The Twits

by Roald Dahl

Quentin Blake (Illustrator)

'A true genius . . . Roald Dahl is my hero' - David Walliams

Mr Twit is a foul and smelly man with bits of cornflake and sardine in his beard.
Mrs Twit is a horrible old hag with a glass eye.

Together they make the nastiest couple you could ever hope not to meet.

Down in their garden, the ghastly, evil Twits keep Muggle-Wump the monkey and his family locked in a cage.

But not for much longer! Because the monkeys are planning to trick the terrible Twits and make their escape, once and for all . . .

Roald Dahl is the world's NUMBER ONE storyteller!

And now you can listen to THE TWITS and other Roald Dahl audiobooks read by some very famous voices, including Kate Winslet, David Walliams and Steven Fry - plus there are added squelchy soundeffects from Pinewood Studios!

• ISBN10: 0141365498
• ISBN13: 9780141365497
• Publish Date: 11 February 2016 (first published 12 February 1981)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 19 May 2022
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Puffin
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 144
• Language: English

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.