by Roald Dahl
Reading this book for the dA competition which I have no idea what to write still. But at least finished reading another Dahl book. This is one of the least like out of all of Dahl books for me.
The story is about James Trotter whose parents were tragically so he had to move to stay with his Aunts, Spiker and Sponge. They treat him horribly and make him work day and night, not let him play with other children and even beat him. James was very, very sad. One day he meets a strange old man who give him a bag of magical crystals. After eating it the old man said, James would be the happiest boy in the world. As he rushed into the kitchen to prepare the crystals, he tripped and fell. All the crystals fell to the ground and was swallowed by the ground immediately. This cause the dead peach tree that the ground was on to produce a single peach which grew to be gigantic. This peach created a whole lot of peculiar things to happen and a wonderful adventure followed.
The problem I have with this book is firstly, the characters seem a bit scattered. Like the introduction of Cloud men very late in the book, and a major part at that made the story seemed patched together. And the old man that gave James the crystals were never seen again.
Second is one use style. He put the story as one peculiar thing led to another more peculiar thing, and another even more peculiar thing. Would have like to see that he used this 'peculiarity' as marker for each phase of peculiar events.
Lastly I think there was an overuse of songs and rhymes. A certain amount is entertaining but having too much just sort of breaks the pace of the story, which I would prefer to be a hundred miles an hour!
All in all, it is still a Dahl book so the standard of writing is always there and the story is also typical Dahl-esque. Quite enjoyable.
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