The Grim Grotto
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Grim Grotto | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 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(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Publication date | September 21, 2004 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 323 |
| ISBN | 0-06-441014-5 |
| OCLC Number | 55681958 |
| Preceded by | The Slippery Slope |
| Followed by | The Penultimate Peril |
The Grim Grotto is the eleventh novel in the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The book begins where The Slippery Slope left off, with the Baudelaires traveling on a collapsing toboggan down the Stricken Stream of the Mortmain Mountains. They are washed into the ocean where they are caught on a submarine which rises from the waters. A voice within asks if the orphans are friends or foes, then asks for the password. Violet guesses correctly that the password is the V.F.D. motto: The world is quiet here, as they saw it written in the ruins of the V.F.D. library. The children descend into the submarine, which they discover is the Queequeg captained by Captain Widdershins, a V.F.D. member and old friend of the Baudelaire parents. Also on board is Widdershins' stepdaughter Fiona and the ship's cook, Phil, the Baudelaire's optimistic fellow worker whom they met at the Lucky Smells Lumbermill in Paltryville.
The Baudelaires discover that the crew of the Queequeg are searching for the mysterious sugar bowl which was thrown downstream. As time passes, Fiona, an expert mycologist, and Klaus begin to fall in love with one another. Sunny, meanwhile, helps Phil cook dinner for everyone. Violet also learns that Fiona and Widdershins have learned of the Baudelaires' plight via their telegram device, which is now broken. She tries to fix it.
Klaus, meanwhile, has examined the tidal charts to estimate the location of the sugar bowl given the water cycle. He suspects it to be in the Gorgonian Grotto, located near Anwhistle Aquatics. Widdershins explains that the aquatics center was founded by Aunt Josephine's brother-in-law Gregor. At this time, the group are interrupted by an approaching submarine vessel on the sonar, in the shape of a giant multi-tentacled octopus, captained by Count Olaf. The octopus is, however, driven off by a mysterious ship which appears on the radar in the form of a question mark. As Captain Widdershins exclaims, there are things too terrible for young people to know.
Over dinner, Fiona explains her family situation - her brother Fernald has been missing for many years, her real father left when Fiona was small and her mother died in a manatee accident. The group then discusses V.F.D., which began as a volunteer fire department but soon became volunteers for everyone.
Fiona asks about the message Violet and Klaus found at the former V.F.D. headquarters. Widdershins doubts it would be for Jacques, who is dead, which gets the group wondering about whose initials J.S. stands for. Fiona then looks in her mycological textbooks to discover information about the Gorgonian Grotto. It is a cone-shaped cave which houses a rare species of poisonous mushroom. They wax and wane periodically, but when the mushrooms are waxing, they are extremely deadly - as a poet says in her text - "a single spore has such grim power/That you may die within the hour". The grotto is remote enough that it can quarantine the Medusoid Mycelium from the outside world. Fiona suspects there may be an antidote to the poisonous effects of the fungus. Widdershins sends the children off to get some sleep, but steadfastly refuses to tell them about the sugar bowl's purpose in the plot.
Later, the children wake to find the submarine has arrived at the Grotto. Widdershins and Phil are too tall to fit into the narrow point of the grotto so Fiona, Klaus, Violet and Sunny - who cannot fit into a diving suit but instead floats in a diving helmet - are sent in. Inside, the children find a dry area above the waterline, which is littered with detritus that had washed up in the grotto. It is filled with items, mostly junk and wasabi, but also - just as Fiona suspected - is the breeding ground of the Medusoid Mycelium. The children scurry into the far corner where they are safe while the mushrooms rise out of the earth. While they are waiting for the Medusoid Mycelium to wane again, the children occupy themselves by investigating the knick-knacks lying around the cave, many of which seem to be connected to the V.F.D. Violet finds some information about Fiona's family that makes her mistrust Fiona. However, she doesn't tell her siblings about it until later.
On returning to the submarine, they find it deserted. Some balloons are tied to chairs, with the letters "V", "F" and "D" on them (standing for "Violet's-Fifteenth-Date") apparently as a surprise birthday party for Violet. But this surprise is nothing compared to the shock of what happens next, as the children discover a spore of the mushroom has infiltrated Sunny's helmet while in the grotto. Fiona stops Klaus from opening the helmet, insisting that Sunny must remain in the helmet for their collective safety until she can find an antidote. Violet objects and argues with Fiona, but is overruled when Fiona assumes the role of captain in her stepfather's absence. Fiona goes to research an antidote while asking the others to turn on the engines. Just as the ship starts up, Olaf's submarine returns and engulfs the Queequeg in its "jaw". Olaf comes down to the children and tells them that he has been at the Hotel Denouement preparing for his final scheme, but had to return to search for the sugar bowl himself, which is the only thing he needs to complete his nefarious plans. He is overjoyed to find he has also captured Fiona, and shows little concern for Sunny's increasingly dire condition.
As the children enter the next room they see how the ship is powered, by dozens of children rowing the "tentacles". Among them are children from Prufrock Preparatory School, the captured Snow Scouts, and other children the Baudelaires do not recognize. Esmé Squalor, wearing an octopus costume, bosses the children around. It is here that we learn the ship is named the Carmelita, after Carmelita Spats who is also on-board and being spoiled by Esmé. The children are taken to the brig where they are to be interrogated by the hook-handed man, until Olaf stuns them all: the hook-handed man is Fiona's brother - Fernald. Fiona is shocked, but Fernald defends his work saying that Olaf isn't all evil, that no one is all evil. Fiona begs him to help them get back to the Queequeg, for Sunny's sake, and Fernald finally agrees on the condition that they take him along.
So, the Baudelaires, Fiona and Fernald plot their escape, aided unwittingly by Carmelita, who is doing a horrible song and dance routine that distracts Esmé and the rowing children. The Baudelaires return to the Queequeg, but Carmelita spots Fiona and Fernald trying to leave. Fernald pretends that Fiona has joined the team, and they need to borrow Esmé's "tagliatelle grande" - the giant noodle she uses to whip the children - to torture the Baudelaires. Esmé gives in, but changes Fiona's name to "Triangle Eyes" because of the shape of her glasses. Back on the Queequeg, Sunny very close to death. Klaus and Violet read Fiona's texts and realize that the antidote is horseradish. Although they have none, they discover a surprise Sunny and Phil had made - a birthday cake for Violet who turned fifteen without even realizing it. Violet and Klaus begin to break down but have enough courage to open up the helmet containing Sunny, and Sunny saves her own life when she manages to blurt out one word, the culinary equivalent of horseradish: wasabi. Luckily, wasabi was one one the items they had retrieved from the grotto.
While Sunny recovers, Klaus and Violet are stunned when the telegram machine starts back up again. The Voluntary Factual Dispatch they receive is from Quigley Quagmire, something that pleases Violet, as she and Quigley fell in love with each other during The Slippery Slope and Violet has been dying to hear from him. There is also a copy sent to the mysterious J.S. Quigley needs the Baudelaires at a certain coded location by Tuesday, the very next day, and just two days before the meeting at the Hotel. Violet suggests that answering the code and finding Widdershins are more important than freeing Fiona, who would not return the kindness, and Klaus reluctantly agrees. Sunny, recuperated, joins her siblings. Klaus is first to solve the riddle: Quigley will meet them at Briny Beach. As Violet begins decoding the other part, they are discovered by Olaf, Esme and Carmelita. Olaf announces triumphantly that they are just minutes from the Hotel Denouement and, even worse, Fiona has joined his team. Fiona enters, with Fernald, in uniform and tells the Baudelaires that it is true. Fiona regretfully admits that she joined Olaf's crew to be with Fernald, apparently now the only family she has left.
Olaf triumphantly tells the Baudelaires that, once they arrive at the Hotel Denouement, he will have won. While he, Esmé and Carmelita search the Queequeg for things to pilfer, Violet and Klaus attempt to reason with Fiona. They offer her the mushroom sample still inside the helmet, and offer it in exchange for letting them escape. She is clearly tempted by the opportunity to study such a specimen, but Olaf returns and takes it. Suddenly, on the radar, the mysterious question mark ship appears again. Olaf clearly knows what it is, as he orders everyone to battle stations to flee. Fiona, knowing that she has made the wrong decision, allows the Baudelaires to escape in the Queequeg, and kisses Klaus before she leaves. Violet powers up the Queequeg, as Klaus navigates her out of the Carmelita.
When Tuesday comes, they find themselves at Briny Beach - back where all of their troubles began. Surprisingly, Mr. Poe emerges from the fog. He received a message from J.S. - whom he assumes is The Daily Punctilio's reporter Geraldine Julienne - that he had to meet them at the beach. He seems, also, oddly interested in their fortune. He tells the children to come with him to the police station to resolve all of their troubles.
Violet, however, has decoded the Eliot message, which states: "violet" "taxi" "waiting" and has concluded that a taxi will be at the beach for them, and she sees a taxi waiting for them. After they have said goodbye to Mr Poe, the children start to walk away. Klaus wonders why Quigley said the word 'violet' in his poem, as the taxi is not purple. Sunny suggests that it is more code, but Violet thinks that Quigley just wanted to write her name. Klaus wonders if Quigley is in the taxi, and after saying 'I hope so' Violet starts running towards the taxi, with her siblings following more slowly. They arrive at the taxi to find a woman at the wheel that they have never seen before; even though children are instructed not to get into cars with strangers, they decide taxi cab drivers are different - and the orphans drive off with Kit Snicket to the Hotel Denouement.
[edit] Foreshadows
- On the last picture, there is a concierge's cap on the beach, foreshadowing The Penultimate Peril.
- Sunny says etartsigam which is magistrate backwards. This could be a foreshadow of The Penultimate Peril in which two villains are unjust members of Justice Strauss's jury.
[edit] Cultural references and literary allusions
- Queequeg is a character in Moby-Dick, and the face of Herman Melville appears on the submarine's uniforms.
- In another reference to Moby-Dick, Brett Helquist's self-portrait depicts him as a man similar to Captain Ahab with a scar on the side of his face, a whaling harpoon and a peg-leg, as described in Melville's novel.
- Throughout the novel, there are constant jibes at Edgar Guest's lack of talent.
- While in the grotto, Klaus Baudelaire finds a rock, its description closely resembles the Rosetta stone
- Sunny says etartsigam which is magistrate backwards. This could be a foreshadow of The Penultimate Peril in which two villains are unjust members of Justice Strauss's jury.
- Sunny uses foreign words in this book:
- Three poems are mentioned involving the Verse Fluctuation Declaration.
[edit] Translations
- Russian: "Угрюмый Грот", Azbuka, 2006, ISBN 2-352-01790-7
- Czech: "Ponurá sluj"
- Brazilian Portuguese: "A Gruta Gorgônea", Cia das Letras
[edit] See also
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Grim Grotto |
- Violet Baudelaire
- Klaus Baudelaire
- Sunny Baudelaire
- Count Olaf
- Lemony Snicket
- Esmé Squalor
- Captain Widdershins
- Fiona (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
- Phil (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
- Carmelita Spats
- Hook-handed man
- Count Olaf's theater troupe
- Sugar bowl (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
- Great Unknown (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
- V.F.D.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
