Book Review

Book Review

‘One child a week is fifty-two a year.

Squish them and squiggle them and make them disappear.’

The Witches, Chapter - A NOTE ABOUT WITCHES, Pg 3

The above quote was from the book ‘The Witches’ By Roald Dahl (illustrated by Quentin Blake). It is the motto of the witches, who - in the book - are portrayed to absolutely hate children. They have different ways of killing them like casting a spell, giving them poison, etc. The witches' extreme hatred for the children is due to the fact that children release ‘stink waves’ to them and smell like dog’s droppings. Unable to stand the odour, the witches try to find ways to kill them. A witch can be anywhere, at any point of time. Of course, witches need to look nice, and in order to do that they wear an impeccable disguise that makes them look rather ordinary. 

Even witches have meetings to discuss new ways to kill the children. Every year, they have a meeting with The Grand High Witch Of All The World, who is like their leader. In the meeting, they plot new ways to kill the children of that specific country.

Roald Dahl has written a rather dark fantasy novel. While the target audience for the book is children, I believe Roald Dahl has managed to captivate them even with this concept. His writing involves powerful imagery and it helps paint an image in the reader’s mind. Quentin Blake’s images go well with Roald Dahl’s description which really helps the reader understand what he is trying to say. Some of my favourite parts in the book are when the grandmother tells the protagonist (Boy) stories about witches. One of my least favourite parts in the book is when a character called ‘Bruno Jenkins’ enters the story. 

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it to people who like dark and/or fantasy themes.