Stars: 5
Review by: Mandy Apgar
Probably one
of my favorite books still since childhood, no small thing since I
usually dislike fiction. Think of a very young Carrie without the mass
homicides. Kinda. Matilda, you see, is a young London
girl living with her toad of a family (little does she know the greater
horror ahead - the even toadier Danny DeVito movie of several years ago)
who are verbally abusive and ignorant of her. Upon entering school,
where she is taught by the sweet and shy Miss
Honey, Matilda discovers she is far ahead of her peers. Not being a jerk
this doesn't bother her, as Miss Honey soon finds out herself. Attempts
to put Matilda into a higher form fail - between her ignorant parents
and the school's headmistress (and Miss Honey's
aunt) Miss Trunchbull, she is rather stuck. But she and the teacher
strike up a bond and so when Matilda discovers Miss Honey's father
supposedly committed suicide and that her beloved friend was then a
target of abuse herself for years, she begins to practice
what the book calls her "eye-power." Having developed PK ability Matilda
uses it to defend Miss Honey and eradicate the Trunchbull, and with the
latter gone Matilda enters in more competitive classes. Although her
ability fades soon after, she comes home one
day to find her family fleeing the country - one of her father's shady
used / stolen car deals gone awry - and granted "they really don't care
Tuppence about me" her parents give consent for her to stay and live
with Miss Honey instead.
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