Book Review: Mr Men #2 - Mr. Greedy
After the complex deconstructed take on the criminal mind of Mr. Tickle, author Roger Hargreaves returns to more familiar territories in children's literature with the second in his Mr. Men series.
Mr. Greedy is an allegorical tale tackling a low-level vice - one of the all too familiar seven deadly sins.
Mr. Greedy is initially a difficult character to comprehend. He's quite clearly obese, yet undistressed at the unhealthy and frankly, quite dangerous state of his body. He dreams of food, he attacks his meals with relish and seems to derive an enormous amount of pleasure from the act of consuming food. Yet it's clear this is not comfort eating. Mr. Greedy is clearly not an unhappy individual - it's tempting to assume that our hero is suffering Prada Willi Syndrome or some other medically recognised genetic disorder. More likely, in this reviewer's opinion, is that Mr. Greedy is a former elite sportsman. His diet is heavily skewed toward carbohydrates such as breads and cereals - foods that an endurance athlete might favour. It is not uncommon for distinguished cyclists and long-distance runners to bloat in retirement - finding it relatively easy to stop training, but much more difficult to alter the eating habits that their career has led them to. Indeed, after eating an enormous breakfast, Greedy steps out to take a walk in order to build an appetite for his lunch – this is not the behaviour of the classic glutton.
Despite the lack of clarity to the back story, what is clear is that, despite his apparent happiness, Mr. Greedy's lifestyle is to be frowned upon - at first it appears to be a typical, disappointing one-dimensional allegory. But Hargreaves can't be that obvious can he?
After an entertaining breakfast and during his mid-morning constitutional, Mr. Greedy appears to slip into either a dreamlike daze or some kind of food-induced hallucinatory state. In an incredible scene Greedy happens upon a secret room filled with over-sized foodstuffs such as oranges bigger than himself and peas the size of footballs. Now Greedy is faced with a test - his vice could consume him. Can he resist his urges and beat his demons?
It's a cautionary tale, typical of stories aimed at young children, yet Hargreaves subverts the form by misinterpreting the moral of the tale. It's a delightful and suitable kicker, of which Hargreaves is an undoubted master. It's as if the author has taken the typical form of the traditional fable and destroyed it with childish glee, turned a flamethrower on the garden of eden and sat triumphantly and satisfied amongst the ashes.
That this is only book two in a series of fifty, should serve to fill any reader with a wild anticipation and appetite for the other unexpected delights that Roger Hargreaves may have yet to serve.
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