James and the Giant Peach

I never thought I could be just so bored by a children's book. I expected whimsiness and adventure, but really most of the book is just dialogue between a few characters who bicker and ultimately say the same thing.

It all just feels so contrived and written on the fly - even if it's a kid's book, I expected some logic to follow through. It just felt like a bunch of random events happening, stretching the already thin premise even thinner. None of the characters go through a significant change or really suffer any consequences, it's just a bunch of things happening. Even the titular character James, who is just alluded to have had a rough childhood, really just stays the same and there's no quirkiness to supplant it. I can't even recall a moral for the story - it really just feels like things just happen and the characters simply react instead of taking agency.

Not exactly a book I'm going to be rushing to show my children. I will say though, I always do get a laugh out of the bits of dark humor with killing off people in absurd ways. Unfortunately that doesn't stay consistent through the book.