More Tales of the Unexpected (Radio Collection) [Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Roald Dahl (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2001 | Series: Radio Collection

Eight more Roald Dahl short stories. Dahl was master of the twisted tale and his collections of macabre and sinister short stories are still as popular as ever. Brought to life by readers Tom Hollander, William Hootkins and Geoffrey Palmer, plus Ron Grainger's original theme tune to the TV series of 70s and 80s.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: BBC Audiobooks (October 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0563477962
• ISBN-13: 978-0563477969
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,369,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #40 in Books > Books on Cassette > Authors, A-Z > ( D ) > Dahl, Roald

More About the Author

Roald Dahl (1916-1990) was born in Llandaff, South Wales, and went to Repton School in England. His parents were Norwegian, so holidays were spent in Norway. As he explains in Boy, he turned down the idea of university in favor of a job that would take him to"a wonderful faraway place. In 1933 he joined the Shell Company, which sent him to Mombasa in East Africa. When World War II began in 1939 he became a fighter pilot and in 1942 was made assistant air attaché in Washington, where he started to write short stories. His first major success as a writer for children was in 1964. Thereafter his children's books brought him increasing popularity, and when he died children mourned the world over, particularly in Britain where he had lived for many years.The BFG is dedicated to the memory of Roald Dahls eldest daughter, Olivia, who died from measles when she was seven - the same age at which his sister had died (fron appendicitis) over forty years before. Quentin Blake, the first Children's Laureate of the United Kingdom, has illustrated most of Roald Dahl's children's books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The thrill has gone, December 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: More Tales of the Unexpected (Paperback)

"More Tales of the Unexpected" is another collection of Roald Dahl's short stories. But in my opinion this book is trying to repeat the financial success without reaching the quality of the earlier published "Tales of the Unexpected".

The first of the nine short stories is a good example of how Dahl's writing works. "Poison" accomplishes everything that the best of Dahl's stories can. The reader gets into strong stress until he reaches the plot at the end of the story. All of the three protagonists behave like everyone would in the situation of a friend being in danger. And the most fascinating thing is that no one would expect a plot like this. So it's the tension and the plot that make Dahl's short stories successful.

"The Hitch-hiker" begins like one of these stories, but it's not worthy enough to be printed in a collection of unexpected plots. It contains many of Dahl's fabulous ideas on how to arrange a story: the spirit of driving a brand-new fast car or the situation of two people meeting each other for the first time, and the very strange hitch-hiker. The driver of the car, who is an author seems to be Mr Dahl himself. But the appearance of the hitch-hiker's skills and profession at the beginning of the last third of the story gives the reader a detailed idea of the end of the story. The way, Dahl describes the moment when the driver gets a ticket from the cop and the perfection of the hitch-hiker's pickpocket skills let's the reader reach the conclusion that he stole the cop's ticket book. This story seems to be more a bad fake of Dahl's writing than an original.

Dahl's simple story-telling and his great plot arrangements are not presented in every story of More Tales of the Unexpected. So if you want to read Dahl's short stories for the first time, you should buy the first "Tales of the Unexpected". However, a real fan of Roald Dahl must have this one, too, because it contains four stories that are not published in other editions.