Boy / Going Solo [Paperback]

Roald Dahl (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 5, 2001

An omnibus edition with two books of memoirs detailing some of the remarkable things that happened to Roald Dahl as a boy and young man. "I have never been able to get them out of my mind, some are funny, some are painful, some are unpleasant, all are true".

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Roald Dahl, the best-loved of children's writers, was born in Wales of Norwegian parents. After school in England he went to work for Shell in Africa. He began to write after "a monumental bash on the head", sustained as an RAF pilot in World War II. Roald Dahl died in 1990.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (April 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014131141X
• ISBN-13: 978-0141311418
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,400,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read for any age, August 2, 2005

By 

Crail Rock - See all my reviews

This review is from: Boy (Paperback)

This was the first Roald Dahl book I read. My now-husband gave me Boy for my 22nd birthday because it was one of his favorite books as a child. I loved it and read it and Going Solo as quickly as I could. I recommend it to anyone of any age and will definitely read it to my children. Dahl had an eventful childhood which he narrates with the compassionate and mischievous tone of his other books. Boy is perfect for parents and children alike because Dahl remembers how life feels from the child's point of view whilst, a parent himself, appreciating the difficulties of parenthood and adulthood. Few books better help children and their parents to see eye-to-eye. Also admirable are the strength and acceptance that allows him to overcome childhood hardships without a trace of bitterness or melodrama. More than anything, it is a beautiful, interesting and down-right amusing look at a world not so far away in distance or time.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magical stories from childhood and beyond of a great author, August 4, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Boy (Paperback)

This is a wonderful combination of Roald Dahl's childhood and schooling, followed by stories from his life in east Africa and experiences as a pilot in the war. It is written in the same eloquent style as his children's books with seemingly amazing stories about home surgery, the village sweet shop and trips to Norway. You can see the beginnings of a number of his books in his experiences. I can thoroughly recommend as a great read.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Joys Of Childhood (Sans Schmaltz), February 10, 2010

By 

darklordzden "darklordzden" (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Boy (Paperback)

Originally published in the nineteen eighties, "Boy" and "Going Solo" were, sadly, Roald Dahl's only forays into autobiography.

"Boy" chronicles Dahl's early childhood as the son of Norwegian émigrés to England. It is by turns hysterically funny, touching, charming and always deeply entertaining. His account of a prank which incorporates a dead mouse, a gobstopper jar and a cantankerous sweet-shop owner had me in conniptions of laughter on public transport (as did another which incorporated Goat faeces disguised as Tobacco and an irritating uncle with a penchant for smoking a pipe). His descriptions of the barbarity he suffered during the course of a public school education in Interbellum England will no doubt shock many adults and children today - suffice it to say, the ominous maxim "spare the rod and spoil the child" was clearly a philosophy which was adhered too quite literally - but it is a uniquely fascinating insight into a vanished time and methodology.

"Going Solo" chronicles Dahl's burgeoning career as a Shell attaché in Dar Es Salaam, the outbreak of war, his enlistment in the RAF (and subsequent combat in the Aegean) and is as fascinating a tale as you could hope to read; It is at once a snapshot of the last days of the British Empire, a scathing indictment of Military Intelligence (the lapses in judgement that find Dahl and a handful of barely trained fighter pilots left to fend for themselves and "hold the line" against overwhelming and vastly more experienced Luftwaffe forces during the allied retreat from Greece are shocking), and a deftly touching coming of age tale; and while there are as many laughs to be found as in the previous volume, Dahl does not spare his readers the horrors of war or attempt to condescend to them. The parents of more sensitive children should perhaps bear this in mind before purchasing.

A fascinating volume which combines the formative experiences of a man who managed to squeeze the experience of several lifetimes into his allotted 'four score and ten' years, I recommend "Boy" and "Going Solo" unreservedly for children everywhere from ages eight to eighty five.