The story narrates the life (and eventual luck) of little Charlie Bucket.
Together with six, yes, SIX, grownups - Mr. and Mrs. Bucket, Grandpa Joe and Grandma Josephine (Mr. Bucket's parents) and Grandpa George and Georgina Georgina (Mrs. Bucket's parents) -, Charlie lives on the edge of town in a small wooden house. It was extremely small and uncomfortable there, but was, unfortunately, the only thing the Bucket family could afford. The house had two rooms and only one bed. The grandparents got the bed whereas the others got the mattresses upon the floor.
The only person who worked was Mr. Bucket. Screwing caps on toothpaste tubes all day long, he earned a meager salary that couldn't even afford half the things such a large family needed.
The house was within sight of a enormous chocolate factory. Not just any chocolate factory, but the the largest and most famous factory, Wonka's factory owned by Mr. Willy Wonka. Mr. Wonka, candy-extraordinaire, capable of marshallows that taste of violets, rich caramels that change colour every ten seconds, chewing gum that never loses its taste, chocolate ice cream that doesn't melt and even a palace made of chocolate for an Indian prince (of course, it melted in the end, Mr. Wonka has not been able to make un-meltable chocolate).
Another thing about the factory, other than its eccentric owner, is its workers. The thing is, there
is none. No one has ever been seen coming in or out ever since Mr. Wonka fired everyone due to spies from other candy producers. But the factory still works and the smell of melting chocolate still wafts out from the factory's chimneys.
These mysteries were doomed to remain unsolved until Mr. Wonka has decided to allow 5 lucky children into the factory. You see, Mr. Wonka has put 5 Golden Tickets wrapped together with a chocolate bar in an ordinary wrap. These chocolate bars could be anywhere in the world and the five lucky finders would be allowed into the factory with their parents. Along with the chance of a lifetime, they would also receive a special present - a lifetime's worth of candies and chocolate.
The Golden Ticket would be just the thing to get Charlie out of the rut he's in. Unfortunately, he may only afford one bar a year, on his birthday as a birthday present. His birthday was only just a week away and he hoped from the bottom of his heart to receive that Golden Ticket.
The next day after the news was out about the Golden Ticket, the first Golden Ticket was found. The lucky child was Augustus Gloop. A nine-year old boy who was enormously fat, looking very much like a 'monstrous ball of dough'. He ate constantly, and it was a small wonder that he should have found a ticket.
On the day right before Charlie's birthday, the second Golden Ticket was found. Veruca Salt, spoilt daughter of extremely wealthy parents. Her father was in the nut business and had a factory of people shelling peanuts. Once his 'little girl' had gone to him about the Golden Ticket, he had set the workers in his factory to peeling chocolate bars instead. On the fourth day, the ticket was found.
The story then proceeds on to Charlie's birthday when he receives a chocolate bar. However, to his disappointment, there was no sign of a Golden Ticket anywhere.
That evening, news that another Golden Ticket was found, in fact, two had been found that day. One of the lucky finders was a Miss Violet Beauregarde. She was a 'gumchewer' and in fact, the gum she had in her mouth when the press came round to interview her was one that she had been working on for over three months (she sticks the gum on the end of the bedpost at night when she sleeps).
The other lucky finder was Mike Teavee. A boy obsessed with television and had no interest in any thing else. He carried on himself almost a dozen guns at all times.
This lot - Augustus, Veruca, Violet and Mike - were all quite beastly and undeserving of the Golden Ticket. One day, walking past the factory, on his way from school to home, Charlie came upon a a dollar bill underneath the snow. None of the people around him seemed to have lost it and he then claimed it. The first thing he did with it was buy a Wonka chocolate bar just for the enjoyment of the chocolate. After gobbling down the first bar, he couldn't resist another one. And as he tore the wrapper off, he saw a flash of gold. The Golden Ticket!
Having found the ticket, he was promised a day at the factory. He was accompanied by his Grandpa Joe (who had miraculously jumped out from the bed when he heard the news about the ticket. At the factory, he met at last, Mr. Willy Wonka. Mr. Wonka was dressed with a black top hat, plum-coloured tailcoat, green trousers and gray gloves. He had a goatee and sparkling eyes. He was also extremely quirky in his movements.
There at the factory, the visitors meet the Oompa-Loopmas. They were the workers at the factory and were incredibly small men. They lived at the factory, hence the reason why there was no need for them to go out the factory gates.
To cut to the chase, I'll just explain briefly what happened to each of the children:
Augustus Gloop got sucked into pipe from the Chocolate River and into the Fudge Room where he had to be rescued, or else he would be made into Augustus-flavored chocolate-coated Fudge.
Violet Beauregarde ate a experimentation - a piece of gum that was a three course meal (Tomato soup, roast beef and blueberry pie). She ended up turning violet and became roundish-ish (like a blueberry) and had to go to the Juicing room to get all the juice out of her.
Veruca Salt wanted a squirrel in Mr. Wonka's Nut Room where it was trained to tell the difference between a bad nut and a good one and unshell the good ones. When Veruca climbed over the boundaries, the squirrels leaped on her and decided she was a 'bad nut'. So down she went to the garbage.
Mike Teavee met his beastly outcome in the T.V. Room. An experiment to teleport a chocolate bar using T..V. was going on. After being amazed by the experiment, Mike decided he wanted to try it himself, he being the object to be teleported.It was successful but he ended up being miniature and had to be stretched out. In the end, he became an extremely tall and thin boy. There was only Charlie left and he received a pleasant surprise. He was to become Mr. Wonka's successor!
This book has indeed been entertaining and interesting. The writing style of Roald Dahl has been captivating, as usual. Paired with the original plot, the unique characters are also very much enjoyed. I have enjoyed this book tremendously!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Too much plot and not enough opinion in this one I'm afraid. Try having a read of other book reviews to see how to balance it out.
Soho_Black 27.04.2008 17:06
Good review of the story, but you've put this into an audio book category and said nothing about the audio presentation.
Bollinger28 26.04.2008 09:42
Bit too much of a plot giveaway there. It's a bit of a no no to give away too much plot on any book/film review on review sites as it spoils it for anyone who hasn't yet read the book/seen the film. Lexy
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