Review: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

First of all, I admit, this is 'supposed to' be a children's book and I am still wondering how I missed reading this book in my childhood. But better late than never is the principle I follow in my life :) Believe me, you will enjoy reading this book, no matter what age you belong to. After all, we all have a little child hiding somewhere inside all of us :)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of the funniest children's book I have ever read. Authored by Roadl Dahl, this book became a phenomenal success across the world when it was published way back in 1964. 1971 saw the release of movie version of the book starring Gene wilder, which was also proved consistently popular.

The basic premise of the story revolves around Charlie whose favourite thing in this world is 'Chocolate'. He lives with his parents and grand parents in a small wodden house on the edge of a great town. The family has a mere hand to mouth existence, but they are happy in their own world. The town also hosts the 'The Great Chocolate Factory' by Willy Wonka which produces the yummiest chocolates which are distributed all across the world. What happens inside the factory is not known to anybody in the town. Willy Wonka in an attempt to uphold his trade secret, has made sure that no human enters the big factory. Naturally, there is a huge amount of curiosity to know what actually goes inside that factory.

And then a one day comes when Willy Wonka announces that he has hidden five golden tickets in five chocolates. The kids who find those tickets will be given an entry into the chocolate factory and Mr. Wonka himself will give them a guided tour of the factory. Above all, they will be given a supply of chocolates which will last for a lifetime. This news spread like a wild-fire across the town and hilarious events follow. The extend to which people are ready to go to procure one golden ticket, how Charlie finds his golden ticket, the happenings inside the factory and the final decision by Willy Wonka forms the rest of the book.

The whole book is a fantasy store house. There are Chocolate Rooms, Chocolate Water Falls, Oompa - Loompas, Chocolate Rivers, Everlasting Gobstoppers, Hair Toffees, Great Gum Machine, Eatable Marshmallow Pillows, Lickable Wallpapers, Hot Ice Creams, Fizzy Lifting Drinks, Square Sweets that look Round and a numerous other things which will make you wish you were in the factory instead of Charlie. Another notable feature of the book is the kind of words Roadl Dahl has used to describe various things (I believe this is a common feature across all his books) - Scrumdiddlyumptious, whangdoodles, hornswogglers, snoozwangers - they quite add to the humour and magical quotient of the book. In between all the chocolate, fun and magic in Willy Wonka's world, the author tries to educate the children about the importance of discipline, respecting your elders and obeying them. It is all subtly put inside the book so that children can have a few insights into proper behaviour while they are enjoying reading this book.

Overall the book makes a very good read. It is a big chocolatey magical world out there. It is yummylicious. If you are not yet bitten by the 'Roadl Dahl bug', this is a good book to start.

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This one is the first book I read for the Foodie Reading Challenge. I am glad I took the one with 'Chocolate' as the centrepiece for it :)

Reading Challenges 2011

Keeping up with my NewYear Resolution to read more, I have decided to participate in a number of Reading Challenges this year. This is the first time I am participating in Reading Challenges and I found the concept very interesting. More than that, I wanted to set deadlines for myself so that I will stick to the habit and complete a set of books. Listed below are the reading challenges for this year.

1. What's in a Name


An interesting concept introduced by Beth - Between January 1 and December 31, 2011, read one book in each of the following categories (The books I have chosen is given right next to the category):

A book with a number in the title: 100 Years of Solitude, Gabreil Garcia Marques
A book with jewellery or a gem in the title: Garlic and Sapphires, Ruth Reichl
A book with a size in the title: All Creatures Great and Small, James Herriot
A book with travel or movement in the title: To be Decided (Any Suggestions?)A book with evil in the title: Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie
A book with a life stage in the title: Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

2. 2011 Global Reading Challenge



This challenge is hosted by Dorte. I am participating in the easy level in which I have to read one novel from each of these continents in the course of 2011:

Africa - No.1 Ladies Detective Agency
Asia - Midnight's Children
Australasia - Oscar and Lucinda, Peter Carey
Europe - 84 Charring Cross
North America - Garlic and Sapphires
South America (please include Central America where it is most convenient for you) - 100 Years of Solitude or Love in the time of cholera
The Seventh Continent (here you can either choose Antarctica or your own ´seventh´ setting, eg the sea, the space, a supernatural/paranormal world, history, the future – you name it) - Twenty thousand leagues under the sea, Jules Verne

3. Foodie's Reading Challenge (My favourite ;) Yummmmmmy!!!)



This challenge is hosted by Margot and I am aiming at the 'Epicurean' level of reading, i.e. 7 to 9 foodie books in the year 2011. Given below are the books I chose.

Garlic and Sapphires Ruth reichl
Tender at the bone - Ruth reichl
My life in France - Julia Child
The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears in Paris at the World's Most Famous Cooking School - Kathleen Flinn
A Homemade Life - Molly Wiezenberg
The Sweet Life In Paris: Delicious Adventures In The World's Most Glorious - And Perplexing - City by David Lebovitz (Paperback - 03-2011)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

4. South Asian Challenge



This Challenge is hosted by S. Krishna and I am hoping to be a South Asian Explorer, i.e. reading five books by South Asian Authors or book about South Asia. The ones I have chosen are:

Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
Sea of Poppies – Amitav Ghosh
The Palace of Illusions – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Immortals of Meluha - Amish Tripathi
Desirable Daughters - Bharati Mukherjee
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time - Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin

Do you have any suggestions in this category? I am looking for some books by South Asian authors set in some other country. Suggestions please ...

5. Haruki Murakami Challenge



I have been longing to read books by this author for a long time, so when the challenge came up, I jumped at it. I am aiming for a 'Hajime' position, i.e. to read atleast one book by the author. If it gets interesting, I will read more books by the author.

There are several other reading challenges that are doing rounds in the blogs, but with my schedule, I can only afford to participate in these. If I finish all of these books well on time, I may take up some more :)

Happy Reading and do let me know if you have any reading suggestions for the titles mentioned.