In my review of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I was excited to re-read the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl. I haven’t read the sequel since I was a kid, so I was hoping it was as magical as the first book.
It was not.
There are basically three sections to the book. In the first section, Charlie, Willy Wonka, and Charlie’s family rocket to outer space in the chocolate factory’s glass elevator, not that that was their initial plan. To return to the factory, Wonka takes the elevator higher and higher in order to build up enough force to slam through the factory’s roof. Someone asks the very sensible question of why they have to make another hole since the one they made leaving the factory still existed. But that wouldn’t end up in a trip to outer space, so so much for that.
In space, they come across a space hotel, along with another spaceship bringing workers to staff the hotel. Shenanigans ensue, and before you know it some large fig-shaped, mouthless, red-eyed space creatures threaten everyone (vermicious knids). The family and Wonka are able to escape and save the day for the hotel staff (presumably…come to think of it I don’t remember if they left them there to die).
The second section is a long, pointless digression about a de-aging vitamin Wonka invented and gives to three of Charlie’s grandparents. But oh no, they take too many pills and end up babies, with one ending up in “minus land” because she is negative two. This side story adds nothing to the proceedings. It didn’t have anything to do with the outer space story. It just seemed to be a diversion between sections one and three.
Section three brings us back, sort of, to the space story. The President of the United States has sent a letter praising everyone for saving the hotel and spaceship (oh, I guess they didn’t die after all). He invites Wonka and the family to the white house. Grandpa Joe and Charlie get excited. The end.
I probably wouldn’t have found this boring and unfocused if I hadn’t just read my beloved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The latter book is just so colorful, lively, and funny; the sequel pales in comparison. However, I did like one thing about the book: It got me to a Cannonball! Whew, that was a close one.