Let's Bust a Recap : Roald Dahl

Well, I've gotten a couple more Dahls under my belt so it's time for a recap, but unfortunately, these are the first two of Roald's books that have fallen slightly flat for me. I read both of these aloud with my nephew, and they were funny but they're just not on the same level with the rest of his work. (At least his work that I've read so far.)

In Dahl's 1970 Fantastic Mr Fox, our titular character—Mr Fox—spends his days cleverly stealing from three loathsome farmers—Boggis, Bunce, and Bean—to feed his wife and four children. Eventually, the farmers get fed up with this and determine to kill Mr Fox, but he still manages to outsmart them by burrowing his way to their goods and continuing to steal from them to help his own family and all the other underground creatures to survive. The book ends with the three farmers sitting outside Mr Fox's hole still, waiting for him to surface so they can blow him to smithereens. 

In Dahl's 1990 Esio Trot—the last book to be published in his lifetime—our lonely protagonist Mr Hoppy comes up with a devious plot to win the heart and hand of his downstairs neighbor Mrs Silver, a widow he's been smitten with for years but has been too shy to ever do more than speak to her from his upstairs balcony. Mrs Silver's entire life centers around her small pet tortoise Alfie but she's concerned that he's not growing so Mr Hoppy convinces her to speak to Alfie in tortoise language three times a day to help him grow faster. (Tortoise language is just regular English backwards; hence "Esio Trot" is an anadrome of "tortoise".) She, of course, gives this a try but what Mr Hoppy actually does is steal Alfie and replace him with a slightly larger tortoise...which he continues to do until "Alfie" can no longer fit through the door of his little tortoise house and Mrs Silver realizes the "magic words" worked and is so delighted with Mr Hoppy that they get married. 

I mean, I think we can all agree that we're not out here reading Roald Dahl to learn any great moral lessons but can you see how these two might be a bit problematic? They're both silly and clever and certainly not meant to be taken seriously, but is it okay to steal from people if they're fat and ugly and stupid? Sure, it's in a fox's nature to hunt, but in Fantastic Mr Fox we've anthropomorphised him so it begs the question. And is it ever okay to trick a woman into marrying you by means of stealing her beloved pet? A living animal, I might add? Granted, Dahl assures us that the real Alfie ends up living happily ever after with a little girl called Roberta Squibb, but does Mr Hoppy ever come clean with Mrs Silver? And can a relationship based on deception possibly turn out all right? These books can provide a great jumping off point for some important conversations but for sheer entertainment value's sake? They miss the mark. 

So no, these wouldn't be the first Roald Dahl books I'd recommend, but if you're ready to have a low-pressure philosophical conversation with your child after a few laughs, these might be just the ticket. 

As for my journey through Dahl's work, I'm now over halfway through my lovely box set of his books and have six left to go. What should come next?