There's No-one Quite Like Grandma (George's Marvellous Medicine - Roald Dahl)

Member Name: TheAdder

Product:	George's Marvellous Medicine - Roald Dahl
Date:	16/09/09 (146 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's Roald Dahl, what more do you need?

Disadvantages: It is tempting to try making your own potion.

Thinking back to when I was a child I fondly remember there was this one author who spoke to me in a totally different voice. He had a that unique ability to sprinkle magic dust over everything he produced and take you into an entirely different world where you would remain spellbound and entranced, hanging on his every syllable.

That writer was Roald Dahl.

George's Marvellous Medicine was published in 1981.

While his mother goes shopping and his father works in the field surrounding their farmhouse, 8 year old George Kranky is saddled with the unenviable task of giving his repugnant grandma her 11 o'clock medicine. Now with reference to the title of my review, this isn't the type of grandma that the St Winifred's school choir had in mind when they warbled their vomit inducing 'hit' at us in the Christmas of 1980. She is frankly a bit of a witch.

It is quite fair to say the pair aren't too fond of each other, she accuses George of growing too quick and laziness while he hates her repulsive ways, constant moaning and ugly appearance.
George decides it's time for revenge and sets about making his own special medicine for her. He takes a huge saucepan and creates the most unholy concoction you could ever wish for. He raids the contents of each room he can find using everything from sheep dip to shampoo to shoe polish and stirs all the ingredients into the pan to make a potent brew.

11 o'clock comes and as Grandma takes the medicine, strange things start to happen and you could say the story truly 'takes off'.

George's father, Mr Killy Kranky soon appears amid the mayhem but far from from being unhappy and reprimanding his son, he spots a cunning business opportunity arising from the results of the potion. The problem then lies in George replicating the exact mix as the ingredients and portions were so random, it comes down to trial and error with interesting consequences.

It is a wonderful story and as always with Dahl a great idea. He once more delves into the magical depths of his fruitful imagination. His prose is instantly engaging, it provokes whilst it encapsulates. It teases the reader. As an adult you'll find yourself smirking through the pages in disbelief at the turn of events and more so the fact that someone could actually think this stuff up!

Keeping a child's attention isn't always easy, they can be the harshest critics of all due to their fearless honesty. Through his mastery of story telling Dahl finds a way of allowing them to be naughty and mischievous without getting them into trouble.
As early as the second page he refers to Grandma's mouth as 'small and puckered-up like a dog's bottom'. Not only a brilliant description but cheeky and a little crude - kids love it, it's in a book so it is safe to laugh. He's gory, dark and beautifully sadistic at times as Grandma found to her cost moments after taking her dose. The apathy with which the family discuss her demise at the end is also truly Dahlian in its morose delivery.

He doesn't just rely on random chaos though. His alliteration is mercurial and wonderfully paced. He's not afraid to throw in long words from time to time which I find is a glorious way of osmotic learning for children. He'll make up his own onomatopoeic words and infuse them into rhymes. His 'good guy' characters are strong and affable though ultimately flawed and the child can latch on to this.

At just over 100 pages the book can be read in one sitting due to the fact that a great deal of space is taken by the scratchy, claw-mark illustrations of Quentin Blake. Blake's etchings are as much a part of Dahl's books as anything else, enriching the verve on a visual level.

I have as much fun reading this now as an adult as I did all those years ago as a kid. When I read it to my two young nieces the glow on their faces is indescribable, they hang wide eyed and opened mouthed on every word, enthralled by every phrase and if Dahl's writing can make my dull Lancastrian timbre appealing then that's all the conformation anyone needs. I do actually remember Rik Mayall reading this on Jackanory some years ago, they could not have found a better narrator in my book, his eccentricity was perfect for the story.

Roald Dahl died in 1990, he was 74 years old. There is a motto on the inside of the last page of the book that he lived by,

"My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night
But ah my foes and oh my friends
It gives a lovely light."

It certainly did.

Summary: A timeless, ageless classic.