To feel a bit ill about David Walliams?

[HelloYouTwo]

Apparently he’s made over £100m from his books.

There are so many better books out there than that pile of repetitive mildly racist, stereotype-laden junk that he peddles off the back of being a bit famous. I feel sorry for all the decent non-celeb authors out there.

News article if anyone interested:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/david-walliams-sitting-comfortably-in-100-million-book-club-gmp6bwm6b?shareToken=170904334320775f0850152088ce45a1

The Boy in the Dress is a remarkable, moving and nuanced children's book. It will be one of the stand out classics of our era of children's literature.

Walliams has quite an eye for what adults put children through, thoughtlessly and sometimes selfishly. He has a very particular lens on this, which is why I think some children have that gasp with laughter/eyes prickle with tears response.

We have no idea about Williams on the telly as we don't have one, but if the RSCs The Boy in the Dress goes on tour we will be in the front row. I looked into tickets for the production in Stratford Upon Avon but with travel and an overnight stay it was too expensive.

As for stereotypes...ever read Shakespeare or Dickens? Stereotypes are often a place to begin characterization! And creepiness? Well, as I said we don't have a TV so I don't know anything about Walliams personally, but I do know that great artists, writers and musicians are often people who make others uncomfortable. Firstly, they are flawed humans like the rest of us (Dahl was known as a bully and a mysogynist). Secondly, they are often balanced on a precipice looking into weirdness, awfulness and other decidedly upsetting and uncomfortable emotions. And you don't just leave that behind and suddenly become a kind, positive, benevolent soul when you step away from the computer.

I have two avid readers and one reluctant reader, ages 12/9/6. We have lots of David Walliams’ books in this house and I don’t remember any of the kids enjoying any of them. Often they have read a chapter or two and given up which is really unusual. They have all been bought by well meaning aunts/friends/MIL as a generic ‘present for a child I don’t know’.
I wonder how many of his sales are made up of people like us- presents bought with good intentions and politely received, only to sit on the bookshelf until they go to charity?
I have nothing against celebrity authors in general and we love David Baddiel books.

Both my DC liked them when they were younger - my youngest still does! I don't think there's anything wrong with them really, they're fine for kids to read.

Walliams is an odious creep. My daughter is a bit young for his books at the moment but we’ll be bypassing those when she is old enough.

I think it's like anything celebs branch out into, OP. Even though what they produce may be amazing, and they will likely work just as hard on it as someone else; it stings a bit that they have the deals handed to them when others work tirelessly for the same opportunities, and often never get them. But from a business perspective it's easy money for the publishers. There are so many amazing authors out there, and then you read books by Zoella et al which would never get published for the quality of the content.

Secondly, they are often balanced on a precipice looking into weirdness, awfulness and other decidedly upsetting and uncomfortable emotions. And you don't just leave that behind and suddenly become a kind, positive, benevolent soul when you step away from the computer.

My horror and thriller writer friends do. Sometimes the ones who write the goriest, scariest and most horrific books that go deep in the psychology of those who kill in awful ways are the mildest and best adjusted of people. It's all made up, you know...

@Zaphodsotherhead

Well, I am a bit rubbish at it so I see the struggle. It may come more easily to others though 😁

Also, you can't really say that DW is dodgy while extolling Roald Dahl

Yes, I feel the same way. Dahl was a really unpleasant man, and quite the misogynist.

I didn't like Dahl's books either. And Walliams is sub-Dahl. But Walliams in person gives me the creeps. Maybe it's the dead eyes and permanently moist lips.

No I don’t like Dahl books either

Was Dahl a misogynist? Many of his male and female adult characters are equally vile.

I agree with you OP, I tried to read one of his books to my dd sometime last year and I just couldn’t get past chapter 3. It was so hackneyed, badly written and boring I just can’t work out what all the fuss is about.

I told dd if she wanted to find out what happened she’d have to read it herself because I couldn’t bear it. She didn’t bother.

Dahl was a really unpleasant man, and quite the misogynist.

This is true but his saving grace was that he really could write.
Walliams is not so talented.

Not saying he's entirely without talent. Loads of comedians get publishing deals because essentially, being a great comedian is being a great writer. They need to be clever with words, have good timing, good characterisation, know what's worth mentioning and what's best left unsaid. All of which make them capable writers as these are transferable skills. But Dahl has the edge over Walliams by a long shot.

This is true but his saving grace was that he really could write.

And he was original.

YANBU. He’s creepy.

Back to the "mildly racist" part of the original post.

I've still not seen any explanation of this yet. OP? Where or how are his books "mildly racist"?

What is "mildly racist" anyway, when compared to "racist"?

I think Dahl was a misogynist in real life, I seem to remember reading some awful stuff about how he treated his wife, kids. Can't comment on his books as have never read any.

I think it's one of those instances where it's acceptable to separate the persob from their art (Dahl, I mean). My childhood without his books would have been unbearable and as I've said I don't think there's anything particularly misogynistic in his books. It's a bit like South Park - he was equally horrible regarding many of his adult characters, male and female. Nothing was sacred.

DW's shopkeeper character, Raj, is a tired racist stereotype. He can't speak English well and tricks his customers by selling food that is past its sell by date. As for The Boy in a Dress: Why is it okay to take the side of young Dennis when he wears a dress but to mock and humiliate the cross-dressing headteacher? I didn't get it at all.

he was equally horrible regarding many of his adult characters, male and female. Nothing was sacred.

I think that's a good point RuffleCrow

And I also recall (I think it was in "The Twits") where he said that

“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

It made such a change from the "princesses are beautiful", ""if you're ugly you must be an evil witch" type of stories.

My DCs loved Roald Dahl (especially "The Magic Finger" - I got sick of reading it. When DS got to about 8, he read it to his little sister. Captured both of their imaginations)

I've just planned my guided reafing using Philip Pullman's Book Of Dust. One short extract gives me an amazing amount of second and third tier vocabulary, plus inference and a real sense of "What will happen?" at the end of the extract. It grips the reader and even those who cannot access the text alone without support enjoy it, listen, discuss it and want to hear more.

Can't do that with Walliams. So Walliams is for reading at home like chewing bubblegum. Still reading. Just not mind opening. Still good for kids at bedtime though. Better than youtube before bed.

I personally really dislike his books. They are full of cheap and easy stereotypes and values and bad language (I had one child asking me what a faggot was...). They are also massively popular with the 8/9 reading age group.
Dahl as an author was far, far more creative and original.

You know, the big-selling authors such as Walliams, make publishing houses lots of money which means they can also afford publish the first-timers and unknowns, who don’t make much money. They balance each other out.

Shit celebrity biographies written by ghostwriters are for the Xmas book market, which is consists of an awful lot of people who don’t buy books at any other time of the year. It’s a massive, annual surge in potential buyers that no publisher can afford to ignore.

Walliams probably got his first deal off the back of his fame but the rest will only have been published because they sell so well, and that’s because kids like them. You can’t fake sales figures and you won’t get a new deal without healthy figures, however famous you are.

Downton57 - "Raj, is a tired racist stereotype"

How is it racist? I still can't see any explanation from the OP about the racism they say is present, so you'll have to excuse me Downton57, I'll have to ask you!

Leaving apart his writing I am always curious about the hate he generates on Mumsnet.
Why do people think he's creepy?