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Hello gang and welcome to the Montserlit Book Club. This is the place where we

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celebrate books and readings and libraries. In today's episode I'm joined

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by Jane. So Jane, what books are you going to talk about today?

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Well today I'm going to talk about Matilda by Roald Dahl. Realism with a

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touch of magic. Roald Dahl's really famous because he's written so many other

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novels like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Big Friendly Giant, The

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Witches. Everybody knows these. A total of 17 and not to mention his poetry. He's

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really really well known. Yeah I've definitely heard about him. So how did

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you come by this novel? Well I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on TV

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and I was told that it was by Roald Dahl. So when I had to read a book and I

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browsed the books on the bookshelf in our library, I saw Matilda and I thought

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well this is going to be a safe choice. Hmm interesting. So where does it take

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place? Is there some kind of time reference? Well it's set in a nameless

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small village in England. It could be any small village really and it could be

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timeless as well because it could have been written nowadays to be honest with

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you. There are a few cultural references though to suggest it was the 1980s. Yeah I

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see. And what's this novel about? Well it's told chronologically and it's

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through the eyes of a third-person omniscient narrator so we can imagine

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that it's Dahl telling us this story. It's about Matilda and her relationship

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with her parents and her relationships with other people outside of her home

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life which aren't very positive to begin with. All stories have a problem and

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Matilda's a bright girl whose parents don't really love her. They don't pay her

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much attention so she has to learn to read and discover something new about

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herself outside of her family life, outside of her home life. Yeah I see

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that's very catching. So you must have a favourite moment definitely. Oh I do

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actually. I've come prepared with a quote. This is one of my favourite quotes. So

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Matilda's strong young mind continued to grow nurtured by the voices of all those

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authors who had who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea.

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These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message. You're not alone. I

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love this quote because I think it's what reading is all about. I think it's

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why most of us read. Just to escape reality for a few moments and our

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troubles and be entertained or go into another world. Yeah I definitely agree

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with that and I see why you like it. So what's the main character like? How would

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you describe her? Matilda? Oh she's definitely self-confident although you

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don't realize that at the beginning. You see as I said before she doesn't come

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from a loving relationship and her parents really love her brother. So

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normally when that kind of thing happens you'd expect Matilda to be someone

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who's really jealous but she's not like this at all. She kind of just handles

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it in a really positive way by being confident about herself or just being in

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her own world. Yeah I see. So is there a particular age group you will recommend

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this novel to? Well it's definitely still for people in one Esso and I think they

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should give it a go. Dahl uses some really interesting verbs and adjectives

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that I'd like to see students use in their in their own creative writing and

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the plot has lots of tension and a twist you don't really expect. Yeah I

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understand. So this book how would you rank it out of ten? Oh ten out of ten

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definitely because it's a book I've gone back to even as an adult. It's realistic

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about how people who are different have to cope with being in a society where

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where people don't just don't accept that difference easily. Yeah I see your

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point. So we both agree that books change us. What did you learn from reading this

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novel? Well I guess what I learned was basically that being shy doesn't make

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you boring. Matilda's shy but she's definitely not boring and that it's

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important really to try to get to know people who are shy and who you'd never

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really spend time with. I definitely recommend this book. Yeah interesting.

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Hello gang and welcome to the Montserlit Book Club. This is the place where