The Grim Grotto

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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 ISBN 0-06-441014-5
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 immediately after the events of The Slippery Slope with the Baudelaires travelling 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. The children climb over to the hatch, and 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 optimist whom the children first 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. They have less than a week before the meeting at the Hotel Denouement. Widdershins runs on the moral He who hesitates is lost. 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 that 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 octopus with many tentacles, and inside they can see Count Olaf. They shut off all the engines of their submarine, but Olaf is chased away by a third vessel.

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. Because the Grotto is so remote, it acts as a quarantine for the Medusoid Mycelium which would otherwise be unstoppable, although Fiona suspects there is an antidote. 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 smaller areas 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 grotto, the children find a dry area above the waterline, which appears to have belonged to someone in V.F.D. It is filled with items, mostly junk and wasabi, but also - as Fiona discovers - 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.

On returning to the submarine, the children find Phil and Widdershins gone. In their place are three balloons tied to chairs, with the letters "V", "F" and "D" on them. But this is little horror compared to what happens next, as the children discover a spore of the mushroom has infiltrated Sunny's helmet and she is trapped within it. Fiona stops Klaus from opening the helmet, since at the moment they must keep the girl quarantined. She goes to work on an antidote while asking the others to fire up 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 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 Snow Scouts, and other children the Baudelaires do not recognize. Esmé Squalor, wearing an octopus costume, is in charge of the children. 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 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 is 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 breaks down but Sunny saves her own life when she manages to blurt out one word, the culinary equivalent of horseradish: wasabi, which she still has from their trip into the underwater cavern.

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, which touches Violet. The letter is also 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 likely might not do the same kindness to them, and Klaus reluctantly agrees. Sunny, recuperated, joins her siblings. Klaus is first to solve the riddle, when he learns that the code asks the Baudelaires to meet Quigley at Briny Beach. As Violet begins decoding the other part, they are interrupted by Olaf, Esmé and Carmelita, who have found them. Olaf announces triumphantly that they are just minutes from the Hotel Denouement and, even worse, Fiona has joined his team. The girl herself enters, with Fernald, in uniform and tells the Baudelaires that it is true.

Olaf triumphantly tells the Baudelaires that, once they arrive at the Hotel Denouement, he will finally 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, which she could use to research. She is clearly tempted, but Olaf returns and takes it. Suddenly, on the radar, the mysterious question mark beast appears again. Olaf clearly knows what it is, as he orders everyone to battle stations to get away from it. Fiona, knowing that she is wrong, allows the Baudelaires free access to the Queequeg to escape, and kisses Klaus before she leaves. Violet powers up the Queequeg, as Klaus navigates her out of the Carmelita. The Queequeg is freed from Olaf's clutches.

When Tuesday comes, they find themselves at Briny Beach - back where all of their troubles began. Surprisingly, from the fog, comes Mr. Poe. 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. The children say goodbye to the startled Mr. Poe and walk up the beach where they find the waiting taxi. Inside is a woman they have never seen before, however 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] Cultural references and literary allusions

  • 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.
  • Sunny uses foreign words in this book:
  • In the final illustration, there is a concierge's cap on the beach. The cap reads "Hotel D", foreshadowing the Hotel Denouement in the next book, The Penultimate Peril.

[edit] Cover images

US cover

UK cover

[edit] Translations

v • d • e
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Novels
Other media
Accompanying materials
Characters
Elements
V.F.D.