The Austere Academy

A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 5

By: Lemony Snicket

Narrated by: Lemony Snicket

Length: 3 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Dear Listener,

If you are looking for a story about cheerful youngsters spending a jolly time at boarding school, look elsewhere. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are intelligent and resourceful children, and you might expect that they would do very well at school.

Don't.

For the Baudelaires, school turns out to be another miserable episode in their unlucky lives. Truth be told, within the chapters that make up this dreadful story, the children will face snapping crabs, strict punishments, dripping fungus, comprehensive exams, violin recitals, S.O.R.E., and the metric system.

It is my solemn duty to stay up all night reading my history of these three hapless youngsters into a microphone, but you may be more comfortable getting a good night's sleep. In that case, you should probably listen to something else.

With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket

Don't miss the rest of A Series of Unfortunate Events or Audible's exclusive interview with Lemony Snicket!

©2001 Lemony Snicket (P)2001, 2003 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Critic reviews

"It's a pleasure to hear an author read his own creation. One gets to hear the story just as the creator would like it heard. Each inflection, babble of baby Sunny, elongated word, or character introduction is Snicket's own, with all the import he would like it to have. This is a listening delight." (AudioFile)

My Kids Don't Curry Favor or Favor Curry

Having been a Rocky Horror Picture Show devotee, I couldn't wait to hear Tim Curry read Lemony Snicket. Sadly, he took it far over the top, with Mr. Poe's cough the obvious example. Lemony Snicket's narration, though, is dead on. He captures the slightly depressed, matter of fact tone of the book perfectly. My kids, having heard him reading his own work, vastly prefer him to Tim Curry. It's too bad he doesn't narrate more of his own books.

He makes a wonderful McKinley on Assisination Vacation, too.

the series of unfortunate events

I like this book its just the narrator makes of dole so its not to exciting

Great Story

Unfortunately the reader is just not good, he should stay written stories and not reading them.

Awful narration!

Paul is a cute story to follow, the narrators voice actually hurts my ears at times. I will have to finish reading the series as I cannot listen to him! I would rather be in a room full of rocking chairs and long tailed cats hearing them, screech, and pay to hear that man!

Bring back Tim Curry!

As much as I like this series, I must say that the more I hear of Lemony Snicket's narration, the less enjoyable the audio experience. I suppose that is to be expected as Tim Curry is such a good actor and has that great British accent to boot.

Daniel is coming in like a freight train

The series continues to be entertaining and the author is hitting his stride with the narration. I actually LOL several times during the book. I find I'm enjoying reading the books in sequential order, straight through. It keeps the myriad of plot points organized and I pick up the subtle nuances quickly. Let's move on to the next, shall we?

Sometimes the author isn't the best narrator

While the author-narrator did an outstanding job voicing the villains, his other reading abilities (for the main characters and narration) do not match the professional narrators I've grown used to. As for the story, if you've read the first three books, you know what you can expect.

Love!

reading series of unfortunate events always brings me back to my childhood, and gives me a warm feeling.

The Series of Unfortunate Events

I loved how it was so detailed and I love this series once my brother gets older I will tell him to read this series.

Great book,bad narration

I'm sorry lemony, but your voice is very flat and boring but I still don't think anyone could do a better impression of the characters than the person who actually designed them! You are still a great author!