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A review by litdoes
Awful Auntie by David Walliams
4.0
This is Walliams's seventh children's novel, and not since Roald Dahl has there been another children's author who had so successfully pushed the boundaries of children's fiction, laced with just the right amount of the macabre and uncomfortable truths, laced with the kind of riproaring humour that most children would be delighted at.
While the previous novel "Demon Dentist" featured an underprivileged boy, Alfie, who has to fend not only for himself but an inept parent, "Awful Auntie" is about a rich little girl Stella, who is Lady Saxby in waiting. Her aunt Alberta, with her faithful sidekick, Wagner the Great Bavarian Mountain Owl, is a straightforward villainous character who would stop at nothing to wrest Stella's fortunes from her. And Stella, for all her privilege, is an authentic preteen who finds the forces she has to fight are way bigger than her, made worse by the fact that they come from within her own cavernous home, Saxby Hall.
This book is a little short on characters and the nuanced relationships in the above mentioned last book, especially seen in the father-son duo, Alfie and his dad. In this novel, Stella is quite alone in her predicament, save for the supernatural realm. Nonetheless the way she fights and outwits her treacherous aunt is both exhilarating and funny. Walliams has under his belt a winning formula in children's fiction which should see his set of books becoming modern day children's classics.
While the previous novel "Demon Dentist" featured an underprivileged boy, Alfie, who has to fend not only for himself but an inept parent, "Awful Auntie" is about a rich little girl Stella, who is Lady Saxby in waiting. Her aunt Alberta, with her faithful sidekick, Wagner the Great Bavarian Mountain Owl, is a straightforward villainous character who would stop at nothing to wrest Stella's fortunes from her. And Stella, for all her privilege, is an authentic preteen who finds the forces she has to fight are way bigger than her, made worse by the fact that they come from within her own cavernous home, Saxby Hall.
This book is a little short on characters and the nuanced relationships in the above mentioned last book, especially seen in the father-son duo, Alfie and his dad. In this novel, Stella is quite alone in her predicament, save for the supernatural realm. Nonetheless the way she fights and outwits her treacherous aunt is both exhilarating and funny. Walliams has under his belt a winning formula in children's fiction which should see his set of books becoming modern day children's classics.