OK so he might have been a _tiny_ bit twisted sometimes, but honestly, when you've eight years old, you expect the annoying little children in the books to die a horrible death. At least you hope they die a miserable death. And some of the kids in Willy Wonkas should have died (which they did). Kids don't like bad endings, of course. I've got to say that I completely *LOVED* his books (well childrens ones at least)... didn't everyone??? Larry At 16:19 02/03/98 EST, you wrote:
Ha! After writing that bit on Roald Dahl's adult novels I decided to do more investigating of his works intended for children. On Amazon's page for WILLY WONKA there is this very amusing review from a traumatized reader:
I hate this book SOOOO much. I was seven when I read it for the first time. It scarred me to irrevocable fear and forced its malicious, acrid depiction of the murder of four innocent children down my vulnerable throat. Many have argued with me and have said that the children didn't die. However, I argue intensely. First of all, Willy Wonka is a liar and anything that expels from his horrid monstrous mouth can be regarded only for the sake of malevolence and remain at that. Second of all, even if they didn't die, they most certainly lost their sanity - for who would not if one was nearly drowned and sucked up a pipe only to be despensed in a boiler, turned into a blueberry only to be mocked and rolled by evil little creatures, forced to fall down an opening into a garbage disposal to be burned in a nightmarish furnace, or shrunken beyond recognition by harmful rays of light? This book has caused horrible nightmares to haunt me and every movement I make for the past nine years. I have not even tasted a blueberry or anything blue colored since for fear I will suffer the same fate as the characters. I hate this book and movie with all the hatred I could possibly hate anything with. <<
Ha! Although I like this book & movie very much, I've always seen Mr. Wonka as the embodiment of the worst sort of evil. I do wonder if it is influences such as these that caused many of my malevolent urges, or if Mr. Dahl was merely trying to provide comfort to the awful beast that resides within many children, saying through Willy Wonka: "you are not alone." Hmm. Once again, does art create sociopaths or does the sociopath create art? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see . http://www.majordomo.net/sinister . For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister@majordomo.net . We're all happy bunnies humming happy bunny tunes. Aren't we? -----------------------------------------------------------------------
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