At once a personal memoir and a literary exploration, a how-to book and a critical inquiry, a sequence of stories and a series of events, And Then? And Then? What Else? is a book not just for anyone curious about the creator of Lemony Snicket, but for anyone who loved books when they were a child, and still loves them now.
And Then? And Then? What Else? is a bit of a grab bag, starting in the middle and ending in the middle, while telling a series of stories that both connect and overlap ... Handler is skilled and nuanced as a writer, with a developed voice and point of view. He has never fit the categories, so why would we expect him to start here? ... He is frank without being overly revealing and always seeks out some larger integration, a place where thought and feeling might intersect.
Late in the book he abandons his quirky-cool demeanor... and lets fly with an f-bomb-laden rant about cancel culture and the pressure writers feel to be everything to everyone. It’s a fierce cri de coeur at a time when books — especially kids’ books — are targeted on the right and writers who misstep on the inclusivity front get targeted on the left ... Elsewhere his prose tends toward the gentle, sprightly and personal.
