Esio Trot (Puffin Fiction)

Plot: Mr. Hoppy lived in a flat. So did Mrs. Silver - the love of his life. Mr. Hoppy wanted to marry Mrs. Silver but he was too nervous. Find out how one small tortoise brings them together...

Fact: As well as being an author, Roald Dahl was an inventor - he actually invented the tortoise-catcher in the story but he used it to pick up things because he had back pains. Plus, Roald Dahl had two children and when they were small, they kept one or two tortoises in the garden!

Rating and recommendation: I would rate this brilliant book 7/ 10; I would recommend this perfect paperback to all Roald Dahl fans.

For dirty old men and to teach small children that cheating is OK (1/2 people found this helpful)

If you don't bother to think about this story, then it is a whimsical little tale (only 55 pages) about a couple of elderly people who have unusual character traits and who end up getting married and living happily ever after. How sweet, just the thing to entertain young malleable minds.

But what is really going on here?

Let's start with Mr. Hoppy, who is retired and who has always been a lonely man and is very shy. Presumably he has never been married. He loves gazing down on Mrs. Silver when she is out on her balcony, which conveniently juts out a good bit further than Mr. Hoppy's balcony.

As for the widow Mrs. Silver, she tells Mr. Hoppy, "I'll be your slave for life" if he can tell her how to make her beloved pet tortoise Alfie grow faster. "Size, of course, was everything," as it says a few pages later.

"Back in his flat, Mr. Hoppy was simply quivering all over in excitement. 'Your slave for life', he kept repeating to himself. What bliss!"

Hmm, time to call in Freud?

So Mr. Hoppy devises a deceitful plan whereby he convinces Mrs. Silver that she should recite a silly incantation to Alfie three times a day. Mrs. Silver is gullible enough to believe this.

Mr. Hoppy then snatches Mrs. Silver's beloved Alfie from the balcony below, and lowers a slightly larger tortoise to replace him. He repeats this operation eight times over the next two months. Mrs. Silver is sure that Alfie has grown due to Mr. Hoppy's incantation that she is still reciting to "Alfie" three times a day.

"You're a miracle-man, you are indeed!" says Mrs. Silver.

"Mrs. Silver, please will you marry me?" blurts out Mr. Hoppy.

As for the illustrations, Mrs. Silver is shown to be a plump and well-endowed woman who favors low-cut dresses. Several drawings show the splendid view that Mr. Hoppy has from his vantage point on the balcony above. No wonder he loves leaning over his balcony-rail and gazing down on Mrs. Silver.

The moral of the story? All's well that ends well.

Rennie Petersen

Wonderfully irreverant and immoral! (2/2 people found this helpful)

Get what you want through lies and deception - wonderful! Basically, a man gets himself into bed with the woman he fancies by making her think he can increase the size of her tortoise. Of course, he can't really do this, but he comes up with a highly elaborate scheme to make her think he can. Is this the kind of stuff we should be reading to our kids? Possibly.

Danny's review (2/4 people found this helpful)

Esoitrot is a strange book to read because it's mostly about lots of tortoises called Alfie I thought that was a bit strange. I liked the way ROALD DAHL said about the two main characters Mr. Hoppy and Mrs. Silver that Mrs. S had a extension to her flat balcony so Mr. H could talk to her. I thought the book was a bit too romantic as Mr. H is in love with Mrs. S so he wanted to do something to make him look brave. That was the funny bit about it because Mr. Hoppy pretended to put magic on Alfie no.1 to make him grow, but the weird thing was that she didn't notice he just kept swapping them whenever she was working . This is a funny book to read and I would recommend this for all ages and I would rate it 3 out of 5.

Expendable Alfie (11/13 people found this helpful)

This takes no time at all to read
You're done in half an hour
It shows how far a man will go
to prove he has some power

To win the love of Mrs. S.
He pulls a clever ruse
If he can make her tortoise grow
He knows she won't refuse

Tortoises with matching shells
He plays his clever game
It takes an awful lot of work
To win his dizzy dame

ESIO TROT (spelled backwards please)
Gets larger as he'd said
And when he even shrinks it down
He gets inside her head

The moral of this leery tale's
"All's fair in love and war"
If you really want your lady's heart
Then it's worth cheating for

Esio Trot (Puffin Fiction)

Roald Dahl

Reader Reviews:

Cool (9/9 people found this helpful)

For dirty old men and to teach small children that cheating is OK (1/2 people found this helpful)

Wonderfully irreverant and immoral! (2/2 people found this helpful)

Danny's review (2/4 people found this helpful)

Expendable Alfie (11/13 people found this helpful)

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