The Ersatz Elevator (2001)
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The Ersatz Elevator Book Review
The Ersatz Elevator is a 2001 children’s novel by Lemony Snicket. It’s the sixth entry in A Series of Unfortunate Events.
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“If we wait until we’re ready,
we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives“
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Here, the children have new guardians. The man himself is fine, but he is passive in dealing with his wife who is a horrible woman obsessed with ‘in’ things and auctions. She doesn’t care about the children, and eventually it is revealed that she was in cahoots with Count Olaf all along.
Let’s first talk about the story. The reason why this is the weakest novel so far in this series lies in its standard, predictable nature. By this point, we know what’s going to happen by the end of the story and that was most obvious in this instance. Also, its abundance of technical detail was done for both better and for worse as it was meticulous and intriguing, but also sometimes overly explained and those plans and gadgets took too much time from the overall plot.
So the Squalors are once again horrible guardians for the children. Jerome is a very realistic man who always makes sure to stay away from fighting with his domineering wife, but even he ended up not helping the kids in the end so he’s far from a great man which made him interesting for sure.
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As for Esme, I honestly loved her. Yes, she is a caricature and a stereotype, but that works in the context of children’s entertainment and I wholeheartedly found her the best character of this particular book. She’s menacing, calculated and competent. And I cannot wait to see her return, if she returns with Olaf in the next installment.
Speaking of the count, he unfortunately got the least amount of plot points in this novel, but he still made an impact, and was overall a good villain. Poe continues to be insufferably stupid whereas Olaf’s henchmen are per usual terrific. As for the kids, Violet uses her tech skills to great effect here, Klaus is also solid and Sunny using her teeth was funny whereas her speaking a full word in the end was a welcome new development.
The writing continues to be strong in The Ersatz Elevator, but the author does have a tendency to over-explain some plot points. The dialogue is fine, but the humor is actually very strong here, especially in some very witty explanations of some vocabulary and stuff like that.
The greatest aspect to this particular entry in the series is by far the imagery and the setting. This very high building with a hidden elevator is beautifully imagined and utilized into the plot as it’s actually important, and the action was excellent with very high stakes. I found the author explaining some tech to children very well done and important too.
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Actually, my favorite moments are all in that elevator. Though extended at times, those moments were excellent and very intriguing, and also quite dark. The same goes for the fact that the Quagmire triplets continue to be tortured by Olaf and his henchmen. The details, the triplets and the overall arc progresses and deepens to the point that it is now becoming very interesting and more complex to follow. I just want more variety in terms of its plot progression and structure.
Overall, The Ersatz Elevator is very good. Yes, it’s not great as its predecessors owing to some problematic writing, very stereotypical characters and a predictable outcome, but the setting is beautifully utilized and some of the imagery here was incredibly memorable. The meticulous details and world building both deepen while the villains continue to steal the show once again.
