parentified child even by her teacher. this is my first time reading the book i didnt grow up with it but i saw the movie when i was 12 or something and loved it. now i love the book too. i was matilda growing up and this book mightve either been my favorite or fucked me up as a kid a lot of the details are a little too real for me. but um. i love it here. love love love.

Matilda Wormwood is a very gifted child, though her parents are convinced she's nothing special. As life beats her down, she gets up time and time again and proves her resilience and intelligence.

Oof. We all collectively owe Danny DeVito a huge thank you for all the changes made from this book to the classic movie adaption. In no short amount, this book heaps on the classism, fatphobia, abuse, and weird guardian/child relationship that the move carefully reimagines or entirely does away with. I feel like I'll never pick up another Roald Dahl book after listening to this one because I know everything I need to about the author after listening to this.

A lot of other reviews went into aspects of these issues, but I just want to say the overarching message I got from this book was that "just keep going forward, it'll work out!" which is definitely not the case for reality. Right now, I'm not sure that's a great message for kids who read this and have their own backgrounds in abusive situations or poverty. I enjoyed aspects of it, and aspects are funny in a lighthearted way, but as an adult reading it, I can't help but have the entire experience clouded by the sheer amount of bias the author threw in. Every villain is fat, ugly, and horrific - one of the bullies at the school has a wart on her nose and is incredibly Jewish-coded -  and overall it screams of bias that has unfortunately been present in fairy tales for centuries. It just left a bad taste in my mouth.

I really won't be returning to this, and I kind of wish I hadn't listened to it because it's ruined some of the magic of the movie for me. One star goes to Kate Winslet though, who did an incredible job voice-acting and overall giving this story enough life for me to get through it.

Content warnings: Child abuse (throughout), Emotional abuse, Bullying, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Suicide, Death of parent (in past), fatphobia, classism

The message at the heart of Matilda is so hopeful and uplifting. A David vs. Goliath story that encourages kids to fight their bullies and stand up for what's right. 

But you have to be ok with descriptions of pretty severe abuse and look past countless other issues, incl. fatphobia and body shaming, sexism and misogyny, classism, and ableist language. 

Re-reading this now, I didn't find it particularly funny and had to work hard to connect with the positive message at the story's core.

Re-reading this as an adult in 2022 was an interesting experience. I was five or six when the movie came out. I think I read the book before I was a teen.

Here are some things I noticed: