The Witches
The Witches by Roald Dahl
These past few weeks I have been reading a book titled The Witches by the infamous English-Norwegian author Roald Dahl, who has written several other very well-known books in the past. They have been translated to many different languages all over the world. Books such as Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox and last but not least Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which arguably, is his biggest and most popular book he’s ever written.
The plot is about an English-Norwegian young boy and his parents, who are going on their annual vacation to Norway to visit the boy’s grandmother. Whilst driving across the Norwegian countryside they landslide and collide into another car, dealing a devastating blow to the car and killing both parents in the process. As specified in the parents’ will, the grandmother now has full custody over the boy and he has to come live with her in Norway, until she decides it’s best for them to move back to his old home, in which he grew up, in England. The grandmother is a fantastic storyteller and tells him many stories about everything from vampires to zombies. One day she tells him a story about witches and how they’re experts at hiding in plain sight, disguised as regular human beings, normally wearing gloves, high-heeled shoes and wigs, seeking to eat children. At first he doesn’t believe her, but only a few weeks later after their move to England, he has his first interaction with a real witch and his whole entire world changes.
The book is heavily reliant on the events that are taking place, clever wordplay and fun storytelling rather than highly detailed descriptions of surroundings and characters, which really contributes to the author, Roald Dahl’s style of writing. Not much is known about the young boy, or his grandmother or his parents for that matter. The one and only thing the reader learns about the main character, is that he is seven years old.
I quite liked this book. It was a bit sad at times, hilarious at other times, and particularly interesting and creative all the way through, from start to finish. Even if it’s meant for kids I would consider myself a bit of a fan of Roald Dahl’s work and his utterly imaginative thoughts and seemingly creative overflow. Since I’ve in the past read the books and seen the films about Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I reckoned it’d be interesting to see how I perceive Roald Dahl’s writing now that I’m a tiny bit older. I expected to get that “Roald Dahl feeling”, as I call it, which is implemented in his approach to storytelling and writing in general. I’m very happy to say that I wasn’t disappointed at all. I enjoyed the story but also thought that it was slightly difficult to comprehend at times, considering it’s written autobiographically with real stories from Roald Dahl and his experiences growing up, but portrayed through a fun story about witches, as a regular children's fantasy book.
To conclude this book review, I would rate this book a solid eight out of ten (8/10) because of all the things it does right. Clever and fun storytelling, wordplay, and creative plot. I would recommend this book to people who are looking for a bit of nostalgia or just a fun and light hearted read in general.
/ Scott Leiker
These past few weeks I have been reading a book titled The Witches by the infamous English-Norwegian author Roald Dahl, who has written several other very well-known books in the past. They have been translated to many different languages all over the world. Books such as Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox and last but not least Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which arguably, is his biggest and most popular book he’s ever written.
The plot is about an English-Norwegian young boy and his parents, who are going on their annual vacation to Norway to visit the boy’s grandmother. Whilst driving across the Norwegian countryside they landslide and collide into another car, dealing a devastating blow to the car and killing both parents in the process. As specified in the parents’ will, the grandmother now has full custody over the boy and he has to come live with her in Norway, until she decides it’s best for them to move back to his old home, in which he grew up, in England. The grandmother is a fantastic storyteller and tells him many stories about everything from vampires to zombies. One day she tells him a story about witches and how they’re experts at hiding in plain sight, disguised as regular human beings, normally wearing gloves, high-heeled shoes and wigs, seeking to eat children. At first he doesn’t believe her, but only a few weeks later after their move to England, he has his first interaction with a real witch and his whole entire world changes.
The book is heavily reliant on the events that are taking place, clever wordplay and fun storytelling rather than highly detailed descriptions of surroundings and characters, which really contributes to the author, Roald Dahl’s style of writing. Not much is known about the young boy, or his grandmother or his parents for that matter. The one and only thing the reader learns about the main character, is that he is seven years old.
I quite liked this book. It was a bit sad at times, hilarious at other times, and particularly interesting and creative all the way through, from start to finish. Even if it’s meant for kids I would consider myself a bit of a fan of Roald Dahl’s work and his utterly imaginative thoughts and seemingly creative overflow. Since I’ve in the past read the books and seen the films about Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I reckoned it’d be interesting to see how I perceive Roald Dahl’s writing now that I’m a tiny bit older. I expected to get that “Roald Dahl feeling”, as I call it, which is implemented in his approach to storytelling and writing in general. I’m very happy to say that I wasn’t disappointed at all. I enjoyed the story but also thought that it was slightly difficult to comprehend at times, considering it’s written autobiographically with real stories from Roald Dahl and his experiences growing up, but portrayed through a fun story about witches, as a regular children's fantasy book.
To conclude this book review, I would rate this book a solid eight out of ten (8/10) because of all the things it does right. Clever and fun storytelling, wordplay, and creative plot. I would recommend this book to people who are looking for a bit of nostalgia or just a fun and light hearted read in general.
/ Scott Leiker
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