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Esio trot by Roald Dahl
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Esio trot (edition 1990)

by Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake

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5,778621,727 (3.63)66
I want a room full of turtles.



The ending seemed a little rushed there, Mr. Dahl.
Just hop right onto that marriage train. Doesn't matter he tricked her and lied to her.
Jeeze.

Silliness. ( )
  Shahnareads | Jun 21, 2017 |
English (61)  Spanish (2)  All languages (63)
Showing 1-25 of 61 (next | show all)
Jon gives this one thousand stars. "Or one hundred zillion stars."

The turtles' facial expressions were the best. ( )
  filemanager | Nov 29, 2023 |
Mr Hopper is desperately in love with his neighbour Mrs Silver who spends all her time doting on her pet tortoise Alfie. When Mrs Silver says she desperately wants to see Alfie grow bigger, Mr Hopper is determined to make it happen. Which he does with a backwards poem (because the language of tortoises is backwards - obviously - said night and day. And then by actually buying all the tortoises available at a bunch of pet shops and replacing Alfie with a slightly bigger tortoise every week for eight weeks. I enjoyed the silliness and creativity Mr Hopper demonstrates in solving the problem. Mrs Silver, so impressed by him, agrees to marry him and they all live happily ever after.

I generally don't really like Roald Dahl's books. They just don't grab me, for all I do like Quentin Blake's illustrations. But this was a surprising read. It wasn't the best thing ever, but it was a funny little love story and I was amused reading it.

It's a short book but one of his better ones. 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 stars. ( )
  funstm | Sep 27, 2023 |
Essentially, this story is quite immoral. An old man is far too shy to ask the widow next door to marry him, so instead he attempts to win her love through lies, trickery and lots and lots of tortoises (tortoi? Tortie?). He succeeds, and they get married.

Still, a clever and charming little children's story, and Roald Dahl is worth a read no matter what age you are. ( )
  TheScribblingMan | Jul 29, 2023 |
This barely has any of the charm of Roald Dahl's better works, and the cuteness and so-so storytelling only last for so long even in such a short book. ( )
  MythButton | Feb 16, 2023 |
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Esio Trot
Authors: Roald Dahl
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Short Story
Pages: 14
Words: 4.5K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org

Mr Hoppy is a shy elderly man who lives alone in an apartment, tending to his many plants, which have been the centre of his life since he retired from his job in a bus garage several years before. For many years, he has had a secret love whose name was Mrs Silver. She lives in the flat below his, and he frequently leans over his balcony and exchanges polite conversations with Mrs Silver, but his courage fails him whenever he prepares to hint at his true feelings for her.

Mrs Silver has a small pet tortoise, Alfie, who is the centre of her world. One morning, Mrs Silver mentions to Mr Hoppy that even though she has owned Alfie for many years, he has only grown a tiny bit and has gained only 13 ounces in weight. She confesses that she wishes she knew of some way to make her little Alfie grow into a larger, more dignified tortoise. Mr Hoppy suddenly thinks of a way to give Mrs Silver her wish and win her heart.

Mr Hoppy tells Mrs Silver that he — in fact — knows a way to make a tortoise grow bigger. He writes the following words on a slip of paper, and lowers it down to Mrs Silver:

ESIO TROT, ESIO TROT,

TEG REGGIB REGGIB,

EMOC NO, ESIO TROT,

WORG PU, FFUP PU, TOOHS PU,

GNIRPS PU, WOLB PU, LLEWS PU!

EGROG! ELZZUG! FFUTS! PLUG!

TUP NO TAF, ESIO TROT, TUP NO TAF,

OG NO, OG NO, ELBBOG DOOF.

Mr Hoppy explains that these magic words, when whispered in Alfie's ear three times a day, will cause Alfie to grow bigger and bigger. Mrs Silver is doubtful, but agrees to try. (The words are, reversed, Tortoise, tortoise, get bigger bigger! Come on, tortoise, grow up, puff up, shoot up! Spring up, blow up, swell up! Gorge! Guzzle! Stuff! Gulp! Put on fat, tortoise, put on fat! Go on, go on, gobble food!)

Over the next few days, Mr Hoppy carries out the second part of his plan. He visits every pet shop in the city, and buys many tortoises of various sizes, but none that weigh less than 13 ounces. Mr Hoppy brings all the tortoises back to his flat and installs them in a makeshift corral in his living room. Next, Mr Hoppy builds a special tool to help him snatch the tortoise from Mrs Silver's balcony. He fastens a handle to the end of a long metal tube, and a tiny claw at the bottom. By pulling the handle, the arms of the claw gently open and close.

The following day, when Mrs Silver left for work, Mr Hoppy selects a tortoise from his living room that weighs exactly 15 ounces. He carefully picked Alfie up from the lower balcony, and exchanged him with the new tortoise. When Mrs Silver returned home, she faithfully whispers the magic words in Alfie's ear, but does not notice that an exchange has been made.

Over the next 8 weeks, Mr Hoppy continues to switch Mrs Silver's current pet with a slightly larger tortoise, but she still does not perceive that her pet is growing in size. One afternoon, Mrs Silver comments to Mr Hoppy that Alfie seems a bit bigger, but can not tell for sure. Suddenly, Mrs Silver notices that Alfie can no longer fit through the door to his house, and exclaims to Mr Hoppy that his spell is sure to be working. Mrs Silver runs inside and weighs her pet, and is surprised to find that Alfie now weighs 27 ounces, more than double the weight he was before. Mr Hoppy summons his courage and asks Mrs Silver if he can come down and see the effect for himself. Mrs Silver, in raptures over her pet's transformation, gladly grants his request.

Mr Hoppy runs down the stairs, nervous and excited to be on the brink of winning Mrs Silver's love. Mrs Silver flings open the door, embraces Mr Hoppy, and expresses her admiration for Mr Hoppy's magical spell. However, the tortoise cannot fit in the house now, so Mr Hoppy tells Mrs Silver to say the magic spell properly. On the next night he secretly replaces this tortoise with one slightly smaller one. His part works splendidly, and Mr Hoppy, suddenly emboldened by Mrs Silver's warm smile, asks Mrs Silver for her hand in marriage. Mrs Silver delightedly accepts Mr Hoppy's proposal, then adds that she thought he would never get around to asking. "All due to Alfie!" she cries.

Mr Hoppy secretly returns all the tortoises in his living room back to their respective pet shops, telling all the owners that they didn't need to pay. Mr Hoppy and Mrs Silver are happily married a few weeks later. The "original" Alfie is bought by a girl called Roberta Squibb after he is returned to a pet shop; moreover, after many years, he does indeed grow to double his size before.

My Thoughts:

You know, I ended up thinking the EXACT SAME THING as I did when I read this in '12. An overly complicated solution to something that could have been sorted out in 5minutes. That's not necessarily bad, but I was hoping for a new revelation (as it were).

Of course, being a short story of just 14 pages (with pictures mind you), it's hard to get to the bones of the story, as it doesn't have any :-D

★★★✬☆ ( )
  BookstoogeLT | May 20, 2022 |
Mr. Hoppy has been in love with the widowed Mrs. Silver for years. He lives in the apartment above hers and grows plants on his balcony, which gives him the excuse to look down and discuss her beloved pet turtle with her. When Mrs. Silver says that she would love nothing more than to see her little Alfie grow into a big turtle, Mr. Hoppy forms a scheme.
Dahl's gentle yet humorous romantic tale. ( )
  mstrust | May 18, 2022 |
Esio Trot is the story of a man trying to impress a lady through a complicated deceit. It's not hard to imagine it as one of Dahl's adult short stories, albeit with a macabre ending. ( )
  whatmeworry | Apr 9, 2022 |
It was a cute bedtime story and I think it’s improved my fondness for turtles somehow, but the ending isn’t as pleasant as I expected. Marriages shouldn’t be founded on lies. But at least Alfie the Turtle lived/lives a good life. ( )
  bobbybslax | Aug 27, 2021 |
children's short story; animals/dahl silliness. Judy Dench and Dustin Hoffman are set to star in the BBC's film version of the Dahl story--it's not his most memorable work, so I can see why our library has so few copies. Still, you can't argue with that casting. ( )
  reader1009 | Jul 3, 2021 |
Still such a sweet story. ( )
  HeyMimi | Dec 28, 2020 |
Hmph. I find this quite obnoxious. He's so shy that the only way he can actually talk to her is to play a nasty trick - lie to her, take away her beloved pet (I'm surprised she never noticed any difference), put himself to enormous pains in order to trick her into accepting him - and then accepting his proposal (he couldn't just say it, without all the deceit?). And to top it off, her response is "I thought you'd never ask." I don't like it. ( )
  jjmcgaffey | Oct 1, 2020 |
00003732
  lcslibrarian | Aug 13, 2020 |
I allow by fifth grade class to vote on books that I will read aloud, based on the short summaries found on the back of the books.
Then, after I read it, I have them rate it. I tell them that I also want a sentence or two explaining their ratings. This is done completely anonymously. They know I will post their ratings on Goodreads, so that other teachers and parents will know what KIDS (ten year-olds) think of a children's book!
The class voted and it averaged to 4.42. No rating was less than 3 stars!
Here are some of their reviews, verbatim:
Three stars: " I liked it because it was funny."

Four stars: " I thought it had just the right amount of comedy, and was a unique short story. It taught us what not to do if you love someone who loves a tortoise."

Five stars: " I gave this book 5 stars because I loved the happy ending, the love story of the two people. I also really love turtles."

I have read some of the other reviews that disparaged the book for its deceit. I used it as a "teachable moment"... asking the children why he was being deceitful, and other ways he could have gotten Mrs. Silver's attention.
Overall, they really enjoyed it...
as one student said...
"I voted 5 stars because I thought it was hallaris (sic)" ( )
  Chrissylou62 | Aug 1, 2020 |
In short some lying happened and a lot of money was spent, but it was super cute. ( )
  Wanda-Gambling | May 9, 2020 |
Hah, oh Roald Dahl, your books are so messed up. Entertaining, but no example for getting married/how to treat a pet!

(Recommended to me as a bit of light reading by my 9yo kid)
  kaciereads | Apr 9, 2020 |
Read for a challenge - read a child favorite.
I remember I loved this book when I was little - even did a book report about it. I do see now that I'm older, that it's not exactly decent of him to lie to a gullable older lady to trick her into falling in love with him, but it's still cute :) ( )
  CielCat | Feb 6, 2019 |
I mean, basically the dude tricks her into thinking her tortoise is growing when it's not by buying 100 tortoises and sneaking into her place and replacing it every night. And she falls for him even though he's bumbling and sneaky and middle-aged, and her tee-tee insouciance and hot young body are weirdly prominent. These days we'd call it rape culture, or something close. ( )
  MeditationesMartini | May 22, 2018 |
This book is such an adorable story. I love the thought of all those tortoises and the illustrations are great. ( )
  JBarringer | Dec 30, 2017 |
Mr. Hoppy is in love with his neighbor, Mrs. Silver; but she is in love with someone else—Alfie, her pet tortoise. With all her attention focused on Alfie, Mrs. Silver doesn’t even know Mr. Hoppy is alive. And Mr. Hoppy is too shy to even ask Mrs. Silver over for tea. Then one day Mr. Hoppy comes up with a brilliant idea to get Mrs. Silver's attention. If Mr. Hoppy's plan works, Mrs. Silver will certainly fall in love with him. After all, everyone knows the way to a woman’s heart is through her tortoise. ( )
  LynneQuan | Sep 25, 2017 |
This is a story of undeclared love: the elderly Mr Hoppy, who lives in a flat right above a lady called Mrs Silver. The two of them chat about gardening and tortoises, but he's too shy even to invite her for a cup of tea.

Not really the stuff of young children's fiction, but it gets worse. Mrs Silver complains that her tortoise isn’t growing, and Mr Hoppy has a brilliant idea…

The plot is ridiculous, in typical Dahl style. There are delightful line drawings by Quentin Blake every few pages, and the writing is intended to be amusing. Unfortunately, Mr Hoppy’s plan involves deception, and the mis-treatment of tortoises.

Perhaps I’m over-thinking it, but I really didn’t like this story much, despite the humour, and wouldn’t recommend it. ( )
  SueinCyprus | Aug 28, 2017 |
I want a room full of turtles.



The ending seemed a little rushed there, Mr. Dahl.
Just hop right onto that marriage train. Doesn't matter he tricked her and lied to her.
Jeeze.

Silliness. ( )
  Shahnareads | Jun 21, 2017 |
This book was lacking Dahl's satire and bite, but considering that there were no children involved, not surprising.
Well written and typical Dahl solution to a simple problem :) ( )
  BookstoogeLT | Dec 10, 2016 |
I enjoy Roald Dahl's writing, be it children's lit or adult (yes, he has written a few adult books). This is a charming little romance that I read in one sitting.

Mr. Hoppy is in love with Mrs. Silver. His balcony is above hers. Mr. Hoppy would love to have tea and spend time with Mrs. Silver, but between his shyness and his competition he can't seem to get up the nerve to ask her. His competition is Alfie, her small pet tortoise.

After some thought, Mr. Hoppy comes up with a plan to get Mrs. Silver's attention, with the use of 'magic' and subterfuge. Does it work? Read and find out.

This is a story that can be read silently or out loud and enjoyed either way. Definitely a Goodread. ( )
  ChazziFrazz | Jun 23, 2016 |
Cute story, but I don't really agree with the use of deception to win a woman's heart.. ( )
  Krild13 | Jun 10, 2016 |
Mr. Hoppy is in love with Mrs. Silver, but her heart belongs to Alfie, her pet tortoise. Mr. Hoppy is too shy to approach Mrs. Silver, until one day he comes up with a brilliant idea to win her heart. If Mr. Hoppy's plan works, Mrs. Silver will certainly fall in love with him. But it's going to take one hundred and forty tortoises, an ancient spell, and a little bit of magic.
  Scopuslrc | Mar 7, 2016 |
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An edition of this book was published by Penguin Australia.

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