The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl Review

I remember not liking The Magic Finger as a kid despite being a huge Roald Dahl fan but I couldn’t quite put my finger (ahhh!) on why, so I thought I’d re-read it to see if maybe my view on it has changed - and it hasn’t! 

A girl - who’s such a non-character she doesn’t even have a name; if she did it’d be “Plot Contrivance”! - has a magic finger that does magic when she gets angry and points it at people. She points it at a local family who enjoy duck hunting, turning them into ducks to be hunted by ducks with guns. 

Hmm. Ok. This is just an aside but I feel like it’s worth mentioning. Hunters have been given a really bad rap this past hundred years or so in the West and that really needs to stop. I think a large part of that is down to Disney, not just for that notorious scene from Bambi but for their many lovable talking animal characters. And that’s what turns some people to vegetarianism or veganism. 

The truth about hunting is more complicated. Hunters keep animal populations down, ensuring their environment continues to thrive through balance. It’s a skilful sport, the meat is often healthier to eat than shop-bought meat and it connects us to our deepest roots as a species. It’s a better alternative to factory farming if you’re going to eat meat, not least as it’s more humane - and I’m certain Dahl was a meat eater too. What a hypocritical stance to take - hunting your own meat is wrong but eating meat killed by others Far Away is better?? 

Even that infamous photo of an American dentist standing over a lion he shot is more nuanced than the narrative pushed of some rich asshole wanting to prove he’s a “real man” by killing a “noble creature”. The fact is that the local rangers cull lions to keep the human population safe as well as allow the remaining lions enough food to keep from preying on local children. That they were paid to let someone else cull that particular lion only meant that they got much-needed funds to improve their community. But online outrage culture doesn’t allow for nuance so people on Twitter went crazy and came up with their own silly narrative. 

I could go on but I’ll just leave it at this: hunting is vastly more complex than simply seeing it as a sadistic activity for psychos. 

Not that this simplistic portrayal of hunters is why I continue to dislike The Magic Finger. The book is just not very interesting. The story is very one-note, unengaging and oddly unimaginative by Dahl’s standards. The characters aren’t particularly memorable either, though the large humanoid ducks were amusing. It’s not his worst book but The Magic Finger is definitely down there as among Roald Dahl’s lesser efforts.