Review by amiasmoon - The 101 Dalmatians

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amiasmoon 's review for:

The 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith

4.0

adventurous hopeful lighthearted 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

If I'm honest, I had long forgotten that the Disney movie was inspired by this book. I saw it at my library and was super curious to read it. While I did, for the most part, enjoy it, I'd only recommend it to people who are big fans of the movie, want an easy classic to read, or are middle-grade readers.

I liked the characters. The logic of the animals being able to do anything doesn’t make sense but that is not what I read this for. I appreciate how the cat wasn’t demonized (even though many other characters were…). The plot took like seventy pages to actually be interesting to me but once it was I was hooked.

The story’s main flaw is how badly certain things have aged. Cruella was described as having dark skin and since she was the only character who is described that way.. it feels a bit racist to me. Also that romani character Stereotype.. the slight fatphobia with the nanny’s. I don’t know..

It all felt very whimsical and lighthearted, I'm planning on rewatching the movie because in my mind it is better.

Content Warnings