Reviews
Pure inspiration.
The Boy Who Talked with Animals - 3/5 The Hitch-Hiker - 3/5 The Mildenhall Treasure - 2/5 The Swan - 1/5 The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar - 2/5 Lucky Break (non-fictional) - 5/5 A Piece of Cake - 5/5
The only story I really enjoyed in this was "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" which is the one in the title for obviously good reasons. That story was really fascinating, but the rest were just meh. The other stories weren't bad (except one that I really disliked) they really weren't memorable. I also liked the story of how Roald Dahl became a writer. I didn't know that about him and it was really cool to learn about! We have all these amazing stories from a guy who accidentally became a writer...that's so crazy!
--- i have no particular feelings of attachment to this book, but i do wish to know henry's real name. --- when i first discovered this book, i thought it was going to be one of those sappy dork diary books and put off reading it for more than two years; i picked it up this year and was pleasantly surprised. --- i think it's best if you go into this story with a positive mindset, you'll just enjoy it more when you aren't getting annoyed at every little quirk.
A review from my old blog... I've gradually grown more disappointed by Dahl... not with his writing style mind you but with the tone of his writing. I wondered what I was getting into when reading these books. This book is a compilation of seven short stories. I won't delve into the details of the plots of all but I will say that the tone of most of these stories are more for an adult than a child. With that in mind the slightly negative or serious tone to the stories I think is more appropriate. Still, one of the stories disturbed me. Two bully boys constantly pestered (for lack of a better word) a much smaller and very passive boy. The story ended with the bullies cutting the wings off of a dead swan, (that they killed) and tying them on the bullied boy, making him climb a tree and then ending up shooting him in the thigh. Yes. That definitely disturbed me. Otherwise I enjoyed the other stories in the book which included two nonfiction stories. Dahl's writing style remains captivating.
The Boy Who Talked with Animals: 4 stars. I too wish I could escape the world by riding off on the back of a giant turtle. The Hitchhiker: 3.5 stars The Mildenhall Treasure: 4 stars. This was fairly dull at first, but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. It reminds me of the movie The Dig on Netflix, which I also really liked. The Swan: 2 stars, because it's very disturbing. Makes Lord of the Flies seem like a very real possibility. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar: 4.5 stars. I do not like Henry Sugar as a person, but I do like this story very much. Lucky Break/How I Became a Writer: 5 stars. Reading "What about a chocolate factory that makes marvellous and fantastic things - with a crazy man running it?" in Roald Dahl's own handwriting gave me chills. A Piece of Cake: 3.5 stars. Yes, I can see why he preferred fictional stories. This was lovely. I haven't read a proper Roald Dahl book in ages. The audiobooks just aren't the same. What a fantastic writer who truly understands his audience and what they enjoy. Also discovered that he was 6'4", so no wonder he wrote a story about a big friendly giant.
