BOOK CLUB; THE WITCHES BY ROALD DAHL
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Hey there
Earthlings, Alternatives and Trollers. Put down that mouse and lend
an ear. Welcome to The Bandersnatch blog where we talk weird, wacky
and wondrous. I'm Mama Ogre and I have no idea what I'm doing.
Book blog
day boo yah. As you should know Tuesdays is book blog day were we
talk anything and everything and pretty much run with it. Today's
blog is on the book The Witches by Roald Dahl.
An
unnamed seven-year-old English boy goes to live with his Norwegian
grandmother after his parents are killed in a car accident. The boy
loves all his grandmothers stories, but he is especially enthralled
by the one about witches, which she says are horrific creatures who
seek to kill human children. She tells him how to recognise them, and
that she is a retired witch hunter.
As
specified in the patents will, the boy and his grandmother return to
England where he was born and was in school, and where the house he
is inheriting is located. The grandmother warns the boy to be on his
guard, however, English witches are known to be the most vicious in
the world, notorious for turning children into loathsome creatures so
that unsuspecting adults kill them. The grandmother reveals that
witches in different countries have different customs; and that while
the witches in each country have close affiliations with one another;
they are not allowed to communicate with witches from other
countries. She tells him all about the mysterious Grand High Witch,
the feared and diabolical leader of all the worlds witches, who each
year visits their councils in every country.
Shortly
after arriving back in England, while the boy is working on the roof
of his tree-house, he sees a strange woman in black staring up at him
with an eerie smile, and he quickly registers that she is a witch.
When she offers him a snake to tempt him, he climbs further up the
tree and stays there, not daring to come down until his grandmother
comes looking for him. This persuades the boy and his grandmother to
be especially wary; and he carefully scrutinises all women to
determine whether they might be witches.
When
the grandmother becomes ill with pneumonia, the doctor orders her to
cancel a planned holiday in Norway. Instead they go to a luxury hotel
in Bournemouth on England's south coast. The boy is training his pet
mice in the hotel ballroom where the “Royal Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children” show up for their annual
meeting. The boy realises that this is the yearly gathering of
England's witches when one of them reaches underneath her hair to
scratch at her scalp with a gloved hand, but is trapped in the room.
A young woman goes
on stage and removes her entire face, which is a mask revealing
herself to be the grand high witch herself. She expresses displeasure
at the English witches failure to eliminate enough children and
demands that they exterminate the lot of them before the next
meeting. The grand high witch unveils her master plan; all of
England's witches are to purchase sweet shops(with money printed from
her money making machine) and give away free sweets and chocolates
laced with her latest creation, “Formula 86 delayed-action
mouse-maker” , a magic potion which, with a single drop, turns the
consumer into mouse at a specified time. The intent is that the
children's teachers and parents can kill the transformed children.
To
demonstrate the grand high witch turns a gluttonous child named Bruno
Jenkins (who is lured tot he convention hall with the promise of free
chocolate) into a mouse. Shortly after the witches detect the
narrators presence and corner him. The grand high witch then pours an
entire bottle of formula 86 down the narrator's throat, instantly
turning him into a mouse. The transformed child retains his
sentience, personality and even his voice. After tracking down Bruno
the transformed boy returns to his grandmothers hotel room and tells
her what he had learned. He suggests turning the tables on the
witches by slipping the potion into their food. With some difficulty,
he manages to get his hands on a bottle of potion form the Grand High
Witch's room.
After
an attempt to return Bruno to his parents fails spectacularly, mainly
due to Mrs. Jenkin's fear of mice, the grandmother takes Bruno and
the narrator tot he dining hall. The narrator enters the kitchen
where he pours the potion into the green pea soup intended for the
witches dinner. On the way back from the kitchen a cook spots the
narrator and chops off part of his tail with a carving knife, before
he manages to escape back to his grandmother. The witches all turn
into mice within a few minutes, having had massive overdoses. The
hotel staff and the guests all panic and unknowingly, end up killing
the Grand High Witch and all of England's witches.
Having
returned home, the boy and his grandmother then devise a plan to rid
the world of witches. They will travel tot he grand high witches
Norwegian castle, and use the potion to changer her successor and
assistants into mice, then release carts to destroy them. Using the
Grand High Witch's money making machine and information on witches in
various countries, they will try to eradicate them everywhere, the
grandmother also reveals that, as a mouse the boy will probably only
live about another nine years, but the boy does not mind as he does
not want to outlive his grand mother (she reveals she is 89 years old
and is also likely to only live nine more years), as he would hate to
have anyone else look after him.
- The Witches (Novel)
Wiki
I've only
read the book a maximum of three times in my life and as such I don't
remember all the details as best I should most of the details I
remember come from the movie. I recommend the book to older children
and pre-teens, families and of course those on a childhood nostalgia
kick. I give the book a 7/10.
The witches
movie came out in 1990 the year I was born and as such it took a few
years until I watched it on TV. Having Anjelica Huston (of Addams
Family and Daddy Day Care fame) as the Grand High Witch as well as
having Rowan Atkinson (Of Mr Bean and Blackadder fame) as the hotel
manager are defiantly great calls. I love both of these actors they
are great. I love the movie and rewatch it every other year. The
differences however between book and movie includes the assistant who
goes good and the changing back of the boy (named Luke in the movie)
does change the story somewhat. I recommend the movie to everyone not
just for the nostalgia kick, and I give the movie an 8/10.
Roald Dahl is the writer of this book and My opinion of him is in the Matilda blog post of 07/01/2020 if you wish to give it a read.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
And there
you have it a decent book for those who So we'll be leaving this here
for today please leave a comment, share with others if you want or
not Friday is random blog day and remember keep it sensible in the
comments all abuse will be tracked and reported to the appropriate
people.
THIS IS
THE BANDERSNATCH, I'M MAMA OGRE AND REMEMBER STAY WEIRD, STAY WACKY,
STAY WONDEROUS AND I'LL SEE YOU SOON...
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