Matilda (by Roald Dahl)

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Last night, we watched the DVD of the 1996 film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book ‘Matilda’. Despite it being set in the US rather than the UK, I was pretty sure that it kept fairly closely to the story. Not that it mattered much; the film was excellent. Even for people like us who are several decades older than the intended audience. 

This morning I decided to check a few pages of the book, wondering whether (as in the film) it started with Matilda as a newborn…

The book actually starts with a few pages detailing the way that most parents consider their children to be the most wonderful, talented people in the world even when they are not. It then contrasts this with Mr and Mrs Wormwood, who tolerate their son Michael but think very little of their daughter Matilda. Which, the book states, would be bad enough if she were ordinary. But Matilda is an extraordinary little girl, who taught herself to read at three from the magazines lying around the house...

Once I’d finished the first chapter, naturally I kept going, and read the whole book in a couple of sittings.  It’s about 230 pages but they’re easy to read, with line drawings here and there, and text that’s a bit large than the novels I usually read. The line drawings are by Quentin Blake with his easily recognisable style, and undoubtedly add to the enjoyment of the book. 

Roald Dahl created some extraordinarily appalling characters. Matilda’s parents are bad enough. They care nothing for education, and like to spend their time watching poor quality TV, eating junk food. Her father is a used car salesman who takes pride in cheating his customers, and her mother spends her time on her face and hair, and playing bingo.  

But the star villain of this story is the dreadful, frightening Miss Trunchbull, headmistress of the school where Matilda is sent. She is a former athletic champion, big built and strong, and she hates children. She bullies them, terrorises them, and expects instant obedience. She’s a horrendous caricature of a twisted army major, and while some children would probably find her funny, she might give nightmares to others. 

Happily Matilda’s teacher is the opposite of Miss Trunchbull in almost every way. Miss Honey is quiet, caring, and very interested in her brilliant new pupil. For Matilda reads Charles Dickens for fun, and does complex arithmetic in her head. Miss Honey lives in a small cottage with no real furniture, while Miss Trunchbull is in a large house. 

To add to Matilda’s uniqueness, she discovers that she can manipulate inanimate objects with her mind. This leads to all kinds of trouble before she thinks of a way to solve the problem of Miss Trunchbull and have a happy ending for Miss Honey. 

Dahl’s books aren’t supposed to be taken seriously, and most of them have some dubious ethics even from the ‘good’ characters. This is no exception, not just because of Matilda’s unusual powers, but because she believes she has the right to take revenge: to punish her father or Miss Trunchbull for times they treat her unfairly. And while Matilda’s actions usually lead to amusing results, and nobody had taught her any kind of ethical or moral behaviour anyway, it seemed a bit cold-blooded that she would add up her wrongs and try to pay them back.

But other than that little niggle, I thought it a very enjoyable book despite having seen the film the evening before. Definitely recommended to children of about six or seven who read for themselves, or as a read-aloud.  

Review copyright 2024 Sue's Book Reviews

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (by Roald Dahl)

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After I finished reading Roald Dahl’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ to my four-year-old grandson, it was logical to continue to the sequel, ‘Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator’. I thought I must have read it previously, as we own a copy ourselves; but the plot (such as it is) was entirely unfamiliar to me. So perhaps I hadn’t.

The story begins where the previous book ends. Charlie Bucket, his Grandpa Joe and Willy Wonka are travelling in a giant glass lift, which Wonka announces is really an elevator as it can travel in all directions, not just up and down. The first port of call is to Charlie’s house where his parents and his three other grandparents are collected, along with the bed in which the grandparents had spent most of their recent years.

The book is bizarre, even by Dahl standards, and in places a little scary. The great glass elevator is supposed to be returning to the chocolate factory, but the wrong buttons are pressed and it ends up in space, first in a giant (but unoccupied) space hotel, and then in battle with some most unpleasant creatures, the ‘vermicious knids’. These shape-shifting monsters are the stuff of nightmares, although perhaps so ridiculous that nobody would believe in them.

Eventually the elevator reaches the chocolate factory, but then the story takes a rather pointless turn, introducing the concept of ‘Wonka-vite’, tablets which can rejuvenate people, reducing their age by several years at a time. This storyline took far too long, in my view, and I found it annoying rather than interesting.

I had a minor irritation in that the grandparents, all said to be in their nineties in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, are now in their early eighties or (in the case of one of the grandmothers) only 78. These ages are significant in what happens when they take some Wonka-vite. I also could not believe how ignorant they were - or how greedy, when given the opportunity to become a little younger and more healthy.

All in all, I thought this book rather disappointing as a sequel. There are some good parts in it, and some humour, and it ends satisfactorily - but I’d have liked to read more about the chocolate factory itself, and what happened, long-term, to Charlie and his family.

If you're going to read this, it should definitely follow on from the first book. It would make even less sense as a stand-alone!

Review copyright 2018 Sue's Book Reviews

Charlie and the chocolate factory (by Roald Dahl)

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My four-year-old grandson has an almost limitless capacity for listening to books, and one of his favourite authors is Roald Dahl. He asked me if I would read 'Charlie and the chocolate factory' to him a couple of days ago. I read a few chapters at a time, mostly near his bedtime, and finished it today.

It's a few years since I read the book, which is probably well-known. It's a classic Cinderella-style story of good over evil. Charlie Bucket, who is about ten, comes from an impoverished family who all seem to have their offspring very late in life. He has four grandparents still alive, but they're all in their nineties, and bedridden. Indeed, the four of them share the one bed in the Bucket household and until events in the story, none of them has got out of the bed for many years.

Charlie's father works at a toothpaste factory earning very little, and the family exist on potatoes, white bread and cabbages. Once a year, on his birthday, he receives a small bar of chocolate. And Charlie is a generous, thoughtful child although he has such a difficult life.

Willy Wonka's chocolate factory dominates the town where Charlie lives, and causes a lot of rumours to flow. Who exactly is Willy Wonka? Who are his workers, who are never seen coming and going? What are Wonka's secrets, and why can nobody ever see his factory...? Then one day, an announcement is made. In five chocolate bars, somewhere in the world, are five golden tickets. The five children who find them will be invited to spend a day in the factory and will receive a lifetime's supply of chocolates and other goodies.

In classic fairytale style, the first four tickets are found by obnoxious and demanding children, and it's no surprise that, by a miracle, Charlie finds the fifth. Much of the story then takes place on the day in the factory, as Willy Wonka shows the children and their parents (or, in Charlie's case, one of his grandparents) some of his amazing work.

This book has been compared to classic works such as those of Dante; I have no idea if this was deliberate, or if it's just that it's a good storyline. It's well enough known that it's no spoiler to say that, as expected in a fairytale, the obnoxious children gradually fall by the wayside and the unassuming Charlie emerges victorious.

The ending is perhaps a tad abrupt, as Willy Wonka takes Charlie and his grandfather on a somewhat wild journey in his huge glass lift, with a happy future promised for them all.

This is one of my favourite of Dahl’s books for children, and my grandson never tires of hearing it. My son had re-read it to him a few weeks earlier, and my husband read it to him a couple of weeks later. Recommended to any child ready to listen to chapter books, or reading fluently for themselves. It makes a good read-aloud too.

Note that this book led to two very different film adaptations. The 1971 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' has Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, and features some quite enjoyable songs.  The 2005 remake 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', has - unsurprisingly - much better graphics but is rather darker. It features Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. 

Review copyright 2018 Sue's Book Reviews