Book #29: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is one of my favourite books of all time, and I enjoyed re-reading this, particularly as the edition I read was illustrated by my favourite illustrator, Quentin Blake, who has worked on most (possibly all) of Roald Dahl's books.
Whenever I have read this, I am always keen to get to the scenes set within the chocolate factory, which I find most enjoyable, just because this is where Roald Dahl's imagination really comes out, with all of the bizarre inventions that Willy Wonka has created. It's a place that I'd love to read more about, and that I wish I were able to visit myself.
Reading it again as an adult, I remembered quite how dark it is in places; I recall probably asking a few questions about when being read it as a child, probably along the lines of "Is this character okay?", or "Is this character going to die?" The mildly disturbing content comes almost entirely from the speculation over the fates of the children who fall afoul of the chocolate factory (the implication that Verruca Salt is going to end up in a lit furnace, or that Augustus Gloop will be turned into fudge, for example). There's also the moment in one of the Oompa Loompa songs (a joy to read, and similar to Roald Dahl's "Revolting Rhymes" book) that I had forgotten about, which has a character biting her tongue in half.
I enjoyed reading this again, and it remains as an absolute classic.
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