The Twits

by Roald Dahl

Quentin Blake (Illustrator)

From the bestselling author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG! 

Mr. and Mrs. Twit are the smelliest, nastiest, ugliest people in the world. They hate everything—except playing mean jokes on each other, catching innocent birds to put in their Bird Pies, and making their caged monkeys, the Muggle-Wumps, stand on their heads all day. But the Muggle-Wumps have had enough. They don't just want out, they want revenge.

• ISBN10: 014241039X
• ISBN13: 9780142410394
• Publish Date: 16 August 2007 (first published 12 February 1981)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Puffin Books
• Format: Paperback (US Digest)
• Pages: 112
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780142410394

Reviews

Well I liked this marginally better than James and the Giant Peach. The jokes they played on each other were amusing. Well the glass eye in the cup (I told you I was watching you) and the shrinks (by progressively lengthening the walking stick and the chair). The rest was average. But not the target audience. 2 stars for me, 3 for the target audience.

[celinenyx]

Oh, I love The Twits. When rereading I can still remember how I felt reading this lovely disgusting book when I was a little girl of seven. I knew my mum loved Roald Dahl books, and The Twits was one of the first ones I read because it's so thin. It's a bit younger than The BFG and Mathilda are, but this book still makes me smile like an idiot.

[KitsuneBae]

This review is also posted in Thoughts and Pens.

Did I ever mention that Roald Dahl had been a favorite author of mine ever since Matilda? If not, then I am telling you now that I am. For the past couple of months, I’ve already published reviews about the two books written by him, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and The Witches. Today, I am back with another book of Roald Dahl which is The Twits which have made a straightforward impression on me as a growing individual. Why? Read on, pals!

The Twits is a humorous story of a vindictive and dysfunctional couple, Mr. and Mrs. Twit. They’re childless which apparently suits them right for I can’t imagine someone growing up with that kind of parents. Mrs. Twit, who had been pretty once, succumbed to the level of hideously ugly after thinking of horrible thoughts over time. While Mr. Twit is a horrible person whose love for hygiene and sanitation is nil. With these similarities in personality, you would have thought that they made the perfect match but surprise, surprise…apart from getting fun out of mistreating their pet monkeys, Mr. and Mrs. Twit absolutely revel in playing sick jokes against each other.

On the surface, the story of the Twits, with its absurd humor and cracked up characters, is a perfect break from the usual monotony of a day’s work. It carries Roald Dahl’s brand of bringing scenes into vibrant pictures of outrageousness. Mr and Mrs Twits’ jokes might be sick but they were authentically appealing. I certainly read it with relish not that I am sadistic but I just can’t help laughing my heart out.

On a deeper level, The Twits is not just about cruel jokes but it gives us insight to the other facet of human nature…cruelty to animals and children, the damaging effect of bad disposition and karma. While I enjoy the scenes of the Twits complemented with illustrations, I was also moved with the lessons that it conveyed especially the subject of karma.

The Twits, for its sheer fun and creativity knitted with important life lessons, deserves a read from audiences of different ages.