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A review by katykelly
Grandpa's Great Escape by David Walliams
5.0
Well Mr Walliams... back on form!
After a few disappointing reads (not just for me, but lots of young library customers), this latest from the comedian sees him back on what he appears to do best - heartfelt family stories, with lots of humour and exciting plots.
My favourites are still Boy in the Dress and Billionaire Boy, but this fits nicely up there with them. And includes a story about a very tough subject for children - the mental deterioration of dementia/Alzheimer's in older people.
This, at heart though, is a story about a boy and his Granddad. Jack's parents (very much background characters) are not as important to Jack as his Grandpa, he of the daring war stories, tales of aerial adventure and escape, dogfights and danger. We watch Jack noticing his Grandpa's increasing forgetfulness, and slightly manic episodes that lead him to Twilight Towers, a care home that is not all that it appears to be.
This is a long book for Walliams, at more than 400 pages, though it zips by. It could almost be two books, as the first half is more concerned with the misadventures that see Grandpa declining into a man who sees himself and his grandson as back in the War, and the second with the care home. I thought both worked, and didn't feel it was too long, though a newly emergent reader may struggle with the length.
Walliams has left the over-the-top humour to one side for this story, focusing more on funny happenings and characters than authorial asides and long words covering two pages.
Set in the 80s, we also get a young Raj (still the same), though the time period isn't obvious, but means Grandpa can be the right age for the war veteran he needs to be.
This is an excellent mixture of warmth, humour and pathos, with adults reading very likely to feel choked up at both the relationship between a loving Jack and his oblivious Grandpa, and the depiction of dementia Walliams conveys.
There is still enough of Walliams' zany humour (some wonderfully evil villains, some incredibly eccentric care home residents) and lots of manic adventure to keep a 7-11 year old reader happy as well.
And an ending that is both moving and appropriate. It's one that you could even discuss in classes.
I'm so glad I'm able to write a wholly positive review after a few disappointing reads by the author. I love this side to his writing, and there's a queue of readers in the library that say the same.
A winner all round. Lovely idea, very sensitively executed.
After a few disappointing reads (not just for me, but lots of young library customers), this latest from the comedian sees him back on what he appears to do best - heartfelt family stories, with lots of humour and exciting plots.
My favourites are still Boy in the Dress and Billionaire Boy, but this fits nicely up there with them. And includes a story about a very tough subject for children - the mental deterioration of dementia/Alzheimer's in older people.
This, at heart though, is a story about a boy and his Granddad. Jack's parents (very much background characters) are not as important to Jack as his Grandpa, he of the daring war stories, tales of aerial adventure and escape, dogfights and danger. We watch Jack noticing his Grandpa's increasing forgetfulness, and slightly manic episodes that lead him to Twilight Towers, a care home that is not all that it appears to be.
This is a long book for Walliams, at more than 400 pages, though it zips by. It could almost be two books, as the first half is more concerned with the misadventures that see Grandpa declining into a man who sees himself and his grandson as back in the War, and the second with the care home. I thought both worked, and didn't feel it was too long, though a newly emergent reader may struggle with the length.
Walliams has left the over-the-top humour to one side for this story, focusing more on funny happenings and characters than authorial asides and long words covering two pages.
Set in the 80s, we also get a young Raj (still the same), though the time period isn't obvious, but means Grandpa can be the right age for the war veteran he needs to be.
This is an excellent mixture of warmth, humour and pathos, with adults reading very likely to feel choked up at both the relationship between a loving Jack and his oblivious Grandpa, and the depiction of dementia Walliams conveys.
There is still enough of Walliams' zany humour (some wonderfully evil villains, some incredibly eccentric care home residents) and lots of manic adventure to keep a 7-11 year old reader happy as well.
And an ending that is both moving and appropriate. It's one that you could even discuss in classes.
I'm so glad I'm able to write a wholly positive review after a few disappointing reads by the author. I love this side to his writing, and there's a queue of readers in the library that say the same.
A winner all round. Lovely idea, very sensitively executed.