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Mark Lawrence's Reviews > The Twits
The Twits
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I read a lot of Roald Dahl books as a child, and have read quite a few more to my own children, most recently to my disabled youngest daughter. The Twits was one of those.
The Twits, although it has its moments, is one of my least favourite Dahl books, perhaps the least favourite.
It's easy to be too po-faced about humour in children's books, and perhaps my reaction is coloured by the knowledge that Dahl was not a particularly pleasant man and had some rather nasty opinions ... but even so, my reaction predates knowledge of his anti-Semitic views and other prejudices. And other of his books have not struck a sour chord with me in the same way.
The book opens with a rather strange tirade against men with beards. But fair enough, it's just a fashion choice. What I found far less palatable as something being channeled into the heads of children was the assertion that ugly people are evil (have ugly thoughts). This is basically an extension of medieval thinking to the end that bad things happen to bad people and if misfortune befalls someone it's safe to assume that they had it coming.
He says that if a person thinks good thoughts it will "shine through" and even if they have features that are technically ugly we will see just by looking that they are a nice person. This is of course bollocks, and not just that, it's dangerous bollocks, and should not be told to children.
The idea that someone who looks ugly to us is ugly inside too is sufficient reason on its own to cast this book aside.
A fuller discussion can be found here: http://mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/2...
Moving on.
The rest of the book comprises two unpleasant people being unpleasant to each other in not particularly humorous ways, followed by the addition of monkeys and a magical bird who then outwit them in a rather unconvincing manner.
I really was not taken with the story, but it wasn't terrible. Give me James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or The Fantastic Mr Fox any day.
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The Twits, although it has its moments, is one of my least favourite Dahl books, perhaps the least favourite.
It's easy to be too po-faced about humour in children's books, and perhaps my reaction is coloured by the knowledge that Dahl was not a particularly pleasant man and had some rather nasty opinions ... but even so, my reaction predates knowledge of his anti-Semitic views and other prejudices. And other of his books have not struck a sour chord with me in the same way.
The book opens with a rather strange tirade against men with beards. But fair enough, it's just a fashion choice. What I found far less palatable as something being channeled into the heads of children was the assertion that ugly people are evil (have ugly thoughts). This is basically an extension of medieval thinking to the end that bad things happen to bad people and if misfortune befalls someone it's safe to assume that they had it coming.
He says that if a person thinks good thoughts it will "shine through" and even if they have features that are technically ugly we will see just by looking that they are a nice person. This is of course bollocks, and not just that, it's dangerous bollocks, and should not be told to children.
The idea that someone who looks ugly to us is ugly inside too is sufficient reason on its own to cast this book aside.
A fuller discussion can be found here: http://mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/2...
Moving on.
The rest of the book comprises two unpleasant people being unpleasant to each other in not particularly humorous ways, followed by the addition of monkeys and a magical bird who then outwit them in a rather unconvincing manner.
I really was not taken with the story, but it wasn't terrible. Give me James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or The Fantastic Mr Fox any day.
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Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter #prizes
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Finished Reading
September 16, 2011
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Maria
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Aug 27, 2019 03:27PM
I remember hating this book as a child, for some reason it terrified eight year old me.
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This story terrified me as a child and I refuse to read it to my son
"Worms!" she said. "You've been eating worms!"
Ellen wrote: "Nah, there's more to the ugly description. Dahl goes on to describe an unattractive woman, but says because her thoughts are always lovely, she can never be ugly because they shine out of her face,..."I disagree. He says that … but it's just not true and it's a dangerous lie.
You CANNOT put faith in your eyes to tell you from someone's face whether they have lovely thoughts. The logical conclusion is that if someone looks ugly to you they must be ugly inside - a bad person. And that's a total bullshit lesson for children.
Thanks for your review! I was considering reading it, but I won't bother now
The converse is also not true, that good looking people are nice and trustworthy. Another dangerous thought for kids (or adults) to believe
I have a love-hate relationship with Dahl's books. Some have been delightful to read while others were heavy on language and ideas that I didn't think appropriate for children.
This was one of my most loved roald Dahl books for me it was about people who are ugly on the inside becoming outwardly so too
Cher wrote: "This was one of my most loved roald Dahl books for me it was about people who are ugly on the inside becoming outwardly so too"Any yet at the same time it gives us license to assume someone we consider ugly is a bad person. Which is a terrible, corrosive message to deliver to children (or adults).
He doesn’t actually say that ugly people are all bad. He says that if you’re beautiful inside you can never truly be ugly.
Lucy wrote: "He doesn’t actually say that ugly people are all bad. He says that if you’re beautiful inside you can never truly be ugly."So ... no ugly person can be beautiful inside.
How is this not a corrosive message for children?
As a man with a beard, I thought his diatribe on facial hair was hilarious.
I read this when I was in primary school and remember finding it humourous and the description of the old couple I still remember since it was so emphasised. I think I have to agree with you it is a wrong message to kids, I always find it uncomfortable with the usage of the word 'ugly' especially when it's linked with physical attributes
I remember reading this book multiple times when I was younger, possibly because it was easily accessible on my bookshelf, but maybe because I genuinely liked the story back then. I couldn't tell you what it was about these days. But even when I was younger, the point you criticized also stood out as wrong to me; even before reading your review, it was the only part of this book I remembered, simply due to how gross it felt.
This is a gruseome story but …
The Twits? My first thought was: You can clearly see what becomes of a human being if they overuse Twitter too much on the cover of this book. Twits makes more sense than Tweets considering the spelling.I have nothing to comment about the book, to my shame.
So actually you have misinterpreted the quote. As bad as Roald Dahl could be that is not what he is saying here about ugliness. The quote is actually “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. you can have a WONKY NOSE and a CROOKED MOUTH and STICK-OUT TEETH but if you have good thoughts they Will SHINE out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” The lesson isn’t that ugly people are bad. It is that beauty comes from inside. So even people who are not seen as traditionally beautiful, but are kind, are not ugly because their kindness and good actions make them beautiful. But if you have ugly thoughts and actions, even if you are outwardly beautiful, it makes you ugly.
Lindsey wrote: "So actually you have misinterpreted the quote. As bad as Roald Dahl could be that is not what he is saying here about ugliness. The quote is actually “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ..."No, I haven't.
