Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

One of the things I enjoyed about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was its sense of pacing; it had a natural flow and order to it. Not only that, ... (show more)

One of the things I enjoyed about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was its sense of pacing; it had a natural flow and order to it. Not only that, but the events were not entirely predictable and they were always entertaining. However, in this direct sequel to Dahl's much-loved story, I am sad to say that while Dahl tries really hard to maintain a sense of fun and fantasy, there is very little guiding this whole storyline, and it honestly feels like an afterthought. Reading this after Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is like eating a really good meal, and then being offered seconds despite being completely full. All of the flavours from the start of the meal, while similar, just do not have the same impact on your taste buds and you feel like you are just stuffing yourself for the sake of it. You also end up regretting it afterwards.

So, what went wrong with this book? As mentioned, I think the biggest culprit of its mediocrity is its lack of focus. Allow me to explain. It literally picks up right where the first book left off, and has the entire Bucket family floating through space in Willy Wonka's Great Glass Elevator. They end up inside a space hotel, which is about to be docked by American astronauts. Inside the hotel they meet up with some unsavory alien characters, the Vermicious Knids, who proceed to scare them out. There is a chase scene in which the Knids are burned up in Earth's atmosphere. Back on Earth, and now in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, Mr. Wonka offers the elder Buckets a chance to be younger. There is a long, drawn out sequence of Charlie's grandparents taking too much of an anti-aging pill, and then having to find the pill that will bring them back up to their original ages. One of the grandparents ends up taking too much of that pill, and must take the original anti-aging pill again to end up back where she started. If this sounds needless and like a waste of space, that is because it is. It was predictable and did not serve much of a purpose.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had purpose; it had a reason for its events. This book has paperthin reasons for the actions of its characters, and it feels like a bunch of stuff happening for the sake of a bunch of stuff happening. Now, I am not displeased with the book because it is not like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. No. I am displeased with the book because even as a standalone adventure, it is weak and unfocused, and not very fun or entertaining. Sure, there are a couple of songs and rhymes, and the Oompa-Loompas even make a return appearance, but the end result is still one of needless excess.

In addition to its lack of focus, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator chooses to centre around the least interesting characters in this literary universe: the Bucket grandparents. None of them have any characteristics that truly distinguish them from one another, and the majority of the time they are nuisances and they act like bratty children. The final third of the book in particular is frustrating because of the back-and-forth quest aspect of the anti-aging and aging medications. Nevermind that this feels like two different stories mashed into one, and I am left with a feeling of "so what," which is never good for any book.

Finally, I did not come away with anything to really think about when I finished Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Most children's books have some moral choices for the character's to make, or a greater lesson to be learned. This book has very little of either, and it feels futile as a consequence.

So, is there anything good at all about this story? Well, I suppose it is nice to see Charlie Bucket, Granpa Joe, and Willy Wonka back in action. Quentin Blake's art is also incredibly charming and whimsical. Aside from these two things, I found this book to be a major downgrade after such a memorable predecessor. Perhaps its greatest crime is that it takes such a perfect ending in the first book, and turns it into such an uncalculated mess.

While it is nice to read about these characters again, and to admire Quentin Blake's artwork, the final product feels unpolished, unfocused, and completely forgettable. By choosing to focus on uninteresting characters and providing a plot that is a giant mish-mash of half ideas, Dahl sadly provides a tale that slightly tarnishes the preceding work, and one that would have been better left in a private notebook somewhere. (show less)