No time for novels? But have the inclination to read fiction? Have the urge to try different authors? “Look no further, collections of short stories are the best solution”, I told myself. Dear old Flipkart sprang to rescue when I looked out for online deals and dear older goodreads.com popped up when I asked for recommendations. Trying out a different author for the first time was just like playing blind man’s buff on an unknown ground with minimal expectations on safety. Now, after reading this book, I feel safe to plunge into the Dahl world.
Roald Dahl: What a fascinating life he has lived! He started off his career as a fighter pilot with victory over 5 rival fighter jets earning him the name of ‘fighter ace’. Due to a serious accident, he was rendered unfit for further service. It was then that he started writing novels, short stories, poems and scripts. The passion with which he has lived his life is evident in the wonders he has performed as a war fighter and the excellence and perfection of his works as an author.(Wiki has the details.)
The book: Stories in long novels could be a bit boring here and there, but they can get away with it because the overall story may be interesting. But a writer’s factual abilities, I feel, can be judged better from short stories. How interestingly and how vividly can a dramatist express a fictional short story in 9 or 10 crisp pages gives the measure of an author’s eloquent abilities.
About the short stories:
1. The Great Automatic Grammatizator(Sci-Fi): This story is about a young, ambitious and shabby scientist Knipe who invents a machine that churns out stories and novels by the minute! The bizarre tale is about a wonderful machine that allows the ‘writer’ to select the main plot(romance/humour/thriller/suspense/children) and a sub –plot(racial discrimination/politics/women oriented). After all this setting is done, the machine levers produce rattling noises and print out pots of stories. Fascinating sci-fi.
Rating on 5: 4
2. Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat(Thriller): Mrs. Bixby is a housewife, but not an innocent woman! Mr. Bixby is a dentist, a workaholic at that. They are not too privileged to enjoy a lavish life. Since 8 years, she has been having an affair with a rich, flamboyant Colonel. While ending their long affair, the Colonel sends a parting gift- an expensive coat made of precious mink material. How will she take it back home and face her husband’s numerous questions? But throwing such a magnificent coat away is just out of the question. A shrewd scheme strikes her which seems to promise that she may keep the coat after all.
Rating: 5
3. The Umbrella Man(Humour): This story is about a respectable looking old man who approaches a lady and her child on a rainy day. The duo is stranded since they have no umbrella. He requests the lady for a one- pound note to reach home by cab. For the favour, he is ready to give his silk umbrella to the lady. After some wary questions, the lady eventually decides that the gentleman genuinely needs the money and gives it to him and takes the umbrella. The man then shoves his way fast through the crowd and enters a bar for a drink! After spending his ‘hardly’ earned money, he casually picks up another umbrella from the bar and moves out to find his next prey.
Rating: 3.5
4. Parson’s Pleasure(Humour): Mr. Boggis is bogus! He owns a furniture shop and has a peculiar way of obtaining his stuff for sale. He buys all his furniture from the homes of simpletons of the country! He exhibits his expert advice and oratory skills in such a way that folks in the country are eager to part with their own furniture in less than a tenth of the actual worth of the stuff. Once, he peeks into a home and spots a highly valuable, antique cabinet which is sure to fetch him millions. He carefully manages to tighten his noose around the unsuspecting family. He mentions that the cabinet is worth practically nothing, but he is ready to give them 20 pounds. Will he be successful this time as well?
Rating: 5
5. The Way Up to Heaven(Mystery): Settled in New York, Mrs. Foster, a dutiful middle-aged lady, has no futher ambition in life than to serve her husband Mr. Foster and wait for their grandchildren’s photos sent from Paris regularly by their only daughter. Mrs. Foster has just one nag to her personality - the phobia of missing buses, trains, flights or even any show star. And what’s worse, Mr. Foster seems to deliberately delay things in order to exasperate her. It seems to give him a sadistic pleasure. A day comes when she has to catch a flight to Paris- her first trip alone to her daughter! Will she make it? I confess I couldn’t understand the ending till a couple of minutes after I had read the story, this makes it my favourite.
Rating: 5
6. The Landlady(Non supernatural Horror): A young weary traveler is in search of a hotel to spend the night. He spots the nearest bed- and – breakfast and is welcomed by a sweet elderly looking lady. He is a bit surprised to find that no one else is staying at the place and that the pets he saw sleeping at her home are actually stuffed and not alive. There are only 2 names in the register entered many months back. The story ends with the lady expressing that the 2 visitors she received the last year had been stuffed by her! This she reveals only after the poor victim is half-way through his cup of tea made by her.
Rating: 4
7. Taste(Suspense): Mr. Mike and his family love to arrange dinners for their guest Mr. Pratt. Mr. Pratt is an expert on wines and tastes them with immense passion. On a couple of occasions, Mike and Pratt have kept bets on whether Pratt is able to recognize the wine correctly. Once, during such a dinner, Mike is eager to take their bets to a new level and offers high stakes- Pratt’s 2 houses if Mike wins. Pratt immediately agrees to display his conceited knowledge of wines and if he wins desires Mike’s daughter in marriage. Who will win this dangerously foolhardy bet?
Rating: 4
The other stories are fine. The rating would sway from 2 to 3.5 for them.
My Opinion: As quoted in the description above, this platter of thirteen stories has varied spices- the sweetness of humour, the sourness of revenge, the spiciness of horror, the tanginess of sci-fi!
Not all stories are outstanding, but I blame it on my bias and preference to humour and light fiction(which I failed to find here) and not on the author. Just an indication that there is much to read and cherish apart from the oft trodden paths!
Happy Reading!