The Carnivorous Carnival

The Carnivorous Carnival

Author	Lemony Snicket (pen name of Daniel Handler)
Illustrator	Brett Helquist
Cover artist	Brett Helquist
Language	English
Series	A Series of Unfortunate Events
Genre	Gothic fiction Absurdist fiction Steampunk Mystery
Publisher	HarperCollins
Publication date	October 28, 2002
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	286
ISBN	0-06-441012-9 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC	49952611
Dewey Decimal	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.

Plot summary

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.

After striking a deal with her to bring her with them when they explore Mortmain Mountains, on the condition that she doesn't tell Olaf their true identities, the three return to the Freak Caravan, where Esme Squalor, who is jealous of Madame Lulu, convinces Hugo, Kevin and Colette to feed Madame Lulu to the lions the following day - in exchange, they will be employed as Olaf's associates. Shortly after Violet works on fixing the carnival's roller coaster to use to travel to the Mortmain Mountains, the Baudelaires are forced to participate in the lion show, and Olaf announces Violet and Klaus (as Beverly and Elliot) to be fed to the lions. They stall the feeding, however, and cause a commotion among the audience allowing them to escape - however, Olivia and Olaf's bald associate fall into the lion pit to their deaths.

After it becomes apparent they can't continue the roller coaster plan, Olaf, after burning down the majority of the carnival, invites them to join on a quest to the Mortmain Mountains. Believing this to be the only way to arrive there, they agree and ride on a caravan attached to the troupe's car. However, Olaf reveals that Lulu told him that they were the Baudelaires in disguise, and takes Sunny while the newly recruited freaks cut the rope connecting the car and caravan on a steep cliff, leaving the book on a cliffhanger.

Foreshadowing

• On the last picture, there is a Snow Scout handbook falling from the Freaks caravan, foreshadowing The Slippery Slope.

Rare copies

There are some copies of this book that have a Vile Village version of Count Olaf and the Baudelaires on the inside of the back cover. There are only a handful of these special copies made.

Inconsistencies

When the Baudelaires examined Lulu's tent and Violet found her ribbon, she thought that Olaf must have kept it in the previous book. This may confuse some readers because she used her ribbon to trick Hal into thinking they were his keys, and he never returned them to her or gave them to Count Olaf.

Literary allusions

• "Elliot" and "Beverly", the aliases Violet and Klaus use when disguised as weird freaks are those of twin brothers, both played by Jeremy Irons, in the David Cronenberg film Dead Ringers.
• Klaus refers to Joseph Merrick (incorrectly naming him "John Merrick") when discussing the cruelty of freak shows.
• The Caligari Carnival is an allusion to the German expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
• The Hunchback named Hugo is an allusion to The Hunchback of Notre Dame written by Victor Hugo.
• At one point, Sunny uses the word "Dragnet" to refer to the police. Dragnet is the name of an old police-based show.
• The image for Chapter Seven depicting Madame Lulu's broken crystal ball shows several darkened images, presumably of Lemony Snicket (one is on a cover page of The Daily Punctilio, with a headline beginning with "Snicket"), a topographic map of Mortmain Mountains, a menu from Café Salmonella, a boarding pass for The Prospero, and a document featuring the V.F.D. logo.
• "Plath Pass" in the map of the mountains may allude to poet Sylvia Plath.
• "Colette" may refer to the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette.
• In the first chapter, when Sunny says "We'll need money to make a phone call", the word she uses is "Veriz". This may be a reference to the American telecommunications company Verizon.

Translations

• Brazilian Portuguese: "O Espetáculo Carnívoro" (The Carnivorous Show), Cia. das Letras, 2004, ISBN 85-359-0524-3
• Finnish: "Tihutöiden tivoli" (The Carnival of Mischiefs), WSOY, 2005, ISBN 951-0-30214-7
• Italian: "Il carosello carnivoro", Salani, 2005, ISBN 978-88-8451-516-2
• Greek: "Το Σαρκοβόρο Τσίρκο"
• Japanese: "肉食カーニバル", Soshisha, 2005, ISBN 4-7942-1413-8
• Korean: "살벌한 유원지" (Bloody Amusement Park), Munhakdongnae Publishing Co, Ltd., 2009, ISBN 978-89-546-0968-5
• Russian: "Кровожадный Карнавал" (The Bloodthirsty Carnival), Azbuka, 2004, ISBN 978-5-352-02212-2
• French: La Fête Féroce (The Ferocious Festival)
• Turkish: "Karnaval Ucubeleri" (Carnival Freaks)
• Polish: Krwiożerczy karnawał" (The Bloodthirsty Carnival)

Adaptation

The book will be adapted into the ninth and tenth episodes of the second season of the television series adaptation produced by Netflix.

See also

• Violet Baudelaire
• Klaus Baudelaire
• Sunny Baudelaire
• Count Olaf
• Lemony Snicket
• Esmé Squalor
• V.F.D.