Esio Trot

What is this? A love story by Dahl? By the master of the malign, the nabob of the nasty, the king of the coarse, the baron of the body function? Can it truly be he? Well, in a word . . . yes--it can. And to those who still disbelieve, it's a sweetly insouciant love story at that. For years, old Mr. Hoppy has loved his neighbor, Mrs. Silver, a widow who, alas, only has eyes for her pet tortoise, Alfie. The details of how her wish that Alfie would grow a little faster inspires Mr. Hoppy to win the widow's heart will not be divulged here (but it has something to do with the fact that "Esio Trot" is "tortoise" spelled backward). There's not much room for character development in this slender story, but Blake's jauntily scribbled show more illustrations are--as always--the perfect comic complement and manage to give even Alfie a personality. show less

This is a story of undeclared love: the elderly Mr Hoppy, who lives in a flat right above a lady called Mrs Silver. The two of them chat about gardening and tortoises, but he's too shy even to invite her for a cup of tea.

Not really the stuff of young children's fiction, but it gets worse. Mrs Silver complains that her tortoise isn’t growing, and Mr Hoppy has a brilliant idea…

The plot is ridiculous, in typical Dahl style. There are delightful line drawings by Quentin Blake every few pages, and the writing is intended to be amusing. Unfortunately, Mr Hoppy’s plan involves deception, and the mis-treatment of tortoises.

Perhaps I’m over-thinking it, but I really didn’t like this story much, despite the humour, and wouldn’t show more recommend it. show less

Mr. Hoppy is in love with his neighbor, Mrs. Silver; but she is in love with someone else—Alfie, her pet tortoise. With all her attention focused on Alfie, Mrs. Silver doesn’t even know Mr. Hoppy is alive. And Mr. Hoppy is too shy to even ask Mrs. Silver over for tea. Then one day Mr. Hoppy comes up with a brilliant idea to get Mrs. Silver's attention. If Mr. Hoppy's plan works, Mrs. Silver will certainly fall in love with him. After all, everyone knows the way to a woman’s heart is through her tortoise.

Roald Dahl is a master of creating despicable adult characters, but in this little book, Mr. Hoppy, who tricks his downstairs neighbor into marrying him by lying to her and stealing her tortoise (to replace it with a series of others), is supposed to be the good guy.

Ew.

This is a short story published as a book. Esio Trot is "tortoise" spelled backwards and thus is part of a magic incantation that Mr. Hoppy uses to trick Mrs Silver into believing that he can help her tortoise grow--and by so doing make her fall in love with him. (Not) so long story short -- it works. This is, of course, a fairy tale but for grown-ups, and a cynical one at that. It seems very sweet and unassuming on face value--but is it? Neither main character is a child, in fact, there are NO children in it whatsoever. The drawings, as always, are fun.

Esio Trot (or Tortoise backwards) is a creative little throwaway of a story about a man who woos a woman by tricking her into thinking that a magic spell is growing her tortoise, when really he is swapping out for larger and larger tortoises. But it is funny and sweet and there is something hypnotic about chanting the magic spell (which has all the words backwards, which he claims is tortoise language).

Oh, this is very Dahl. Well written, lovely to read aloud, engaging, silly, and with a happy ending.

On the other hand, err, try to turn off your brain when reading it, or at least leave your grown up goggles at home. Man who is too shy to build relationship with woman downstairs and is jealous of how she loves her pet tortoise obsessively fills his flat with tortoises, steals_her_ tortoise and replaces it with a series of different ones, proposes after about two conversations, and then quietly disposes of the real tortoise, never letting her know what he did? There's a horror story / gaslighting story in there too. Life was easier when I didn't overthink things... [Also, ++ to the reviewer who points out 'Mr Hoppy was _way_ too excited show more to hear Mrs Silver say 'slave for life''. ] show less