In honour of my turning 30 today, and my love of books I thought why not check out which books were published the year that I was born and review one that stood out to me. As soon as I spotted a Roald Dahl on the list my decision was made, and interestingly I hadn’t read this one before. Keep reading to find out my thoughts.
TITLE: Esio Trot
AUTHOR: Roald Dahl
PUBLISHED: 1990
Mr Hoppy is in love with his unassuming neighbour Mrs Silver, a woman who adores her tortoise Alfie. When Mrs Silver asks Mr Hoppy to help make Alfie grow he hatches a plan to use this to make her fall in love with him too. Will he get his happy ever after?
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For me this is another classic Dahl. The last of his books to be published in his lifetime it’s funny, silly, cute and enjoyable. At just over 50 pages it’s a quick read, I finished it before my mug of coffee that I had made to have with it.
Is it obvious that it is 30 years old? Honestly, yes. If you were looking with a critical eye then it’s hard to ignore the deception that takes place in Hoppy’s quest to win Silver’s heart. But, for me, it’s not that kind of book. It isn’t designed to be a moral tale so I could easily look past that and see the humour instead.
The highlight for me was witnessing a fiercely lonely man find the bravery to put himself out there to somebody he cared about. I admit I’m somewhat biased when it comes to Roald Dahl, I will always champion the good, but even so I think this one is just simply fun. It can be enjoyed by children and adults today in much the same way as it would have when it was first published.
I would 100% recommend Esio Trot, as I said it’s so short and quick to read that you really don’t have anything to lose by picking it up. I could read this one over and over again and I know it would make me smile every time. It isn’t one of my favourite Roald Dahl books, but that isn’t a criticism, more a testament to how much I adore other works by him. This was a new read for me and it helped cement further my love for this author. I can’t imagine reading anything by him and not loving it.
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If you haven’t read this one then please give it a try, I can’t imagine that you would be disappointed. I’m certainly very happy that it was published the year that I was born because it prompted me to give it a go for this post and I loved it.
MY RATING: 5/5
Have you read Esio Trot? What did you think about it? If you haven’t read it do you think that you will? As always I would love to hear your thoughts!
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Thanks for reading, I hope that you enjoyed!
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Birthday wishes to you 🙂 I remember reading this book at primary school. I never thought of checking out what books were published the year I was born.
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Thank you! You should have a look, I was surprised by how many I hadn’t heard of! 🙂
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I hope you had a great birthday, Jess! Nice review, I read this one several times when I was a child.
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Thank you 😀 I can’t believe I hadn’t read it before now, it’s a great book to read as a child, I feel as though I missed out! 🙂
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Read, loved, now tattered.
A tortoise called Indiana Jones lived near our village school for nearly thirty years
One spring, he didn’t wake up. Still missed….
.
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It’s a great little read isn’t it 😀 I love that it’s so short so I can now go back to it over and over 🙂
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