The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket (Audiobook Review)

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Title: The Hostile Hospital
Series: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Eighth
Author: Lemony Snicket
Narrator: Tim Curry
Publisher: Recorded Books
Duration: 4 hours, 12 minutes
Copyright: 2004
Genres: adventure, fantasy, juvenile
Filed in: Audiobook reviews
Review copy provided by Kearney Public Library.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY:
Dear Listener,
This audiobook is the only one which describes every last detail of the Baudelaire children's miserable stay at Heimlich Hospital, which makes it one of the most dreadful audiobooks in the world.
There are many pleasant things to listen to, but this audiobook contains not one of them. Within it are such burdensome details as a suspicious shopkeeper, unnecessary surgery, an intercom system, anesthesia, heart-shaped balloons, and some very startling news about a fire. Clearly you do not want to hear about such things.
I have sworn to research this story, and to record it as best I can, so I should know that this audiobook is something best left on the ground, where you undoubtedly found it.
With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket
©2001 Lemony Snicket; (P)2001, 2003 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

DEDICATION: For Beatrice: Summer without you is as cold as winter. Winter without you is even colder.

MY THOUGHTS: The plot thickens! In this eighth audiobook of the “A Series of Unfortunate Events” series, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire join the Volunteers Fighting Disease, whose goal is to cheer up the patients of Heimlich Hospital, and deliver heart-shaped balloons to them. While at the hospital, the unfortunate orphans discover more clues about the plans of Count Olaf, and the fire that destroyed the Baudelaire mansion, killing their parents. Or did it? There is new evidence that suggests there may have been a survivor. But before the kids can learn more, that master-of-disguises, Count Olaf, who is now posing as the director of human resources at the hospital, captures Violet and schedules her for a very dangerous and unnecessary cranio-ectomy operation. It will be up to Klaus and Sunny to rescue their sister, and find out once and for all what VFD means. It can’t just be Volunteers Fighting Disease, can it?
The first six audiobooks of this series were more or less individual stories about the unfortunate lives of the Baudelaire orphans, but beginning with audiobook seven, Lemony Snicket began dropping clues to a much deeper plot. What is VFD? Who is Jack Snicket, and why does he appear in a photo which includes the Baudelaire’s parents? Did someone really survive the fire? So far, there are more questions than answers, but you get the feeling that the orphans are getting closer to a greater truth, adding a sense of urgency and mystery to these stories, which started out very simply. It’s getting harder and harder to put these audiobooks down!

NARRATOR: Just like Lemony Snicket, Tim Curry also seems to be getting more creative in his narration of these audiobooks. There are new supporting characters to each audiobook, and Curry is coming up with some unique voices. He’s no Jim Dale (and who is, really) but some of Tim Curry’s voices are downright amusing.

SPECIAL FEATURES: In each audiobook in “A Series of Unfortunate Events”, Lemony Snicket always uses a lot of words or phrases that younger readers may not be familiar with. Every time he does this, the author explains what the word or phrase means in very plain language that anyone can understand. In most cases, Lemony Snicket goes a step further and uses the word or phrase several times throughout the audiobook to help drive home the point. These are great audiobooks for kids to learn the proper usage of some new words.

FINAL WORD: The storyline of these audiobooks gets more interesting all the time, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS:
The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket (Audiobook Review)
The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket (Audiobook Review)
The Carnivorous Carnival (Audiobook Review)

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If you liked this audiobook review, you can purchase the audiobook here:
Get "The Hostile Hospital", A Series of Unfortunate Events book 8 by Lemony Snicket (Unabridged Audiobook) from Amazon.com.

This audiobook review is based on the unabridged audiobook.
Audiobook review by Steven Brandt
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