George's Marvellous Medicine

Like many, I loved Roald Dahl as a child, and this was one of the popular stories I never got around to reading. So, as I try to separate the adult in me from the child who loved to read, I can quite confidently state that both the child and the adult in me would have and did find most of the story quite disturbing and unsuitable for children. Don't come for me. It's my truth. I'm now wondering how I'll find all the Dahl books I recently purchased that I read over and over as a child. I just don't remember Dahl's characters being so.... abusive.

Once I got past the very dark first part of the book, the story got more fun, reminding me of the Dahl I read as a wee bairn. Then it got dark again. This family needs a lot of therapy, imho.

One of the first chapter books I have read to my daughter that hasn't been about an animal rescue or zoo story, and quite different from those it is!

Dahl has dished up a rather sinister tale, in which (this is really not a spoiler) George mixes up a batch of medicine, of his own design, for his nasty old grandmother. Now mixing all sorts of household products not fit for consumption, let alone poisons and animal medicines is something we had a chat about, but because the overriding theme of this book (like most of Dahl's books come to think of it) is pro-kid and anti-abusive grandparent, I didn't have an issue with reading this with to her.

It is a pretty slow moving book, because it is initially about the selection of ingredients and concoction of the medicine, but it moves quickly on to the implications of the medicine, and then attempts to recreate the medicine.
4 stars.

I read this one in French, cause that's the edition I had since I was a kid, that I had never read until now. I used to just go through the pages, fascinated by Quentin Blake's illustrations, and trying to guess what the story is about.
I loved the book, very funny, very nonsensical as always.

A very typical Roald Dahl book. Totally enjoyable from start to finish. Being shorter in length than some of Dahl's other books it is especially suited to the younger Roald Dahl readers. Highly recommended.

This is a great boy book. I bet it would be a great book for a reluctant reader!