It is a page-turner, sweet, and funny book. The BFG’ language is really interesting. You’ll enjoy the good nature of BFG and Sophie.

“The witching hour, somebody had once whispered to her, was a special moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world to themselves.”



After finishing the last page of this incredibly intruiging book, I immediately wanted to reread it to my little sister.
I picked The BFG up right after watching the newly released trailer and I’m so happy that I did. The trailer alone looked beautiful, so I had to start the book and discover the magic of Roald Dahl again.

This story follows a young orphaned girl named Sophie, living in a girl's orphanage. One night during the witching hour, Sophie sees a cloaked giant, the ‘BFG’.
Sophie quickly befriends the friendly giant as they set out on an adventure to capture the evil, man-eating giants who have been invading the human world.

I’m so glad that I took the time to read this, it really surprised me and managed to make me laugh more than I was expecting.
But it took me quite a few pages to get used to the Giant’s voice:

'What sort of human beings do you eat?' she asked, trembling. 
'Me!' shouted the Giant, his mighty voice making the glass jars rattle on their shelves. 'Me gobbling up human beans! This I never! The others, yes! All the others is gobbling them up every night, but not me! I is a freaky Giant! I is a nice and jumbly Giant! I is the only nice and jumbly Giant in Giant Country! I is THE BIG FRIENDLY GIANT! I is the BFG.'

And the overall storyline was a little slow for me. I kept searching for things to do after reading a page or two. But once I finished the first half, I started to really enjoy the adventures of Sophie and the BFG.

Also, the illustrations this book provided were wonderful, they really helped me understand and imagine the world more clearly. And I was always looking forward for the next illustration to show up in the story.



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Book to Movie Review

If you have ever read a book written by Roald Dahl, you will know exactly what I mean when I say that this story is classic Dahl. There is a fantastical world that the reader can get lost in, wonderful and vividly described characters and humorous word play. In the audio version narrated by David Williams, we are given a voice to these relatable characters that makes the listener feel like part of the story. The film adaptation of this book has some fun aspects and maintains the theme of friendship from the original story, however, it falls short of Dahl’s original work and just doesn’t seem to measure up.

I have always enjoyed Roald Dahl’s novels and they bring back so many amazing childhood memories of my first reading experiences. Listening to David Williams bring the BFG, Sophie, and the Queen to life is an incredible adventure that makes this story that much more colourful. His vocal characterizations are prefect and they way he pronounces the plethora of made-up words in this book are so amusing. The special effects in the background also add another layer to the listening experience that will help the listener to envision the happenings in the book with greater intensity. While I can see that there may be some terrifying moments for children in this book, somehow the humour and the fact that the BFG (Big Friendly Giant) is so lovable, give the listener a sense of security.

When I found out yet another book by Roald Dahl was being translated to the screen, I was very excited. There have been some wonderful films created in the past based on his works. Unfortunately, this adaptation is not as thrilling or amusing as I had hoped for. The storyline is somewhat the same, but the wonderful details are not depicted nearly as wonderfully as the book and the ending is altered. There is also some bathroom humour that might appeal to some, but I found it distasteful and certainly not the exact feel that Dahl was after. Mind you, there were some touching moments in the movie, but they just don’t compare to the original book.

So, is this a movie that you want to rush out to the theatre to see? In my humble opinion, no. While this is a film that is highly anticipated and has definitely been hyped up and advertised to great extent, it is not one that I feel deserves your hard earned money. I do think that most fans of the book will want to see it and should see it to compare the story to the film. However, waiting to see it on DVD would be an option that I suggest. This is a book that you should definitely not judge by its movie.

This is Roald Dahl at his best - such a great story, wonderfully illustrated by Quentin Blake as usual, brilliantly created, well thought out characters and narrative as well as a lovely use of invented language.

Dahl had a wonderful imagination and a remarkable gift for storytelling, as well as a lovely sense of humour and fun - which invariably come across in all of his best books.

A great story for young and old alike.

BFG
Libro deliziosamente smaccheramelloso, come quasi sempre lo sono le opere di Dahl (sempre presente la nota orrorifica che si ritrova nei suoi racconti "per adulti"). Naturalmente c'è una morale - non sempre il diverso è un pericolo - ma non inficia il piacere della lettura.

Io dal lontano 1993, collegavo la sigla BFG a Doom (l'iconica Big F***ing Gun): riscopro ora che può rimandare all'originale Big Friendly Giant. Non si finisce mai di imparare.

I'm not going to lie, I'm rather disappointed with BFG (which I've never read before)-- but is the favorite Dahl book of many of my friends. I found it to be pretty grating and not that pleasant a read for the following reasons:

1) Jar Jar Binks factor. The BFG speaks in his weird, uneducated pigdin that I frankly find kind of insulting. I'm sure children around the English speaking world are all thrilled by what Dahl has created-- but honestly, even for a word-monger like me, this is pretty ridiculous. Also, the fact that he is uneducated and constantly judged for his speech pathology by everyone else is just douchey.

2) Sophie is the most annoying Dahl protagonist ever. She's a snotty, bratty, and imperious little brat who exemplifies the worst of stereotypical English children-- lacking imagination and bossy. Compared to wonderful Matilda, Charlie, James, or even the kid in the witches, Sophie is a jerk.

3) Racial insensitivity (though this is also kind of a redeeming factor). Dahl's bit about human beans and how they taste is hilarious, but also kind of meh. Also, the annoying treatment of the entire Middle East by the Queen of England? She should know better.

Redeeming factors:
1) Farting. I'm glad that Dahl supports farting as music. Take that mother England.

2) Hidden Humanitarian Message: BFG is quick to explain that humans are the only species that kill each other. While this is not factually true (watch the Planet Earth chimp wars), Dahl makes a nifty point. Hey kids-- even if the giants are horrible, at least they have the decency not to kill each other. Take that mankind! World Peace!

3) Anti-establishment tinge. Dahl doesn't like army or air force generals, and it shows.

4) Obvious admiration for butlers. "A man does not rise to become the Queen's butler unless he is gifted with extraordinary ingenuity, adaptability, versatility, dexterity, cunning, sophistication, sagacity, discretion and a host of other talents that neither you nor I possess." Dahl definitely has a weird butler fetish.

5) Charles Dickens = Dahl's Chickens. Freaking genius.

The BFG is great and a lot of fun, one of the downsides is all the gibberish that sometimes hinders the flow aside from that minuscule complaint its super creative. The BFG was dedicated by Dahl to his deceased little girl, she had measles but the measles went south and worst case scenario of encephalitis occurred and she passed within 12 hrs of it, Olivia was 7

This is such an adorable fairy tale, and that ending has got me all smiling and happy happy.

Het is niet van mijn gewoonte de boeken die ik voorlees aan mijn kinderen bij mijn 'gelezen boeken' hier op Goodreads te tellen, maar aangezien dit boek behoorlijk wat voorleesavonden heeft gevraagd, vond ik dat het mocht.
Ik vond óók dat het mocht omdat dit voorleesexemplaar er nog eentje was uit mijn eigen kinderboekenkast, al een beetje versleten van het vele lezen.
En omdat dit het eerste boek is dat mijn zoon en dochter (respectievelijk 5 en 6 jaar), voor wie we een "heel eerlijk" systeem hebben bedacht dat ze elk om beurt elke avond een boek mogen uitkiezen (absoluut noodzakelijk om de vrede in huis te bewaren), telkens opnieuw gezamenlijk uitkozen. Dat zegt iets over een boek.
En ja, ook nu ik volwassen ben, vind ik dat het nog niets van zijn charme verloren heeft. Eigenlijk is de GVR niet altijd zo heel vriendelijk tegen Sofie, en eigenlijk is Sofie een beetje van een betweter, maar dat maakt dit boek juist zo uniek. Het heerlijke taaltje blijft zalig (zij het soms uitdagend om voor te lezen, haha) en concepten als "snoskommer", "flitspopper" en "fropskottel" hebben intussen hun plekje in dit huishouden veroverd.
Heerlijk.

Another Roald Dahl book that I read to my daughter (well, mostly I read it, she read a few chapters to me), about a chapter a night, most nights...

While the previous Roald Dahl books we whipped through pretty quickly, this one seemed to take ages, in fact it was quite overdue at the library when we finally got it back (lucky they don't fine kids isn't it!).

I didn't particularly enjoy reading this one to her, it was the painful mixed up English the BFG uses - and not so much for the concentration required to get the words out, but more the gibberish that I didn't really think was helping my daughters learning the same way that reading correct English does. It was ok to start with, but it forms such a big part of the book it quickly becomes wearisome.

The ludicrousness of the ending with the Queen was probably secondary to the nonsense words, although my daughter seemed to like it enough that every time I suggested we pack in in and give it back to the library she begged to carry on. I suspect she was far more amused hearing the nonsense than I was reading it out.

There is certainly plenty of violence throughout the story, but I don't have an issue with that - there is more violence on a one hour news broadcast than in any two chapters of this book. Children who remain sheltered from all aspects of life don't prosper in the real world. Bit like children not associating meat with animals, or understanding other cultures. There was also some racist parts which were pretty obvious to me, which I was less keen on exposing by daughter to.

Probably 2.5 stars from me, although I will round it up for my daughters benefit!

3 stars.

This year I'm doing a Reading Challenge; so I have 26 books with specific subjects that I need to read.
Book 1: A Book you read in School

What a trip down memory lane this was!
I remember this book as my introduction to Roald Dahl. I loved every second of Sophie's magical adventure with the BFG and I've wanted to revisit this book for so long now that it seemed more than appropriate to pick it for my challenge.



As an adult I'm not quite so taken by it as I was as a 13 year old; but it was still fun.
The BFG with his own language got to me at stages; and I distinctly remember loving it as a kid.


But I do still like how important matters, like killing and human brutality is brought to light.
  
And how difficult it is for us to believe


My Favorite Quote (after all these years):

Dreams is full of mystery and magic

A fantastic story about a misunderstood giant and a brave little girl. My kids and I loved this story but never saw the movie because we were scared to be disappointed. Dahl's stories are always full of wonderful humour and inventiveness and this was definitely one of his most imaginative. A wonderful and beautiful masterpiece.