I think there’s a strong chance that Dahl was high while writing this book.
Everything starts rather normal (apart from the mysterious rhinoceros accident that kills James’ parents), but then a peach grows the size of a house, rolls down hills with giant bugs and James inside. Gets into the Ocean, is attacks by sharks, saved by a flock of hundreds of seagulls James use as balloons and finally lands on the needle of the Empire State Building.
It was FUN!
I’m only sorry I didn’t read it 20 years ago, I’m sure the magic would have been enhanced. Favorite moments were the LOL dialogues between the Centipede and the Worm, but felt that the Cloud Men were a bit out of tune with the rest of the book.
Still, by picking it up only now, I could better appreciate Jeremy Irons’ voice reading it 😉 The flow of the text and the clever rhymes make it ideal to be read out loud.
As all of Dahl’s children books I’ve read, this is not a simple, sweet story, but a funny, somewhat dark one. After a bit of research I found that the idea of the Giant Peach it related to the time Dahl spent crammed in a plane when he a bombardier in WWII. For one doing that job in a noisy machine, how wonderful the idea of traveling in a soft rosy peach must have been (although it was also crammed).
I still find it surreal that this is one of the most challenged books in the States. Apparently, it has the word “ass” in there…. TWICE! (tss-tss)
PS: When the peach rolls through a “famous chocolate factory”, do you think it’s Willy Wonkas’?
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February 21, 2011 at 8:43 pm
nymeth
lol! To be honest, that question could be asked of most of Dahl’s work 😉 I love him.
I don’t remember that line about the chocolate factory, but I vote yes to it being an allusion.
February 21, 2011 at 10:49 pm
Mady
I’ve heard that Roald Dahl does have strange books – I’ve only read the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (when I was a kid) and I was impressed enough for the book to stick in my memory 🙂
This one does seem quite unusual – I think this belongs to the kind of books I’d like to read to my niece when she’s a bit older. Nowadays we make & eat (imaginary) soup of pineapple, banana, strawberry and some broccoli or we “swim” on my brother’s living room 😉
February 21, 2011 at 10:59 pm
Steph
I read a lot of Roald Dahl books when I was younger, but I don’t think this was one of them. I did watch the stop-motion movie of it that was made about 10 years ago (or more!) and it was really trippy and weird. I think my favourite Dahl books were Matilda and The Witches!
February 22, 2011 at 2:07 pm
Bellezza
The children at school always love this novel; it’s usually read to them in second grade, the year before they get to me, so I don’t reread it to them. That’s a good thing, though, because it’s not my favorite Dahl. Although I do love Centipede and his shoes! I much prefer The BFG and even Matilda; my husband’s favorite was Danny The Champion of The World which one never hears discussed any more. And, yeah, probably lots of the good writers have been under an influence. 😉
February 22, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Ti
I’ve been bits of the movie but have never read the book. I love the first line of your review though. You certainly make me want to pick it up. I am thinking The Girl might have a copy on her bookshelf.
February 23, 2011 at 12:54 am
Wallace
So funny! I was in the play for this when I was a little girl and I was the only one who was considerably creeped out by the story. My mom had to, basically, talk me into finishing the performances. I also, though, was the girl who thought Willy Wonka, Alice in Wonderland, and The Wizard of Oz were totally scary.
February 25, 2011 at 5:46 am
Ash
I read this when I was a kid, but recently I watched the movie version and it made me want to break out Roald Dahl books again! I think I would like them in a different way now.
February 26, 2011 at 2:49 pm
Alex
@nymeth: I was looking online and it does seem like it was a reference to WWs. I love it when authors do these subtle connections.
@Mady: That imaginary soup reminds me of a Belgian yogurt ad 🙂 Let me know what she thinks of it. I’m curious to know what actually kids think of the book. Is it still powerful in a time of Harry Potter?
@Steph: Loved Matilda, only saw the movie of The Witches, but am determined to read the read of Dahl’s children’s book.
@Bellezza: Never read BFG, but the name keeps popping up when I see other people (usually grown ups) chose their favorite Dahl. It’s on my list!
@Ti: As Steph said above, it IS a “trippy” story, but so much fun once we suspend our disbelief…
@Wallace: When I was GOogle Image-ing this book I got a lot of school-play photos. can imagine OZ being scary… but why Alice? … but thinking twice about it, Johnny Deep’s version of the hatter was SCARY!
@Ash: Have you tried his short-stories for adults? Very Twilight Zone, very good.