Matilda by Roald Dahl

Title: Matilda
Author: Roald Dahl
Read by:  Kate Winslet
Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 4 Hours, 18 minutes (4 CDs)
Source:  Review Copy from Penguin Thanks!

Matilda is a bright child that is able to navigate the world as a very young girl and find her own way to the library.  I instantly knew she was my kind of girl.  This is a good thing as her parents pay her no mind and leave her alone constantly.  She does not agree with her used car salesman father’s crooked ways so she plays a few tricks on him to teach him a lesson. 

Much to her excitement, Matilda finally starts school, but her excitement is short lived when she meets her terrible and cruel headmistress, Miss Trunchbull.  Luckily, she has a wonderful teacher, Miss Honey.  Matilda discovers at this time that she has a secret power and she works to develop it.  Will Miss Trunchbull get the comeuppance she deserves?  What is Miss Honey’s secret?

Matilda was an imaginative and unique story that our entire family enjoyed on a recent trip.  Matilda has feelings that she does not belong in her family and she discovers a new world through books.  She takes her future in her own hands and carves out a new life.    

We watched the movie as a family as well.  The kids enjoyed the audiobook more than the movie as the movie added an intense sequence in the end that scared the kids that is not in the actual novel.  Penelope in particular (5 years old) was enthralled and couldn’t wait to turn it on each time we got into the car.  Kile and Daniel summed it up by saying, “It was good.”

Kate Winslet was an inspired and enjoyable narrator.  She did a suburb job and made it enjoyable for the entire family to listen to.  One problem we did have with the audiobook as it varied a lot in volume.  You couldn’t hear some sections (whispering) and then it would be shouting and blowing out our ears.  I don’t know how you keep it more even throughout.

Overall, Matilda is wonderful and unique story and a fabulous audiobook for the family.

Have you ever had to change your life for the better?  Has reading changed your life?  Did you read Matilda as a kid and love it?