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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
An old man tricks the love of his life into falling for him by convincing her that he knows a magic spell which will make her tortoise grow faster. While she whispers the spell into the tortoise's ear every night, he simply switches the tortoise out for a slightly bigger one once a week for four months. They get married, and she never finds out about the deception.
I kind of love Dahl's morally questionable but unquestionably subversive short stories (see also: Fantastic Mr. Fox). I personally would never encourage young children to lie, cheat, and steal their way to happiness; however, I'm delighted one of our most beloved children's authors has no such qualms.
I kind of love Dahl's morally questionable but unquestionably subversive short stories (see also: Fantastic Mr. Fox). I personally would never encourage young children to lie, cheat, and steal their way to happiness; however, I'm delighted one of our most beloved children's authors has no such qualms.
I can't remember reading this as a kid, but thoroughly enjoyed reading it out loud to Mr 7. He was totally enthralled reminding me of how I was when I first read Dahl.
Read this book so I could discuss with my 8yr old. It’s an interesting story but don’t know about the lesson of conning someone to fall in love with you. Maybe over analyzing it but overall a good book for kids.
3.75 Stars
Great fun as another read aloud with the boys. Everyone made guesses to what would happen and it was a super fun read.
Great fun as another read aloud with the boys. Everyone made guesses to what would happen and it was a super fun read.
Rereading this as an adult, I didn't like it so much. More the principle of the story line than the writing, as Roald Dahl is a brilliant writer. Here is a man who essentially tricks the woman he loves into believing that the tortoise she owns and loves is growing due to a rhyme that he gives her. But instead he steals her tortoise and replaces it with different ones of varying sizes. Once the tortoise gets to the size that she wants, he asks her to marry him and she accepts. This is the only contact that they have ever had and therefore their entire relationship has begun on a massive lie. I don't think that I ever thought about any of this as a kid. However, I love the way that Roald Dahl tells the story.
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Just wanted a quick read to get me out of my slump, after I got thrown off by Mousegate! Loved it, such a sweet (but weird and slightly red flag) love story.