Matilda by Roald Dahl

Synopsis:

This is a children’s fiction book about Matilda Wormwood, a very bright and precocious girl, born to Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood. Her parents are abusive and neglectful of her. She learns to speak at the age of one and to read at three and a half. Matilda loves books and literature and is a voracious reader.

When Matilda is five and a half, she enters school and immediately forms a friendship and strong connection with her teacher, Miss Honey. Miss Honey is very impressed by Matilda’s intellect and goes to talk to her parents about Matilda’s intelligence, but they do not believe her and do not find intelligence to be an important quality. The headmistress of the school is Miss Trunchbull who is very domineering and tyrannical and physically abusive towards the children.

One day, Matilda discovers she has telekinesis, and when she is blamed for a prank that her friend Lavender played on Miss Trunchbull, Matilda uses her power to pour a glass of water containing a newt onto Trunchbull. After Matilda visits Miss Honey’s cottage, she finds out that after Miss Honey’s wealthy father died, she was raised by her aunt, Miss Trunchbull. Miss Honey is forced to live in poverty because Miss Trunchbull has not allowed her to use the money inherited by her father.

Finally, Matilda uses her powers to demand that Miss Trunchbull hand over Miss Honey’s house and wages and leave the school. Miss Trunchbull leaves the school for good, and the school gets a new headmaster who makes the school a happier and more peaceful environment for the children. Matilda moves in permanently with Miss Honey after her parents and brother Michael move to Spain because her father got caught selling cars with faulty speedometers and sawdust.

Review:

“The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and went to India with Rudyard Kipling. She traveled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village.”

“So, Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all these authors who had sent their authors out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.”

“Matilda longed for her parents to be good and loving and understanding and honorable and intelligent. The fact that they were none of these things was something she had to put up with.”