When I first picked up Poison for Breakfast and saw it was written by Lemony Snicket, I felt inclined to read it just out of how much I enjoyed his books when I was younger, especially the Series of Unfortunate Events and All the Wrong Questions series of books.

However now that I am older, I was unsure if what I had come to expect from Snicket would be as enjoyable or memorable now that I have more experience reading and different tastes. To my pleasant surprise, this is the most mature and unique Lemony Snicket book I’ve read, even if it’s title and premise seems just as bizarre and out of place as something you would see in any other one of his works.

The entire book revolves a man and his reaction when he is eating his regular breakfast and finds a note saying, “you had poison for breakfast”. This sends the man into a sort of introspective spiral, as he spends the day trying to figure out who did it, while also reflecting on his philosophy towards life and the creative process. The book is a whole is very short at around 150 pages, and all of those pages are dedicated to the man and his reaction to what he believes will be his final day alive. While the book has a style very characteristic of Snicket, I think that most of the things he writes about in this are more observational instead of focused on a singular plot line or a classic story structure. Snicket even says on the description on the back of the book that some may call this a “book of philosophy”, which I think is a pretty appropriate term for the work.

Overall, I enjoyed the read, and thought it was definitely worth my time. One thing I would say to anyone wanting to read this is that it can be a bit hard to follow Snicket’s train of thought throughout the book, as his writing is full of phrases or references that have deeper meanings when looked into. Because of this I think this could a book that could be better if I decide to read it again, because I feel like I would pick up on a lot more of the messages Snicket conveys throughout the text. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in books with more philosophical elements, as well as anyone who is familiar with Snicket from his older work as well.

Poison for Breakfast by Lemony Snicket is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library.