It is rightly said of great writers that their efforts are rarely appreciated during their lifetime. It’s only long after they have given up their mortal coils that people sit up and take notice of their works and hail them as classics by bestowing them with prizes and awards of all names.
Roald Dahl (1916-1990) was one such writer. I still remember reading “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory” as a 10 year old kid and wildly imagining all those wonderful adventures in chocolate land. Prominent among his other children’s works are “Danny: The Champion of the World”, “The BFG” and “James and the Giant Peach”. Dahl’s versatility was such that he could mesmerize adults and kids in equal measure. He was blessed with highly fertile grey cells that could concoct the most amazing tales one could ever hear.
The Best of Roald Dahl
If his short stories written for children were enrapturing, his stories for adults are like a strong magnet – they keep the reader riveted right through to the last page. It is inconceivable that someone would willingly leave a particular story half read. That is the magic in his stories and language.
The book is a collection of 20 of his finest short stories penned between 1945 and 1959. It would be impossible to typecast these tales into a particular genre because they encompass virtually each of them. Super natural, grotesque, fiendish, poignant, utterly humourous – you name the genre and there is a story on it.
One thing clearly strikes the reader in every story is Dahl’s impious sense of plot conception and his bizarre ability to twist and turn it until the reader is well and truly out of his breath. Also abundantly noticeable is his knack for intricate details, especially while describing the characters.
There are also some stories in this collection that tether precariously between dark humour and morbid fantasy. For all the adjectives used to describe his stories, the bottom-line is that they are compelling reads. More than anything, this is on account of his simple themes that morph into unpredictable waters by the time one reaches the end of the tale. In 9 stories out of 10, it is humanly impossible to predict what’s going to happen towards the end.
TiC’s Best Picks
My 5 best picks from this collection of 20 delectable tales are
1. “Man From The South” - An old man challenges a gambler that if his lighter lights 10 times in a row, he can have his Cadillac. If the gambler fails, the old man will chop off his little finger as a trophy. The ending is simply too good!
2. “Taste” - An amusing tale of how a man “bets” his teenage daughter to a professional Wine-taster if he can correctly guess a particular brand of wine.
3. “Parson’s Pleasure” - An antique dealer’s dream of acquiring a priceless piece of furniture at a throw-away price is “axed” into pieces.
4. “Lamb To Slaughter” - A shrewd lady kills her two-timing husband with a piece of lamb leg and then feeds that piece of evidence as dinner to the investigating cops.
5. “The Landlady” - A kind landlady offers a room to a young student. Both the previous occupants of that room have mysteriously disappeared. What happens next?
Thus Spake TiC
Reading this wonderfully compiled book was my second brush with Roald Dahl after a span of nearly 18 years. It is a collection of perfect bedtime stories for those who relish sleepless nights (insomniacs like me). Each story is very short and takes just about 15-20 minutes to complete.
In my humble opinion, he ranks next only to the incomparable Graham Greene. Though the writing styles and literary ideas of these two gentlemen were poles apart, the popularity of their masterpieces is undeniable.