Amazon.com Review
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, along with Roald Dahl's other tales for younger readers, make him a true star of children's literature. Dahl seems to know just how far to go with his oddball fantasies; in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, for example, nasty Violet Beauregarde blows up into a blueberry from sneaking forbidden chewing gum, and bratty Augustus Gloop is carried away on the river of chocolate he wouldn't resist. In fact, all manner of disasters can happen to the most obnoxiously deserving of children because Dahl portrays each incident with such resourcefulness and humor.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a singular delight, crammed with mad fantasy, childhood justice and revenge, and as much candy as you can eat. The book is also available in Spanish (Charlie y la Fabrica de Chocolate). (The suggested age range for this book is 9-12, but nobody this reviewer has met can resist it, including New York City bellhops, flight attendants, and grumpy teenagers.)

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 459 reviews)

From man that doesn't like children

Dahl is a misogynistic creep who was probably abused as a child. Hurting children is NOT funny.
Roald Dahl, and most British childrens' book authors, love to write stories about tormented, punished, starving, suffering children. I don't think British people like children, period. Just read David Copperfield or Oliver Twist by Dickens, any Harry Potter book, Alice in Wonderland among others. British children freeze and are chronically abused until they one day discover a "magical world" where it's warm, they get food and someone cares about them. Even many of Monty Python's movies hint at the same child-UNfriendly environment in the UK.

October 04, 2008

Simply scrumdiddlyumptious!

This is my first Roald Dahl book and I must say I love it! Highly imaginative and full of lessons, this book is a gem. I like the little boy Charlie very much and like most children, he is full of curiosity. He is also obedient for he listens to his parents, Mr and Mrs Bucket, and his very old grandparents. His family is poor and the seven of them live in a tiny, worn-down house. It is heartbreaking reading his family situation.

One day, Mr Willy Wonka, a well-known chocolate maker who was missing in action for a long, long time comes back into business. As we know, Mr Wonka makes all sorts of wonderful, out-of-this-world, magical sweets. His chocolate-making secrets, having been copied before by other manufacturers (that's the reason he closed down and went `missing') he now protects them by hiring a mysterious workforce when he reopens. The workers are never seen to enter or exit from his factory--very strange. The action starts when Mr Wonka launches a competition with an irresistible prize: a visit IN the factory for five children! These children will be able to see how his secret chocolates are made and their adult guardians can come with them. To win, each of them must possess the golden ticket only found in Wonka chocolates! The world, of course, launches into a chocolate-buying frenzy. But Charlie, a chocolate lover, is so poor and could not even afford a decent meal, how could he afford to buy enough chocolates to get a chance to win one of the five golden tickets?

The story gets even better when the five winners--all from different backgrounds and attitudes--get their tour in the factory. Four of them are spoilt brats in their unique ways, and the fifth one is Charlie (of course he got in)! What an experience each of these children and their parents (except Charlie for he brought his grandfather) go through! From the way Mr Wonka talks (as evident in the writing), he is an enthusiastic person. There are lots of exclamation marks punctuating his sentences and italics to emphasis his points. Besides all the intriguing stuff, the children also discover who the workers are. It is interesting to see how the children's mischief gets them into trouble in the factory.

I love how Roald Dahl weaves the magical story so wonderfully and it was funny reading about the four obnoxious children. More interesting is how each `weird' incidence that happens during the tour is in direct relation to their naughtiness. Watch out for the twist towards the ending, too, because there is more to things than just the factory tour. This is an amazing tale.
September 30, 2008

wonderful

it was my favorate book and i love it so much im reading the secquel i cant say much more because it was so good please read it. it will definitly satisfy your craving for chocolate.
August 30, 2008

Charming, funny, happy

Illustrated by Quentin Blake

OK, so reading this after seeing the new movie, where Johnny Depp appears to channel Michael Jackson in one of the oddest performances ever on film, I must say that Johnny Depp actually captured the essence of Dahl's Wonka very closely.

Some of the things that I thought were added to the movie for special effects impacts (like the glass elevator crashing into Charlie's house) were actually direct from the book.

Dahl's story is much like the movie in sometimes reaching for oddity and coming up short, but it is charming, funning, and happy.
August 25, 2008

just right

it was just as advertised, in good shape and I was interested to read
the original. There are some interesting differences from the original
story and the original movie...
August 13, 2008

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