Tuesday BOOK CLUB: The BFG.
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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 BFG by Roald Dahl.
The
book starts with a young girl named Sophie lying in bed in an
Orphanage after her parents died when she was a baby. She can't
sleep, and sees a strange sight in the street; a giant man, carrying
a bag and an odd trumpet. He sees Sophie, who tries to hide in bed,
but the giant picks her up through the window. Then he runs
incredibly fast to a large cave, which he enters.
When
he sets Sophie down, she begins to plead for her life, believing that
the giant will eat her. The giant laughs, and explains that most
giants do eat human beings, and that the people's origins affect
their taste. For example, people from Greece taste greasy, while
people from Panama taste of hats. The giant then says that he will
not eat her, as he is the BFG, or the Big Friendly Giant.
The
BFG explains that she must stay with him forever, as no one can know
of his existence. He warns her of the dangers of leaving his cave, as
his nine neighbours are sure to eat her if they catch her. He
explains what he was doing with the trumpet and suitcase. He catches
dreams, stores them in the cave, and then gives the good ones to
children all around the world. He destroys the bad ones. The BFG then
explains that he eats the only edible plant that will grow in the
giants' homeland: snozzcumbers, which are disgusting striped warty
Cucumber-like vegetables with wart-like growths that taste like frog
skins and rotten fish to Sophie and cockroaches and slime wanglers to
the BFG. Another giant, the Bloodbottler, then storms in. Sophie
hides in a snozzcumber and is nearly accidentally eaten by the
Bloodbottler. Bloodbottler luckily spits her out and then leaves in
disgust. When Sophie announces she is thirsty, the BFG treats her to
a fizzy soda pop drink called "frobscottle" which causes
noisy flatulence because of the bubbles sinking downwards. The BFG
calls this "Whizzpopping". The next morning, the BFG takes
Sophie to Dream Country to catch more dreams, but is tormented by the
man-eating giants along the way, notably by their leader the
Fleshlumpeater, the largest and most fearsome of the giants.
In
Dream Country, the BFG demonstrates his dream-catching skills to
Sophie; but the BFG mistakenly captures a nightmare and uses it to
start a fight among the other giants when Fleshlumpeater has a
nightmare about Jack. Sophie later persuades him to approach the
Queen of England about imprisoning the other giants. To this end, she
uses her knowledge of London to navigate the BFG to Buckingham
palace, and the BFG creates a nightmare for the Queen, which
describes the man-eating giants, and leaves Sophie in the Queen's
bedroom to confirm it. Because the dream included the knowledge of
Sophie's presence, the Queen believes her and speaks with the BFG.
A
fleet of helicopters then follows Sophie and the BFG to the giants'
homeland, where the giants are tied up as they sleep, and the
helicopters carry them back to London where they are imprisoned in a
500 ft deep pit with sheer walls and a high safety fence. The
BFG is lowered in to untie them; untying Fleshlumpeater last, he
explains why they are being imprisoned. Outraged, Fleshlumpeater
roars that they'll devour the BFG instead, but he is hoisted out to
safety. The man-eating giants find themselves being only fed
snozzcumbers.
Afterwards,
a huge castle is built as the BFG's new house, with a little cottage
next door for Sophie. While they are living happily in England gifts
come from the governments of every country ever targeted by the
giants (notably England Sweden Arabia India Panama Tibet Jersey Chile
and New Zealand). After Sophie teaches the BFG how to read and proper
English, he writes a book of their adventures identified as the novel
itself —under the name "Roald Dahl".
- The BFG wiki
I was a
child when I read the BFG for the first time and as such I loved it
then as I still love it now. I periodically read the book mainly for
a nostalgia kick. Following the story through the eyes of Sophie
gives the book a tinge of childish wonder and curiosity which helps
the demographic of the book (children 6-12) immensely. I recommend
the book to 6-12's and families with several children and I give the
book a 9/10.
I clearly
remember watching them animated adaption on TV and on tape as a child
as the movie was released the year before I was born. The animation
wasn't Disney but was Cosgrove Hall productions and was particularly
good in any case. Having David James as the Voice of the BFG gave the
movie extra brownie points and Amanda root as Sophie was fantastic. I
highly recommend the movie to everyone and give the movie an 8/10.
The Disney
adaption of the BFG was a pretty good adaption of the boom with
several changes which were both good and bad, the addition of another
child living with the BFG was good but the BFG not living with Sophie
at the end not so good. The combination of CGI and live action sets
it apart from its Animated counterpart and makes it its own, Having
Mark Rylance as the BFG is a huge plus (hes a fantastic actor). I
recommend the movie to families and give it a 7/10.
My opinion
of Roald Dahl the writer of this book is in last weeks blog on
Matilda (07/01/2020) please head there to see my opinion of him.
WEBSITE
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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