Scan barcode
kcarney86's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Fatphobia
Minor: Death of parent and Car accident
unusuallyy's review
dark
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Fatphobia
Minor: Death of parent, Murder, Torture, Death, and Suicide
racheldida's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia
Moderate: Fatphobia
inkdrinkers's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Matilda Wormwood is a very gifted child, though her parents are convinced she's nothing special. As life beats her down, she gets up time and time again and proves her resilience and intelligence.
Oof. We all collectively owe Danny DeVito a huge thank you for all the changes made from this book to the classic movie adaption. In no short amount, this book heaps on the classism, fatphobia, abuse, and weird guardian/child relationship that the move carefully reimagines or entirely does away with. I feel like I'll never pick up another Roald Dahl book after listening to this one because I know everything I need to about the author after listening to this.
A lot of other reviews went into aspects of these issues, but I just want to say the overarching message I got from this book was that "just keep going forward, it'll work out!" which is definitely not the case for reality. Right now, I'm not sure that's a great message for kids who read this and have their own backgrounds in abusive situations or poverty. I enjoyed aspects of it, and aspects are funny in a lighthearted way, but as an adult reading it, I can't help but have the entire experience clouded by the sheer amount of bias the author threw in. Every villain is fat, ugly, and horrific - one of the bullies at the school has a wart on her nose and is incredibly Jewish-coded - and overall it screams of bias that has unfortunately been present in fairy tales for centuries. It just left a bad taste in my mouth.
I really won't be returning to this, and I kind of wish I hadn't listened to it because it's ruined some of the magic of the movie for me. One star goes to Kate Winslet though, who did an incredible job voice-acting and overall giving this story enough life for me to get through it.
Content warnings: Child abuse (throughout), Emotional abuse, Bullying, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Suicide, Death of parent (in past), fatphobia, classism
Oof. We all collectively owe Danny DeVito a huge thank you for all the changes made from this book to the classic movie adaption. In no short amount, this book heaps on the classism, fatphobia, abuse, and weird guardian/child relationship that the move carefully reimagines or entirely does away with. I feel like I'll never pick up another Roald Dahl book after listening to this one because I know everything I need to about the author after listening to this.
A lot of other reviews went into aspects of these issues, but I just want to say the overarching message I got from this book was that "just keep going forward, it'll work out!" which is definitely not the case for reality. Right now, I'm not sure that's a great message for kids who read this and have their own backgrounds in abusive situations or poverty. I enjoyed aspects of it, and aspects are funny in a lighthearted way, but as an adult reading it, I can't help but have the entire experience clouded by the sheer amount of bias the author threw in. Every villain is fat, ugly, and horrific - one of the bullies at the school has a wart on her nose and is incredibly Jewish-coded - and overall it screams of bias that has unfortunately been present in fairy tales for centuries. It just left a bad taste in my mouth.
I really won't be returning to this, and I kind of wish I hadn't listened to it because it's ruined some of the magic of the movie for me. One star goes to Kate Winslet though, who did an incredible job voice-acting and overall giving this story enough life for me to get through it.
Content warnings: Child abuse (throughout), Emotional abuse, Bullying, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Suicide, Death of parent (in past), fatphobia, classism
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Bullying
Moderate: Abandonment, Classism, Gaslighting, and Fatphobia
Minor: Death of parent and Suicide
spineofthesaurus's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Confinement, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Gaslighting, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Torture, Abandonment, and Ableism
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Body horror
charliebella's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Classism and Suicide
sassmistress's review
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Fatphobia, Abandonment, Body shaming, and Violence
Minor: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, and Death of parent
nehanaomi's review
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Fatphobia
katharina90's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
The message at the heart of Matilda is so hopeful and uplifting. A David vs. Goliath story that encourages kids to fight their bullies and stand up for what's right. But you have to be ok with descriptions of pretty severe abuse and look past countless other issues including fatphobia and body shaming, sexism and misogyny, classism, and ableist language. Re-reading this now, I don't find it particularly funny and have to work hard to connect with the positive message at the story's core.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Abandonment, and Bullying
Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, and Classism
Minor: Ableism and Suicide
nannahnannah's review
1.0
Oooh, yikes. I think I watched the movie version of Matilda a couple months ago and still enjoyed it thoroughly, but reading the book opened my eyes to a lot of troublesome things, and I have to say I didn't enjoy it at all.
Ugh. I'm so disappointed. It's one of those things you loved when you were little, only to discover it's incredibly problematic and lackluster when you grew up.
For one, the tone is so fatphobic it's sometimes hard for me to read the book without contempt. Many of the book's characters the audience are supposed to like are continuously described as "small", "thin", "tiny", etc., while the villains are fat and large and bulging. Fat people are described with such disgust that I'm just revolted by the author. I know this wasn't written recently, but it's just hard to read.
Not only that, but this author seems to project his own anti-feminist, anti-butch lesbian views onto this children's book. Miss Trunchbull is literally the personification of the radical feminist of his time: ugly, manly, large and bulky. She acts like a man, too, participates in what could be seen as stereotypical men's sports, has no need for marriage - in fact, she looks down on it when one of the children sings back Miss Honey's rhyme "Mrs. D Mrs. I Mrs. F F I, etc." and Miss. Trunchbull exclaims "Why are all these women married?".
Miss Trunchbull also hates anything feminine (aka the little girl /growing out/ her pigtails), and hates children. She also literally killed the patriarch of her family so she could be in charge. Reading this as a butch lesbian myself just made me roll my eyes every other page.
The plot started slowly, and then rushed faster and faster until the end just ... happened, and I was left feeling like the book ended without actually finishing, if that makes sense. There was no feeling of an actual conclusion.
And the relationship between Miss Honey and Matilda made me incredibly uncomfortable. The prose even mentions Matilda as a grown-up child rather than an actual child. And that Matilda and Miss Honey were equals. Which could make their relationship ... really weird. It's basically how Miss Honey "opens up" about her past. But she really just blurts out "my father killed himself" to a six-year-old girl. This all reads so awkwardly and worryingly. It doesn't matter if this kid is the most intelligent girl in the world, of all time! She's still a child.
Anyway, yeah ... I didn't enjoy this.
Ugh. I'm so disappointed. It's one of those things you loved when you were little, only to discover it's incredibly problematic and lackluster when you grew up.
For one, the tone is so fatphobic it's sometimes hard for me to read the book without contempt. Many of the book's characters the audience are supposed to like are continuously described as "small", "thin", "tiny", etc., while the villains are fat and large and bulging. Fat people are described with such disgust that I'm just revolted by the author. I know this wasn't written recently, but it's just hard to read.
Not only that, but this author seems to project his own anti-feminist, anti-butch lesbian views onto this children's book. Miss Trunchbull is literally the personification of the radical feminist of his time: ugly, manly, large and bulky. She acts like a man, too, participates in what could be seen as stereotypical men's sports, has no need for marriage - in fact, she looks down on it when one of the children sings back Miss Honey's rhyme "Mrs. D Mrs. I Mrs. F F I, etc." and Miss. Trunchbull exclaims "Why are all these women married?".
Miss Trunchbull also hates anything feminine (aka the little girl /growing out/ her pigtails), and hates children. She also literally killed the patriarch of her family so she could be in charge. Reading this as a butch lesbian myself just made me roll my eyes every other page.
The plot started slowly, and then rushed faster and faster until the end just ... happened, and I was left feeling like the book ended without actually finishing, if that makes sense. There was no feeling of an actual conclusion.
And the relationship between Miss Honey and Matilda made me incredibly uncomfortable. The prose even mentions Matilda as a grown-up child rather than an actual child. And that Matilda and Miss Honey were equals. Which could make their relationship ... really weird. It's basically how Miss Honey "opens up" about her past. But she really just blurts out "my father killed himself" to a six-year-old girl. This all reads so awkwardly and worryingly. It doesn't matter if this kid is the most intelligent girl in the world, of all time! She's still a child.
Anyway, yeah ... I didn't enjoy this.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Fatphobia, and Sexism
Minor: Child abuse and Suicide
also: lesbophobia (specifically anti-butch)