The Grim Grotto
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OCLC 55681958 | | |
Preceded by | The Slippery Slope | |
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Followed by | The Penultimate Peril |
Book the Eleventh: The Grim Grotto is the eleventh novel in the children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. The book was released on Tuesday, September 21, 2004.
This novel tells the subsequent story of the Baudelaire orphans, who discover the crew of the Queequeg submarine searching for a mysterious sugar bowl in the eponymous grotto.
Plot
Having been separated from Quigley Quagmire by the waterfall of the Mortmain Mountains, the Baudelaire children arrive at the hull of the Queequeg, a submarine piloted by Captain Widdershins. They correctly guess the password, "the world is quiet here", and enter the porthole to meet Widdershins along with his stepdaughter Fiona and the chef Cookie, who they recognise as the optimist Phil that used to work for the Lucky Smells Lumbermill (in "The Miserable Mill"). Widdershins is a V.F.D. member and knew the Baudelaire parents; he talks with urgency but often gives contradicting instructions. He is traveling to the last safe place, the Hotel Denouement, but must first locate the sugar bowl, though he will not tell them what is inside.
Klaus examines the
On the children's return to the submarine, Widdershins and Phil are absent and Sunny is discovered to have been poisoned by Medusoid Mycelium. Olaf mounts the Queequeg and forces the children aboard his ship, the Carmelita. The ship is powered by the labor of kidnapped children such as the Snow Scouts, who are forced to watch Carmelita dance and sing. The Baudelaires and Fiona are taken to the brig, which is being used as a jail. The hook-handed man—Fernald—is responsible for watching them, but the Baudelaires learn that he is Fiona's brother. Fernald is ashamed of his decision to leave Widdershins and join Olaf's troupe many years ago. He will help them return to the Queequeg if he can join them.
The Baudelaires successfully sneak past Carmelita and Esmé, but Fiona and Fernald are caught and forced to stay, under the premise that Fiona has defected to join Olaf. Violet realizes that it is her fifteenth birthday as Klaus discovers that
Olaf discovers the Baudelaires' escape and rejoins them on the Queequeg. Fiona has defected to his troupe, genuinely this time. As he prepares to flee from the Great Unknown, which reappears on the radar, Fiona permits the Baudelaires to escape and gives Klaus a kiss goodbye. The children reach Briny Beach to find Mr. Poe—just as they did on the day they learned of their parents' death—but they leave him behind to enter a taxi with Kit Snicket at the wheel.
Foreshadowing
In the last picture of The Grim Grotto, Mr. Poe is seen waving to the Baudelaire orphans as they climb into a taxi. On the beach, there is a hat, half-buried in the sand, that reads "Hotel D------." The rest is in sand. This is a reference to the Hotel Denouement, the hotel from The Penultimate Peril.
Translations
- Brazilian Portuguese: "A Gruta Gorgônea", Cia das Letras
- Czech: "Ponurá sluj"
- ISBN 951-0-31491-9
- Greek: "Η Σπαρακτική Σπηλιά", Ελληνικά Γράμματα
- Japanese: "ぶきみな岩屋" (The Weird Grotto), Soshisha, 2006, ISBN 4-7942-1546-0
- ISBN 9788202245269
- ISBN 5-35201-790-7
- French: "La Grotte Gorgone" (The Gorgon Grotto)
- Polish : "Groźna grota" (The Menacing Grotto)
- ISBN 9789749906613
Adaptation
The book was adapted into the third and fourth episodes of the third season of the television series adaptation produced by Netflix.[1]
See also
- Esmé Squalor
- Carmelita Spats
- V.F.D.
References
- ^ Snetiker, Marc (January 11, 2017). "Lemony Snicket speaks out about Netflix's Series of Unfortunate Events". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 12, 2017.