Matilda by Roald Dahl

When I was growing up Matilda was one of my favourite films and I don't think that as a child I had any awareness that it was in fact a book. As I grew older this is something that I became very much aware of and am surprised that it has taken until now to read it!

As with so many of the children's books that I have read this year the film version has been very much in my mind and so the shock of the differences between the two are always the thing that I am confronted with first. I was pleasantly surprised to realise that this book is very much British and I was completely enchanted with the quaint English village setting of the novel.

Matilda was charming and endearing throughout the whole of the novel and appeared in the prose so much younger than the actor who portrayed her in the film, as of course she was. The thing that struck me most was that even though she was 4 years old she was still relatable! Driven by a passion for learning and incensed by injustice Matilda reminded me of myself or at the least the best version of myself. The talent is clear in Dahl's ability to make a twenty year age difference seem like barely nothing or perhaps it's that I'm still a child at heart.

As is expected in a Dahl novel the adult characters were mean and horrid and yet recognisable in adults that we remember from our own childhood. There is some dark content in the book after all Matilda is consistently emotionally abused by her family. Not to mention the physical abuse that we read was inflicted on Miss Honey as a child and indeed the children at the school where Miss Trunchbull is Headmistress. If those aren't dark enough themes Dahl even suggests that Trunchbull is a murderer! This one of the most important points of praise for Dahl in my opinion as he doesn't shy away from issues that really effect children or hide them from the children themselves. These are after all children's books are most definitely subject matter that should be presented to children in a though-provoking way.

Roald Dahl books are still popular among children today and this story just helped me to realise why. The long-lasting popularity had been earned in my opinion and despite there being a darker side to Roald Dahl, he is a master of entertaining children with his writing. 

Rating: ★★★★