I have absolutely no idea what that image is supposed to be, but the book was Roald Dahl's Matilda. I hadn't read this one before because I was prejudiced against Dahl many years ago when I read that he had abandoned his wife after she had a stroke, and so never bought borrowed or read any of his books, not even for my children. I am old enough now to realise that there was probably a lot more to the situation than that stark 'fact', but I am also too old to start reading his books - unless as now I am obliged to.
Since I am not 'the target demographic' I can hardly pass judgement , although that won't stop me. I think it was a book of two halves; one's a school story, the other a fairy tale. I think the segue from one to the other is too obvious and jarring. I also think it shows Dahl to be an horrendous cultural snob. That said he was excellent in the first half on the powerlessness of small children in a world controlled, often in a manner perceived by them to be unjust, by adults.
I didn't particularly enjoy it, but I think as a child I might have done - although I am at a loss to think at what age I might have read and liked it
I am a bit concerned about the mess being made when scraping off the silver over the book pictures recently. I wonder if the stuff goes hard over time? with 85 (gulp) still to go, it would be a sad thing if they were all, bar the first dozen, to be so mangled.
I’ve read his books with classes in years 7 and 8, and especially with a year 7 special needs class. They love his gruesomeness, and his wonderful made up words. He’s definitely a snob, though, and his autobiography was difficult to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI read a few of his books a while back (have just realised that 'while' can now be measured in decades not months or years . . . ) and I am afraid I found him boring, snobby, and generally a rather cruel writer. Fortunately my children were not keen either!
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