Customer Reviews

Charlie & the Chocolate Factory

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are few books I actually WANT to pick up and read again just for the heck of it, and in this package you actually get 2! Many people have never even heard of the Great Glass Elevator, so this is a great way to expose them to it. I must have read each of these books a dozen times over the years and I never tire of them. As I grow older I am also seeing more and reading more into them then I ever noticed before, making each read more interesting than the next. Of course, if you plan on reading Chocolate Factory, be sure to have plenty of choclates around, you can't hardly help yourself.

Let me just start off by saying that I love Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. After seeing the movie version with Gene Wilder, I had to read the book, so I rented the ORGINIAL edition from my library and fell in love with it. Then I rented the sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and enjoyed it just as much.
My only complaint with this edition is the illustrations by Quentin Blake. Let me just be bluntly honest: they are horrible! They look as if a five year old drew them! I don't like the way any of the characters look, especially Willy Wonka. In Blake's illustrations they all look just poor, mediocre, stupid and dopey. They don't add to the book or enhance your visualization of the characters but detract from it. I don't expect Alan Lee-like drawings, just something a bit more better drawn and closer to the characters in the book.
The critic on Amazon calls the illustrator "the incomparable Blake." I'd like to choke when I read that. Incomparable? Yeah right. Just compare this one with the ORIGINAL illustrations by Joseph Schindelman and you'll see that Blake is definitely a big step down in quality. Joseph Schindelman, to me, really captured the goodness and innonence of Charlie and the delightfulness and lovablness of Willy Wonka in his illustrations, and more importantly, they match Roald Dahl's descriptions well. They look more like people and more like you imagined them to look like. When I think of Willy Wonka and Charlie, my mind goes back to the illustrations of Joseph Schindelman; there just better done and more like characters. They are much more charming than the stick figure we have with long nose and bug eyes in Blake's Wonka.
And this guy is a teacher? It looks to me like he needs to be taught a few art lessons. I bought this edition only because I love the story so much and had to have a copy, but now I'm really hoping to get the original edition with Joseph Schindelman as the illustrator.
Last word: somebody needs to fire this guy Blake. He's ruining Road Dahl's books!

When I received my box set --my eyes nearly burst from the sockets. These books are absolutely PERFECT!

A must have for Roald Dahl fans -for sure. You have not experienced the Chocolate Factory until you have READ the book. For those that seem to thrive off the movie (and I love the movie, don't get me wrong) but the book -ahh, now you are going to get into the sinister mind of Dahl through these pages of delights. The character and their punishments are just a little more .....well, you be the judge and read the book!

Let's just say, Dahl is quite brutal but poetically just.

Charlie and the Glass Elevator is a bonus in this set!!

I highly encourage book lovers and Dahl fans alike to get this set --you will only find yourself as a child again enjoying the mystery and magic of Charlie's sweet adventure. These scrumptious delights will entertain even adults.

If you haven't read "Matilda" (which I classify Dahl's best work) you have truly deprived yourself. "The Witches" another of Dahl's handwork. These are only the icing on the cake of his works!

(the books are TOP quality and well worth the price -and then some)

I love these two stories and it is terrific that the reader can get a hold of both of them with one book. If you are in search of an escape from reality, and a book that will stretch the limits of your imagination, then this book is it. I loved Charlie and the Chocholate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator both for being off the wall, really weird and hillarious all at the same time. I do not reccomend this book for readers who demand that everything makes sense in the things they read. Such readers will not enjoy this book, because much of it doesn't make sense, (Though that is why makes for a pleasant departure from the normal and the ordinary).

This is a review of this particular boxed set, not a review of the stories themselves.

These are large books and very substantial. The slipcase is thick, glossy, and sturdy. The slipcase and both dust jackets are beautifully illustrated. The illustrations both inside and out are by Joseph Schindelman, which is particularly important to me since I first read the books when I was in 3rd grade (in the seventies) and these are the illustrations I remember and love, ones I will always associate with these classics. I definitely recommend this set for Roald Dahl fans and collectors of children's books.

J.H. Sweet, author of The Fairy Chronicles

This is showing up in two places at Amazon. My comments pertain to the set I purchased, which is ISBN 0679819401.
If anyone wants to find the set with the illustrations by Joseph Schindelman, search for ISBN 0679819401, and perhaps look for a third-party sale, used, since it appears it is no longer available at Amazon.
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a Barnes and Noble to buy a copy Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book. Then I saw this book. I bought it and still love it . The best part about this is that set is that you don't have to buy the books sepertly. To all Charlie an the Chocolate Factory or Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator fan. Get ths set. You will fall in love with it

I bought this for my brother for Christmas. The hardcover books come in a beautiful box set. Makes a great gift! If I didn't already own these books myself, I would've bought a set for myself as well. =D

The story is a classic, a must read.

I'd seen "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" years ago, but I thoroughly enjoyed going back to the original. The story is delightful and the illustrations are priceless!

These books are a delight. It's not clear, however, why one would invest in such an expensive set. For one, there are thousands of used copies available, and the new books (purchased separately) are cheaper than the set. Finally, it's not necessary to read both books, particularly since the Chocolate Factory is superior to its sequel.

On that note, the first book is a delightful read--an extravagant and fun-filled adventure through the world's largest and most remarkable chocolate factory. Willy Wonka is a brilliant creation, and the characters of the novel explode with their quirks and curiosities. The novel is a masterful commentary on contemporary archetypes and a society over-obsessed with wealth and power. One for the ages.

Sadly, the sequel is more of a rambling, plotless thing. It offers more fun characters and more lampooning of our mad world (American militarism gets especially spoofed). But the ramblingness of the tale left me a bit exasperated. Read both, but lower your expectations for the sequel, and buy them elsewhere on Amazon.

We haven't broken them open yet (Christmas gift) but they are a beautiful set, nicely done.