MADAME DOUBTFIRE Book Review

MADAME DOUBTFIRE   Book Review    

Madame Doubtfire which was written by Anne Fine in 1987, is fiction for young readers.

meet in Daniel’s home only on Tuesdays for tea and every second weekDaniel, an actor who is divorced from Miranda Hilliard, lives in a dirty and untidy apartment. He loves his three children, Lydia, Christopher and Natalie, but they live with Miranda and they can end. He and the children want to meet each other more often, but Miranda, a busy business woman, doesn’t let them.

The story starts one Tuesday tea-time, when the children bring an envelope from their mother. On the same day, Miranda decides to get a housekeeper who can take care of the children until she gets back home. When Daniel see the advertisement, he has a crazy plan.

Mrs. Doubtfire is Daniel’s creation that only his children know about. Gradually, she earns the trust of Miranda, and the other days he is a life painting model at art school. But one day, Miranda’s next-door neighbour, Mrs Hooper with other art group students come into Miranda’s house to do life painting because Miranda allowed her neighbour to do it accidentally, and Miranda wants Mrs. Doubtfire there. So unfortunately, he needs to be a female housekeeper and a male life painting model at the same time that day, and then…

In addition, the author makes an unusual story about a common family problem. Her plot and writing is very interesting and very real. It’s easy to imagine except for the housekeeper being actually a known man acting in real life. I can feel that the author knows about a lot of problems in family, children and school. Maybe she has had a lot of experience in her life, and that makes the story and the character’s talk and feelings natural. Also, “the children in her stories are often wiser than the adults” and this means she knows about children’s feelings. The only sad thing is this book is pre-intermediate level, so probably, it makes the story a little bit less fun.

If you like happy endings, family ties, and funny stories, this book is a good one for you to read. There is a successful film of the story called Mrs. Doubtfire, made in 1993 and Robin Williams played Daniel and Mrs. Doubtfire. You can see how Daniel becomes Mrs. Doubtfire in the real make up in the film!