| Product: |
Boy - Roald Dahl |
| Date: |
08/04/01 (550 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Funny
Disadvantages: None
Boy is written by Roald Dahl and is an autobiography of his childhood. He shares his painful and happy memories. He describes his holidays in Norway, his terrifying memories of the cane in school and his home in the country. We hear about witty plots and funny practical jokes. We are introduced to his family and school mates, we even hear about the terrible teachers who caned him. ‘Boy’ is a magical, funny and heart-warming book.
My favourite part of the book was the great mouse plot. I found it extremely funny. Roald and his mates play a joke on Mrs Pratchett the sweet shop owner; she is a mean grubby woman and none of them like her. One of the descriptions in the book of her is ‘ her hands were black with dirt and grime’. Thwaites and some other of Roald’s friends found a dead mouse and decided to seek revenge and put it in one of Mrs Pratchett’s sweet jars. They hoped Mrs Pratchett would pick it up when she reached for some sweets. Their plan succeeded but unfortunately, they were caught and Roald experienced his first caning.
There are many characters in the book but Captain Hardcastle particularly sticks out in my mind. He was daring Roald’s Latin teacher or master as they had called them then. He had an orange moustache and hair. He is described in the book very well one of the descriptions is ‘Behind the moustache there lived an inflamed and savage face with a deeply corrugated brow that indicated limited intelligence.’ This description immediately tells you that he is a mean man. Captain Hardcastle had been a soldier in the Great War and still insisted on being called captain. After reading about Captain Hardcastle, I am glad I was not alive then and did not have to be treated unfairly by him. We hear about many unfair canings because of his harshness. He doesn’t like anyone and has disliked Roald ever since he first met him.
Roald Dahl does not only describe his school
memories he describes his holiday memories to, and these are just as eventful and funny as the school memories. He tells us of the trips in the boat to the magical island and of the practical joke, he played on his half-sister’s soon to be husband. This was one of the funniest parts in the book, Roald decided to put goat’s droppings in his pipe. What made it even more funny was the fact that Roald’s whole family saw him putting it in the pipe and were all in on the joke. It was hilarious he thought he had been poisoned. Roald and his family travel in a boat to get to an island in Norway. One of the book’s descriptions of the island was ‘It is impossible to describe the sensation of absolute peace and beauty that surrounds you.’ The description really makes you want to go there and see for yourself, when I read it I had a picture in my head of what I thought it would be like. Roald shares his happy holiday memories with us and he makes you feel as though you are there as well.
The book has been superbly written I was hooked from the first to last page. Dahl describes his childhood memories well, you feel as though he is talking directly to you. The book inspired my writing in my own autobiography I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
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