I was quite surprised, reading this, at just how different it was from what I remembered - until I realised that what I was remembering was the film (the awesome one with Gene Wilder, not the crappy remake). Usually the book is better than the film, but this is one instance where the movie version edges out the original text, in my opinion.

Be that as it may, the book is still hugely entertaining. I love how Roald Dahl acknowledges (and he does it in other stories as well) that some children are plain horrible to be around, and here they get their just deserts. My particular love-to-hate favourite is little Veruca Salt, the spoilt brat who along with her dreadful parents is so just wonderfully awful that even squirrels can figure out she - hell, the whole beastly family! - should be booted down the rubbish chute as quickly as possible. It never fails to make me cackle.