Customer Reviews

The Best of Roald Dahl

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I am one of those people who had read many of Roald Dahl's works (from _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ to "Lamb to the Slaughter"), I never realized they were all by the same author. As I grew older, I fell in love all over again with Dahl's books for children, but when I stumbled across this collection, I bought it, more or less, blindly. I remember "Lamb to the Slaughter" being good, but I had not read any of the other works, nor did I know Dahl had so many collections of short stories for the more "mature" reader.

This collection is awesome. Being a fan of the O'Henry style story and the Shirley Jackson dark humor, I enjoyed myself tremendously going through each story. The writing is very clean and plot driven, so you can literally lose yourself in his stories the moment you begin them. The excerpt from _My Uncle Oswald_ called "The Visitor" is especially devilishly delicious.

Dahl is one of my favorite writers, and I feel that this collection bears very well on the legacy he left us.

Roald Dahl is probably most famous as a popular children's writer, and is much loved by young readers world-wide for his contribution to children's literature with "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", and many other favorites. "The Best of Roald Dahl" proves that Dahl is also brilliant at writing short stories on a more adult level. He has a wicked imagination, and has the uncanny ability to stretch it beyond the borders of the normal, picturing ordinary details in a most vivid and elaborate manner. His brilliant imagination travels far and wide to places and events you have never imagined possible, and yet which are not fantastic but entirely believable because of his compelling realism. His realism is sometimes so compelling, that you are almost persuaded that Dahl is telling a true story, and are left wondering whether or not the story is fact or fiction - a remarkable accomplishment for a fiction writer!

Dahl's interest is sometimes dark and off-colour, and his constant fascination with the morbid and ugly makes this book suitable only for mature readers. I personally found his frequent use of blasphemy rather disturbing, as well has his occasional interest in sexual exploits (evident in three stories where he deals with matters such as prostitution, wife-swapping, and sexual conquest). Despite this, the majority of these stories are unquestionably spell-binding. Dahl's short stories have the capacity to leave you breathless because they are entirely unpredictable. He has a love for unhappy, even horrible endings that shock and surprise, yet are incredibly satisfying because they are unexpected. His incredible ability to describe an evil or horrible scheme in rich detail is so riveting, that you are completely caught up in its authenticity and excitement. Just when you are at the point of rejoicing in its apparent success, Dahl takes the greatest pleasure in dashing all expectations to pieces, as the scheme ends in an astonishing failure. You are left with a wonderful blend of mixed feelings: disappointment at failure, yet satisfaction knowing that justice is done, albeit in a cruel or most surprising manner. His dark humor is completely captivating, and in certain respects Dahl can correctly be regarded as a literary genius.

Some of the highlights in my view are "Taste" (a delightful tale where a man lays his daughter on the line in a "sure" bet with a wine-taster), "Parson's Pleasure" (where an underhanded scheme to acquire the some of the world's greatest antiques for peanuts is chopped to pieces on the verge of its success), "Champion of the World" (a poacher's dream nearly comes true with an incredible scheme to steal birds), and "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar"(a remarkable but believable story about a man who develops an incredible ability to see through playing-cards).

But these favorites are just the tip of the ice-berg. This book boasts more than 500 pages, and contains nearly 30 of Roald Dahl's best short stories, selected from five of his published short story collections. Each makes a delightful 10-20 minutes read, and exhibits his superb skill as one of the most entertaining and ingenius story-tellers in the late 20th century. Recommended!

It seems that most people know Dahl from his children's books, most notably those made into the popular movies Willy Wonka (Charlie) and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Matilda. And if you know those books (or most likely movies), you've already gotten a taste of the deliciously wicked imagination contained within.

Well, hold on to your seats because you ain't seen nothin' yet!

This collection of 25 short stories (written for adults) spans his career up to 1986 and contains some of the most tantalizingly evil ideas I have read in a long time. What fun it was to visit this mind in all its incarnations. From a seemingly sweet landlady, to a seemingly benevolent preacher, to a seemingly innocuous wager. That is the pattern. Things are not what they seem and Dahl makes sure to throw in a one-two punch of surprises within.

To use a Hollywoodism, I would say this is like O. Henry crossed with Stephen King. So, if you like your short stories with pepper, you can do no better than to visit the twisted world of Roald Dahl.

I bought the first edition paperback in 1978 after my 6th grade teacher assigned The Way To Heaven as a class assignment. After reading her xerox copy I bought one of the first books I still keep in my shelves. It's yellowed and the cover is torn, but the stories are still as well written as ever.

These stories are appropriate for a mature teenage reader but I would recommend it to anyone interested in an enjoyable read. Spooky, understated, this is much less formula than Mr. King. Well worth the reread 20 years later. On the back of my copy, there is a blurb by the Washington Post which sums it up: "The mind of Roald Dahl is quintessentially nasty and wicked" Spot on.

The infamous, the cantankerous, the grandiloquent, the absurd, the essential, the satisfying Roald Dahl is magnificent. His fame comes almost exclusively from his work as a children's author. Unbeknownst to most, he was a prominent short fiction writer for numerous magazines and publications. "The Best of Roald Dahl" is a collection of his short fiction spanning a large duration of his career rectifying him not as a child's author but simply as well-written author. This collection is unforgettable, and Dahl finds the youthful incendiary in all of us.

From "Pig," to "Madame Rosetta," to "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar," there are no lackluster tales. Although they have almost no commonality subjectively, his stories share a unique aesthetic, which makes them highly approachable and easy to understand - they often have what some might call an ethereal quality.

Stories like "Pig" may seem moralistically positive, but are often suggestive of the dark truth that is the real world. It's as though we are seeing our own negative world through the gentle eyes of Dahl who can only laugh. His dark humor is sometimes hilarious, but more than often grotesque. It will make you smile, it will make you sneer, and it may even make you vomit.

I dont know Roald Dahl as a children's writer as I have read only his mature works.

His stories are similar in style to that of O Henry - in the sense there is an unexpected twist at the end. Dahl sure keeps the reader guessing in each of his stories about the end. The end is sometimes crude but its a reality that we all have to accept. Some of the best stories are The Hitch-hiker; The Great Switcheroo; Parson's pleasure. There are some very innovative stories like The Sound machine; Genesis and Catastrophe; The Taste etc. Henry Sugar's adventure is another wonderful story where he takes on the casinos. There are some very crude ones like "The Pig", but overall its really a good collection of short stories.

Such books are a wonderful read to kill time in a train or subway travel.

This book has left an impact on my memory like none before. Roald Dahl has an imagination that truly explores the wildness of the human mind. His creativity and stark reality to the truth is wonderful. This book has kept me up laughing and constantly brought a smile to my face when im down. My only regert is the limited number of books he wrote and i can understand how the character in "Misery"- mstephen King reacted the way she did. This book is addictive.

Very often the writer's skill can be appreciated after reading their short stories. The short form requires discipline and has to catch the reader's attention in a short time. Roald Dahl managed to do this in his short stories (the shorter ones from this collection are the best!). The stories are truly timeless - although written between 1945 and 1965, they have not aged at all. They still keep the readers holding their breath and having goose bumps. There are horrors, great insights into human soul, relationships, perversions, addictions...
I knew only "James and the Giant Peach" before I was recommended this collection by a (British) friend, who I am very grateful to. I have been returning to the stories over and over again. My favorites are probably the most morbid ones, starting with "Man from the South" through "Skin", "Royal Jelly" to "Pig". I like also "Taste" which is more focused on psychology. Anyway, Dahl knew how to find an original subject, how to twist the plot leading to the unexpected and very satisfying finale, and how to use the English language.

Bless my 8th grade teacher who saw I was standing alone in the dark, and gave me my first book by Roald Dahl! These stories stayed in the back of my head for years; they're 'grim' fairy tales that make you raise an eyebrow at the person sitting next to you.

Have loved his kids' books ever since I was a child and am now reading them with my daughter. This one is for grownups only, though! I described this collection to friends by saying "Roald Dahl is the British Flannery O'Connor." If you like dark, funny (sometimes truly twisted) short stories where, in surprise endings, those who scheme and plot always get theirs, you will truly enjoy this book.