Author | Lemony Snicket (pen name of Daniel Handler) |
---|---|
Illustrator | Brett Helquist |
Cover artist | Brett Helquist |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | A Series of Unfortunate Events |
Genre |
Gothic fiction Absurdist fiction Steampunk Mystery |
Publisher | HarperCollins |
Publication date
|
October 28, 2002 |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Pages | 286 |
ISBN | (first edition, hardback) |
OCLC | 49952611 |
Fic 21 | |
LC Class | PZ7.S6795 Car 2002 |
Preceded by | The Hostile Hospital |
Followed by | The Slippery Slope |
The Carnivorous Carnival is the ninth novel in the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.
Following the events of The Hostile Hospital, Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire arrive at Caligari Carnival in the trunk of Count Olaf and his theatre troupe's car, unknown to them. Olaf and his associates speak of seeking Madame Lulu, a mysterious fortune-teller and owner of Caligari Carnival, for answers of the whereabouts of the Snicket files, which apparently contains crucial information on V.F.D. As the troupe discuss with Lulu, the Baudelaires escape the trunk and disguise themselves as freak volunteers for the Carnival's freak show, Violet and Klaus as a two-headed humanoid 'Beverly' and 'Elliot', and Sunny as 'Chabo the Wolf Baby', a supposed half-wolf.
After being accepted by Lulu, they meet three other freaks in the 'Freak Caravan' - Hugo, a hunchback - Kevin, who is ambidextrous - and Colette, a contortionist. The Baudelaires are oblivious to the reason of their self-consciouness on their rare abilities. Every day they are forced to perform and be ridiculed in front of a small audience.
The next day, Count Olaf announces that a freak will be chosen to be fed to a pack of abused lions, in order to increase the popularity of the carnival. Olaf tells Esme Squalor that Madame Lulu has predicted the whereabouts of the remaining Baudelaire parent to be in a V.F.D headquarters located in the Mortmain Mountains. Violet, Klaus and Sunny explore Lulu's tent, where she supposedly predicts answers using a glass ball - however, they discover that she tricked Olaf into thinking so by using a machine to create the effects, and either guesses the answer or finds the answers in her secret archival library. Madame Lulu enters, and after hollering at the Baudelaires for trespassing, is shamed into revealing her true identity as Olivia. Olivia explains that she goes by the motto 'Give People Want They Want', thus her feeding Olaf information. She reveals to be part of V.F.D, and admits to only be guessing one of their parents to be in Mortmain Mountains after the Baudelaires reveal themselves to her.