Customer Reviews

Skin and Other Stories

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I absolutely love this book. Roald Dahl is a gripping and suspenseful writer who manages to captivate the reader with a limited amount of gore. The only thing is that this book is listed as young adult, which is probably decided by the publisher, but the subject matter is pretty strong, so parents might want to read it themselves first before giving to their children! I would say 15 or older would enjoy the book, but 11-14 depends on the child.

Roald Dahl is a wonderful short story writer. He introduces all the characters in a very descriptive manner and ends his storys with twists that will make you want to read them over and over agian. I thoroughly enjoyed every one of the stories but when reccommend them to teenagers 13 and above as some of them have a vast range of vocbulary that is sometimes confusing. I would suggest this book to all my friends. It is definitely worth buying! :)

"...Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head..."
Patrick Maloney was dead.
In "Skin" come eleven chilling tales that are sure to keep you hooked from the beginning words right up until the horrifying surprise ending. Roald Dahl (Celebrated children's writer; author of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.") will shock you with his audacious writing in "Skin." Who would guess that Mrs. Maloney, after successfully killing her husband with a frozen leg of lamb, would later feed the only evidence to the police? Or that an avaricious art dealer would stop at nothing, not even an innocent old man's life, to get a painting...that was tattooed on the poor man's back?
These wicked tales are sure to keep you open-mouthed with shock through each story, only to leave you rapacious for more once it's finished. Each story begins with a sweet and innocent storyline with what you think an obvious and predictable ending. Only until the last few pages does Roald Dahl drop the bombshell that will blow you away and keep you petrified for days afterward.
For example in "the Sound Machine," an ingenious yet nutty inventor creates a machine that reveal terrifying and astonishing sounds unknown to the human ear. And in "The Surgeon," a man's extremely valuable diamond is stolen, only to turn up again in the most unusual of places!!
If you enjoy "Skin", I recommend for you "The Umbrella Man" by the same author.
This is a rare read; don't pass it up! I can guarantee you'll love and treasure this book forever. Enjoy!

Roald Dahl is such an endearing writer. His stories seem like cute little childrens stories, using very basic vocabulary and a style that does not even allude to being poetic. But then the plot twist at the end of each leaves you wondering how his sick mind comes up with these ideas. After the first 2 or 3 stories you start expecting the plot twists, and you find yourself wondering how he will spin the story you are reading into something dark and disturbing - and this curiosity drives you straight to the end of the story before you know it.

A good book that you will be able to put down, but I doubt it will take you more than 11 sessions to finish - I simply can't imagine putting this book down mid-story.

I absolutely LOVED Skin and The Umbrella Man. EVERY story in thir was FANTASTICAL and I really want to find more of Roald Dahl's writing like this (I have read all of his books that are specifically for children) There has been some controversy in other reviews that some of the elments in these are not quite fitting for a younger audience, but this is the equivilent of Harry Potter with a touch of lemon juice. If your kid loved HP, or some of Roald Dahl's other works, or just has a liking for the unusual and the uncanny, this would be one of my first choices for them.

I do not wish to reveal my age.

Roald Dahl is one of the best storytellers of our time. As evidenced by this short story collection, not everything he wrote was great, but his control over the English language is a rare gift. The way he can have two people talking about such a mundane issue, debating back and forth, without making it monotonous or boring is truly admirable, and just one of the reasons why I enjoyed reading this book. I'll break it down, story by story.

SKIN: Weak beginning that builds up to a story of great intrigue that serves as a great opener to this volume.

LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER: Probably Dahl's most popular short, and rightfully so. It's deliciously cruel and just so witty.

THE SOUND MACHINE: Captivating and somewhat scary. Top three.

AN AFRICAN STORY: Staggeringly creative and just so odd. Beautifully written story from an imagination so vast and so weird that it'll leave you wondering where all of those ideas come from.

GALLOPING FOXLEY: Great build-up that ends in a somewhat cheap twist, but still, overall, a good read.

THE WISH: Worst story in the collection. A shot at metaphorical story telling that lands on incoherent.

THE SURGEON: Could very well be my favorite of the collection. A unique tale that is so well told that you might find yourself wanting to peek at the end to see how it turns out.

DIP IN THE POOL: One of the less entertaining stories here.

THE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD: Captivating and hilarious.

BEWARE OF DOG: The opening scene is evocative, describing the thought process of a pilot who has lost his leg, and how he tries to bale out of his craft. The second half of the story is still interesting, but noticeably loses its footing after the initial attraction.

MY LADY, MY DOVE: Very interesting story about a man with an overbearing wife, and how the two of them react to things very differently. There are so many interesting ideas at work here, from the "secret" way of playing the game to the twist ending.

7/10

I had only read a few books by Roald Dahl before, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and James and the Giant Peach. I enjoyed them all very much, but they were all happy go lucky. But these darker stories are captivating and I really enjoyed the twist endings. I also love the way Dahl writes, keeping you glued to the story. The book is made even better by the way you can metaphorically relate to the stories. I absolutely loved this collection of short stories. I discovered a great new side of Roald Dahl and I'll have to read more of his similar works.

I really liked the stories in this book, they are very clever, but a bit dark. All my friends want to read it.

-From a 13-year-old girl

Roald Dahl has always been one of my favorite children's book writers. It wasn;t until I picked up his other stroy collection, the Umbrella man, that I realized he was also a wonderful short story writer. This book is simply fabulous. "Lamb to the Slaughter," "The Surgeon" and the title story were my favorites. Every story also has Dahl's quintessential dark humor, which is something I've always enjoyed in his books. Everyone should read this and the umbrella man and be introduced to another side of roald Dahl.

Raold Dahl's short stories are each little masterpieces. This collection has stories - each of a completely different subject and nature - but each of the fantastic quality to stand on its own.
In "the surgeon" a man is rewarded for his good nature, then his good fortune seems to reverse - and in the end, justice is served.
In "skin", Dahl critiques the materialistic nature of the art world... in a purely sick way! =)
In "my lady love, my dove", dahl shows a twist - the character's find out something unexpected - but then he shocks you again by their unexpected reaction.

"Skin" shows Dahl's ability to write for all ages... this is an adult collection of short stories, that makes an adult chuckle.