Dear reader, if you chose this book in hopes of reading a simple and cheerful story, I'm afraid you may have made the wrong choice. The story might seem cheerful at first, when the Baudelaire siblings spend some time with some interesting reptiles and a scatterbrained uncle, but let’s not kid ourselves.

If you know even a few things about the unfortunate Baudelaires, then you already know that even pleasant events lead exactly down the same path, the path of misery. In fact, in the pages you now hold in your hands, the three siblings escape from a car accident, a horrible smell, a deadly snake, a large knife, a heavy brass lamp, as well as the reappearance of someone they wished never to see again.

I am obliged to record these tragic events, but you are free to put back the book you hold and look for something more cheerful.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]