Matilda by Roald Dahl Review

Five and a half year old Matilda is already reading the likes of Hemingway and Dickens while computing complex sums in her head at the drop of a hat. But she has a horrible family who despise her and her precocious intellect - which is nothing compared to the flat-out hostility of her new school’s headmistress, the monstrous Miss Trunchbull! Luckily, Matilda finds a soulmate in her kind teacher Miss Honey and together they set out to teach the bullies a lesson, once and for all! 

Matilda was Roald Dahl’s last masterpiece. He wrote some other books afterwards but they don’t measure up to Matilda as among his greatest accomplishments. And it is a masterpiece. I love this book. This is my third, maybe fourth time re-reading it, and each time I’ve read it, from my first time at a single digit age to now in my thirties, Matilda never fails to blow me away or put a smile on my face. Dahl’s reputation as the consummate children’s author remains unassailable thanks to books like this. 

Matilda is an immediately empathetic character as she’s introduced as “The Reader of Books” who falls in love with reading and books and who reading this can’t relate? Characters are Dahl’s forte. One might criticise the one-dimensional goodies and baddies - the good guys like Matilda and Miss Honey are practically saints while the baddies like Miss Trunchbull and Mr Wormwood are as evil as can be - but those kinds of over-the-top, unrealistic characters with black and white morality are a fixture of the children’s books genre. And anyway Trunchbull and Wormwood are so much fun to read when they’re being so ridiculously nasty, not least as it makes it all the more satisfying when they get their comeuppances! 

And of course they do. Matilda is a fine book not least because it tells an always entertaining story with memorable characters in beautifully written and effortlessly easy-to-read prose; but also because of what it promotes: kindness, honesty and a sincere love for books and learning. The characters that extol these virtues are rewarded and those that don’t, and who usually try to stamp it out in those that do, are creatively dealt with! 

Quentin Blake’s iconic illustrations accompanying Dahl’s words perfectly complement the story and his depictions of the characters are spot on. This new edition, celebrating Matilda’s 30th publication anniversary, also includes new drawings imagining what jobs Matilda would have had as a grown-up. Alternately: Chief Executive of the British Library, an astrophysicist and a world traveller. 

I don’t have a single fault with the book. It’s not my favourite Dahl - that would be Fantastic Mr Fox, closely followed by The Witches - but it’s easily among his best and an undeniable masterwork. It’s a children’s book that I feel that any adult would also enjoy as much as a kid and I recommend it to any and all, anywhere, anytime - it is a tremendous pick-me-up! Happy 30th, Matilda - here’s to re-reading you many more times in the years ahead!