Jayson’s Reviews > Matilda > Status Update
Jayson
is 76% done
Notes:
(1) Matilda develops magic/telekinetic powers quite late in the book.
- It's interesting how Dahl held onto this as a kind of end reveal, tying her mental magic to her overall mental acumen. It implies that her advanced reading and math abilities were superpowers all along.
- Not exactly Harry Potter, though it does involve lightning imagery.
(Continued in comments)
— Feb 06, 2025 04:30AM
Notes:
(1) Matilda develops magic/telekinetic powers quite late in the book.
- It's interesting how Dahl held onto this as a kind of end reveal, tying her mental magic to her overall mental acumen. It implies that her advanced reading and math abilities were superpowers all along.
- Not exactly Harry Potter, though it does involve lightning imagery.
(Continued in comments)
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Jayson’s Previous Updates
Jayson
is 94% done
Notes:
(1) "The margarine wasn't at all bad. [Matilda] doubted whether she could have told the difference if she hadn't known."
- Evidently, Matilda suddenly realizes she's been sold a bill of goods by Big Butter.
- Dietary effects and chemical composition notwithstanding, elevating butter over margarine seems more about social status than anything.
(Continued in comments)
— Feb 07, 2025 07:30PM
Notes:
(1) "The margarine wasn't at all bad. [Matilda] doubted whether she could have told the difference if she hadn't known."
- Evidently, Matilda suddenly realizes she's been sold a bill of goods by Big Butter.
- Dietary effects and chemical composition notwithstanding, elevating butter over margarine seems more about social status than anything.
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is 47% done
Notes:
(1) While this hasn't yet shown any inkling of fantasy nor the supernatural, it's nonetheless imbued with a great sense of improbability and wonder.
- Matilda being able to read and do advanced mathematics in her head is treated like having magical powers.
(2) This also uses a lot of Biblical language, which only adds to its sense of mystery.
(Continued in comments)
— Jan 31, 2025 12:35PM
Notes:
(1) While this hasn't yet shown any inkling of fantasy nor the supernatural, it's nonetheless imbued with a great sense of improbability and wonder.
- Matilda being able to read and do advanced mathematics in her head is treated like having magical powers.
(2) This also uses a lot of Biblical language, which only adds to its sense of mystery.
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is 23% done
Notes:
(1) First of all, this has a ton of illustrations! At least compared to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," which I recently finished.
- Probably because illustrations for the latter were done retroactively, and along with other books for visually-uniform new editions, so far less time would have been put into that compared to a new release.
(Continued in comments)
— Jan 29, 2025 07:30PM
Notes:
(1) First of all, this has a ton of illustrations! At least compared to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," which I recently finished.
- Probably because illustrations for the latter were done retroactively, and along with other books for visually-uniform new editions, so far less time would have been put into that compared to a new release.
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is starting
Notes:
(1) There are two versions of this eBook at my library, and as much as I detest the big Netflix logo defacing the cover, this is the original text, not the 2022 altered text that removes "offensive" language.
- Regardless of how you feel about the controversy, this is the version written by no one else but Roald Dahl, and so this is the only version I will ever read.
— Jan 25, 2025 05:00PM
Notes:
(1) There are two versions of this eBook at my library, and as much as I detest the big Netflix logo defacing the cover, this is the original text, not the 2022 altered text that removes "offensive" language.
- Regardless of how you feel about the controversy, this is the version written by no one else but Roald Dahl, and so this is the only version I will ever read.
- Huh, I can think of plenty butter substitutes, but what "filth" would stand in for cream? I don't know that soy or almond milk would have the same baking properties, and may actually be a good deal more costly. Possibly just water.
- Frankly, I'm shocked the school serves the students cake at all, albeit substandard. I mean, I never got cake with my school meals.
(3) Bruce Bogtrotter is described as: "An eleven-year-old boy who was decidedly large and round..."
- Well, if that didn't create an explicit mental image, the "trotter" in his name outright suggests he's pig-like.
- I think that's the much more likely implication of the name, at least relative to the somewhat oxymoronic alternative of a person (somehow) trotting in a bog.
(4) "The Trunchbull paused to wipe a fleck of froth from her lips."
- We get a lot of humans being compared to animals in this book. In addition to Miss Trunchbull looking positively rabid here, she has "bull" in her name.
- Notably, or perhaps haphazardly, Dahl describes her as a "her" this time. She's usually denied any feminine descriptors or attributes.
(5) "The only thing [Bruce Bogtrotter] knew for certain was that the law forbade the Trunchbull to hit him with the riding-crop..."
- Wait, so throwing girls around by the hair isn't against the law?
(6) "The boy was by now so full of cake he was like a sackful of wet cement and you couldn’t have hurt him with a sledge-hammer."
- Fun story, last time I went back to the Philippines I was allowed to pet Prony, the world's largest python. It felt like a sack full of Jell-O. So, while such squishy or gelatinous physiologies do exist in nature, I doubt it applies to humans.
- I mean, cake doesn't exactly pad or thicken your skull... though it might possibly dull some pain receptors.
(7) Miss Trunchbull to Matilda: "I shall make absolutely sure you are sent to a reformatory for delinquent girls for the minimum of forty years!"
- Possible, though at that point you'd really be stretching the definition of "girls."
(8) "'You have put a... a... a crocodile in my drinking water!' the Trunchbull yelled back. 'There is no worse crime in the world against a Headmistress!'"
- Aside from direct physical assault, perhaps so. Touché.
(9) We get more Biblical allusions, references to the miracles of Jesus and also the first day of Creation.
- I know I shouldn't be too shocked, but you just don't see this sort of open Bible talk in today's secular literature, let alone treating it as gospel truth.
(10) Re: Miss Honey: "These were wise words from a wise old bird, but Matilda was too steamed up to see it that way."
- "Old bird"? she's in her early twenties... which I suppose is quite old from a child's point of view.
(11) "Margarine, Matilda thought. [Miss Honey] really must be poor."
- It's interesting how it's not the dilapidated shack, nor the lack of any furniture or major appliances, nor Miss Honey having to bathe from a bucket, but having to settle for margarine instead of butter that brings it all home that Miss Honey is poor.
- It's actually a really poignant moment where, Matilda realizes that Miss Honey lives all alone in a run-down shack without running water, and how much more comfortable and objectively better off her own life is... specific family members notwithstanding.
- I don't know, I'm kind of disappointed Miss Honey's choice of bread spread isn't honey.