(Book Review--Children's Literature, Fantasy)
Started: September 9, 2021
Finished: September 11, 2021
So, if you've been following this blog recently, all of this is going to sound familiar. This is yet another children's classic book that I had read to me back in grade school. (It was either read to us by my 3rd grade or 4th grade teacher. I think probably 4th grade.)
I'm re-reading it now because my wife has just read it, and I thought it would be fun to re-read these books with her as she discovers them for the first time. (For other books in this series, see: Charlotte's Web, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Harry Potter and The BFG.)
Unlike other books in this series, I felt like I remembered The Witches fairly well. And indeed, when I re-read it, I discovered that it largely followed my memories. There were a couple things I had forgotten about, but on the whole I had remembered this book pretty well. (It's funny how one thing will stick in your memory over the years, and another thing won't. In the case of The BFG, it turns out I had completely forgotten the story. But in the case of The Witches, I remembered most of the book.) So, let's talk about the book.
The Review ***SPOILERS****
Another winner from Roald Dahl!
For anyone keeping track, my record so far has been:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory--much better than I remembered.
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator--not as good as I remembered.
The BFG--not as good as I remembered.
Now, I'm happy to report, The Witches is every bit as good as I remembered.
It's not quite as wacky as Roald Dahl's other books. The premise is pretty constrained (by Dahl's standards). But although that ordinarily might be a detriment, in this case it works pretty well. The slower pacing of the novel and the constraint allows Dahl to linger on the scenes a lot more, and the scene but it does an excellent job of creating a scene. The whole scene with the witches meeting takes up 100 pages (out of a total of 325 pages), but is a perfect example of tension slowly building.
[According to Wikipedia, Roald Dahl received a lot of help on this book from editor Stephen Roxburgh, which may explain why it has a slightly different feel to other Roald Dahl books.]
In the second half of the book, the boy and his grandmother hatch a plan to foil the witches, and from here on out, the book is very predictable. This is one of those books where the characters make a plan, and then follow the plan. There are a few hiccups along the way, but basically from this point on you know exactly where the book is going.
But in spite of the second half of the book being very predictable, it's still a pretty breezy read and enjoyable book.
Other Notes
* In my review of Harry Potter, I compared the beginning of the book to Roald Dahl. Jim commented "The spoiled fat kid trope seems right out of a Roald Dahl book"
Agreed. And the character of Bruno Jenkins in The Witches is definitely another example of the spoiled fat kid. In fact, Bruno Jenkins could easily double as Dudley Dursley.
Bruno Jenkins is completely superfluous to the plot, of course. You could take him out entirely, and the story structure wouldn't change that much. But it would be a much less interesting story without Bruno Jenkins providing some comic relief.
The Witches was banned by some libraries, due to perceived misogyny.[11] Despite The Witches original success, it began to be challenged not long after its publication due to the perceived viewpoint that witches are a “sexist concept.”[12] It appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990 to 1999, at number 22.[13]
Ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous! The book is not misogynistic. It's not saying that woman are evil, it's saying that witches are evil.
Video Review (Playlist HERE)
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