Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

An odd experience. I mean, odder than normal.

Do you know what two books should not be read back-to-back? I do.

Previous to Dahl's book, I just read the 1963 essays The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. That read was like having surgery on all your organs, where you are splayed with your innards exposed and, now, sewn back up, you are still sore to the touch.

Then, next, I read this 1964 children's book by Roald Dahl, making a very odd pairing. I "ouched" a few times at things that I would not have had a reaction to at all had I read this as a kid in the 60s. Still, I don't ascribe to the near-sightedness of judging everything under the sun by today's standards, but I do notice them now.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was entertaining, show more well-written, fabulously imaginative. No wonder it's clearly a classic, beloved by millions around the world. You have to love Dahl for all the children who love him. He knows what they like. His stories see the world through the eyes of children, and rallies them around another child for whom life is deeply unfair. Always in the end, with the help of often odd characters, hurrah! Sweet justice and happiness is had.

Wait. It just occurs to me that my two back-to-back reads aren't entirely an odd pair. They both share that subject of unfairness. Baldwin's child, though, is black America, and that story is still being written.

Sigh.

Well, not all meals have to be kale and broccoli. Chocolate is a good treat. So it is with books--not all have to be serious, much less serious to an adult. It's quite alright to enjoy a book, to dream of fantastical sweets and being given the answers to all your problems simply because you are deserving. Do remember, though, the part where you need to actually be deserving by having a kind and loving heart.

May I suggest in lieu of a lifetime of chocolate and a magic man in a velvet coat with tails appearing, let us grownups keep working on fairness and justice within ourselves. Let's be the good guys of the story we live. show less

Young Charlie Bucket is one of five lucky children who win a Golden Ticket to the top secret Chocolate Factory owned and run by the mysterious Willy Wonka. Amazing sights await and it soon becomes evident that there is more to this tour than appears at first glance.

Not having been a Roald Dahl fan as a child, I was looking forward to read his novels aloud to my girls. My initial enthusiasm (see my review of [b:The Giraffe And The Pelly And Me|6694|The Giraffe And The Pelly And Me|Roald Dahl|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1165604309s/6694.jpg|419514] soon started to wear off. And this must count as my most disappointing Dahl read so far. Widely lauded as one of the best children's books ever, it just didn't work for me. For a start, I show more found Willy Wonka to be probably the most irritating and sanctimonious literary character I ever had the misfortune to meet. Given a choice, I'd prefer to join Count Dracula or Lady Macbeth for tea rather than spend another five minutes with Mr Wonka. He is, after all, an autocratic master who exploits the expendable "Oompa Loompas" at his factory and spends the novel goading kids into breaking the rules only to dispense sadistic punishments when they do so.

Secondly, for all its undoubted flights of fancy, the novel is underpinned by a surprisingly repetitive and not particularly beguiling narrative structure. As one by one the children end up in (literally) sticky situations, one starts to feel that the plot is not as fantastically imaginative as appears on the surface and, in its own way, is not much more complicated than a Dora the Explorer episode. To opt for a more flattering analogy, it is like a Mozart or Haydn rondo, where the same theme keeps returning with variants. Except that Mozart is way more fun.

The same can be said for the novel's world view. The wackiness and dark humour of the book make it seem subversive, but "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is ultimately quite a traditional (and, frankly, patronising) cautionary tale where (surprise, surprise) disobedient spoilt brats who eat too much and watch too much tv are punished whilst the long-suffering "good boy" gets a reward. I have no problem with that - but perhaps the frequent portrayal of Dahl as an impish, iconoclastic author is at odds with the underlying message of this novel.

Naturally, I might be missing some subtle ironic interpretation. I wish it were the case.

To be fair, my kids did enjoy the book, although my younger daughter (6 years old) was quite distressed at the fate of the naughty children. Evidently she has a greater sense of compassion than Wonka. show less

I have to admit that there's nothing quite like reading a book to a kid that you both love in equal measure.

I cried, she cried, we both cried and laughed and cheered when those nasty, nasty kids got their just deserts. :)

And the songs? I admit I had a great time singing my own little tune to each as they were violently nasty and creative and delightful all at once. :)

Yeah. This is one of the best books ever. And I refuse to care one bit about the typos.

TOTAL CLASSIC.

Reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory made me wince. Seems Dahl is trying to warn us of the proliferation of patronizing, misogynistic, judgmental, egomaniacal, narcisstic, and manipulative corporate CEO types. How Willy Wonker ended up in a children's book as a good guy is bizarre and.... wrong.

He has a serious problem interacting with adults and children. Gets away with his awful behavior because he's outrageously wealthy. Producing candy doesn't make him a hero.

Charlie and his family deserve better.

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2919171.html

It's really difficult to read the original novel now without seeing clashing visions of Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp being Willy Wonka, and of the 1971 Oompa-Loompas vs Deep Roy. It's a story where the grotesque, benevolent but also threatening Wonka uses the Oompa-Loompas as agents of moral justice, bringing about the downfall of evil (gluttony, parental indulgence, excessive use of chewing gum and too much television) and the triumph of impoverished virtue (Charlie and his family, who are otherwise not all that interesting). But this is in the context of a dystopian consumerist society, whose tastes Wonka is pandering to, a course that he expects Charlie to take up in due course; and a close show more examination of how Wonka runs his factory is also rather uncomfortable.

So, like most of Dahl's better stories, it's a fairy tale with a troubling core. show less

A kids' classic that holds up remarkably well when re-read at the age of 42. It's true, Mr. Wonka should probably be investigated by several federal agencies devoted to hiring practices, industrial safety, and food safety, but that doesn't stop him from being wonderfully ridiculous or ridiculously wonderful. Besides, who doesn't enjoy watching a spoiled brat get pushed into a garbage chute by trained squirrels? Fun stuff, and not just because it makes me nostalgic for my childhood.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is the first book in Roald Dahl’s Charlie Bucket, fantasy, adventure, children’s book series. Charlie lives in a ramshackle house on the edge of town with his parents and both sets of grandparents. They’re so poor they can only afford one bed, which all four grandparents share, while Charlie and his parents sleep on mattresses on the floor. After Charlie’s dad loses his job, the family struggles just to put food on the table. Every day, on his way to school, Charlie passes the famed chocolate factory owned by Willy Wonka, a mysterious man who never allows anyone inside the factory. Charlie savors the smell of chocolate every time he passes by, but the only time he gets any to eat is on his show more birthday. Then a big announcement comes out in the newspapers that Willy Wonka has hidden five golden tickets inside his chocolate bars, and the five children who find them will be invited to come tour his candy factory and win a lifetime supply of confections. It just so happens to be Charlie’s birthday, and his gift is a single bar of chocolate. He tries not to get his hopes up, which is for the best since the bar doesn’t contain a ticket. But weeks later, the day before the tour is scheduled, Charlie gets a second chance and this time, he finds the last golden ticket. Alongside four other, rather beastly children, the gluttonous Augustus Gloop, obsessive gum-chewer Violet Beauregard, television addict Mike Teavee, and the wealthy, spoiled Veruca Salt, Charlie and his Grandpa Joe go on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure through the magical candy factory that’s unlike anything they’ve ever seen before.

I recall reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when I was a child, probably more than once, and enjoying it immensely, but I don’t think I’ve reread it since. Now that I have, I can honestly say that it was every bit as fun and magical today as it was back then. Both child and adult me related very well to Charlie. He and his family are poor in material wealth but they’re rich in love for one another. They’re always kind and considerate and they’ve brought Charlie up well. I remember as a kid being annoyed by the other kids who find the golden tickets (still was ;-)) and thinking how rude, entitled, and obnoxious they (and even their parents) are, which I think is the point. They’re supposed to stand out in contrast to Charlie who is respectful of Mr. Wonka, follows the rules, and is genuinely enthralled by the wonders of the chocolate factory. In the end, this works to his advantage as he discovers the real reason Willy Wonka held his contest. Willy Wonka is rather wild and a bit dotty at times, but good-hearted and amusing. I also recall as a kid liking when the other children got their comeuppances. Overall, I had a great deal of fun taking this walk down memory lane. The story is a wild, fantasy adventure that I’m sure kids of all ages will enjoy. I very much look forward to sharing it with my grandkids when they’re a bit older, as well as rewatching the movie versions and rereading the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, soon. show less