ability to handle the material. One aspect of these books I have covered in only minimal detail in my previous reviews. The children are incredibly self-reliant. Often the children are the only ones who seem to know what is going on around them, and they often have to solve their own problems. I think the message that children can have an effect and can take responsibility for their l

Most humorous of the series

I'm not quite sure why this book struck me as the best of the series (I've only read 2, 3, and 4) but it was exceedingly well done and amusing. The poor Baudelaire orphans who seem to court bad luck at every turn end up living with their distant relative who is a tycoon industrialist who makes them work in his mill. Instead of getting paid, the mill workers get coupons, and they only get one meal a day (but lots of gum for breakfast). Lemony Snicket's books are all wonderful, and this is the cream of the crop. Count Olaf returns in attempt to once again steal the Baudelaire fortune, this time using hypnosis to achieve his evil gains. This book is full of so many clever moments, and the mill setting will scare and entertain the reader.

Just When You Think It Can't Get Any Worse...

it always does for the poor Baudelaire orphans. Although they are polite children with pleasing facial features, their lives are destined to be filled with despair and woe. Lemony Snicket's latest telling of their adventures is filled with much the same type of events as the previous three tales. Will Count Olaf appear in yet another fiendish disguise? Will Mr. Poe continue to be lovably ineffectual? As Sunny would say, 'Gack', which probably means something along the lines of "Of course! I wouldn't be surprised at all!" Fortunately, the Baudelaire children are blessed with above average intelligence and research skills. Readers will find much to treasure in this witty volume detailing how the Baudelaire orphans rescue themselves yet again from the schemes of Count Olaf...Perfect for a rainy afternoon.