They say that you can never go home. The memories of your childhood always pale in comparison to reality. That’s true in a lot of cases, but not with Roald Dahl. He is as fascinating a story teller as you remember—and then some.

This book of short stories is incredibly diverse. There are shorter stories and longer stories, true stories and fiction. The thread that ties them all together is Dahl’s compelling style of story-telling that’s evident even in the first story he wrote (published here).

For a boy who was told he was useless in English composition (also recounted in this collection), he did quite well for himself! ( )

Roald Dahl’s voice is one that calls me straight back to my childhood and doesn’t let me go until his stories have finished with me. I adored this man’s works when I was younger. I read them countless times. As an adult, I have sometimes wondered what I would think, whether his bias against many members of society would affect my perception of his work. I am usually adept at pushing this aside. While such views are clearly, clearly wrong and probably adults should introduce these facets into discussion with children, it would be useless to forget the past and ignore the fact that Roald Dahl’s beliefs were shared by many. With this in mind, I greatly enjoyed this collection of short stories.

Actually, my least favorite story was probably the title tale. This one follows Henry Sugar, essentially a wastrel, to his discovery of a little blue book which contains an extraordinary story about a man who develops the ability to see somehow without his eyes, but through sustained and focused concentration. Henry learns this skill himself in order to become more successful at gambling, but when money is easy, he learns that there is more in the world he should be fighting for. I don’t know, but I just wasn’t really crazy about the story. I didn’t feel that Henry really redeemed himself or was any different at the end. I didn’t mind the magical aspects, indeed I expected them from Dahl, so it was mostly just his character that got to me.

I enjoyed the rest of the stories though. I really loved Dahl’s essay on how he became a writer and his first short story. I knew most of his history, but I haven’t read Boy or Going Solo for at least 10 years. I love the way he tells his personal history and this was no exception. The way that he backed into writing is fascinating and makes me think of what we would have missed out on had he never managed to find his way. I love the way he tells history, too. I think it adds a more personal touch to the British history which I am so fascinated by. All this time I loved memoirs and when I was a kid, I didn’t even know what I was reading!

This review has become more of an ode to Roald Dahl than a review. To be honest, these stories are mostly not his best work. They don’t quite match up to his novels for kids. (I’m not sure I want to go into his novels for adults. I’m quite happy compartmentalizing him in the happy childhood box of my brain considering what I’ve heard. ) Still, they are entertaining and were a wonderful nostalgia trip for me. If you loved Roald Dahl’s books, you will probably love these stories, too.

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If you could see with your eyes closed, how would you use your power? That’s what Henry has to decide in one of the seven stories in this extraordinary collection.

"The Boy Who Talked With Animals" >> Is about a young tourist boy at a beach resort who seeks to free a giant sea turtle which has been captured by the hotel management. This sounds like a children's story, but the characterization and the setting are quite adult.

"The Hitchhiker" >> Is an amusing tale about a British hitchhiker who reveals himself to be a "fingersmith", a master classman of the pickpocketing profession. The interplay between three different levels of British society: the journalist driver, the rough cockney passenger, and a belligerent traffic cop proves to be an entertaining read. Certainly my most favorite stories in this collection, followed closely by that of Henry Sugar.

"The Mildenhall Treasure" >> Is an incredible story about an amazing discovery. On a cold winter morning, a farmer plowing another man's land stumbled upon the greatest cache of Roman silver ever found in Britain. Regrettably, Gordon Butcher didn't know what he had found because the silver had tarnished during its years in the ground. His boss did know what it was and took the stuff home where hid it for a few years before the authorities discovered it. The crux of the story centers on a British law that says the person who FINDS any treasure receives compensation for the full market value of the items. The Mildenhall plates, bowls, and spoons would have netted Butcher nearly a million pounds. By allowing his boss to walk off with the silver, Butcher received only one thousand pounds. In a way, this book is similar to the Mildenhall Treasure: a great find even if you have little idea of it at first glance. This is one of the only two non-fiction stories that Dahl ever wrote.

"The Swan" >> About a precocious child named Peter Watson who runs into two local tormentors, Ernie and Raymond, while out bird watching. The two goons march Watson around at the point of a gun for no other reason than alleviating their boredom on a weekend. The final indignity occurs when Raymond and Ernie shoot a beautiful swan, tie its wings to Peter's arms, and force him to climb a tree so they can see him "fly." There is something magical and memorable about what happens next as Peter learns that he is one of those precious souls which all the bullies in the world will never triumph over.

"The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" >> It's really two stories in one, about a wealthy but frivolous soul named Henry Sugar (of an affluent British family) and his discovery of an unusual book in a friend's library. The book tells the story about a man in India (Imhan Khan) who has learned to see through objects without the use of his eyes. Sugar gets the sudden inspiration to attain this ability and soon discovers that he is a natural at it, one of the rare people with the amazing gift to learn this art in just a few years. Henry's motivations are highly suspect at first: he wishes to use this newfound talent to cheat at the casino, thereby earning himself a fortune. But something rather odd occurs during his training process when Sugar soon discovers that he has little interest in accumulating money for selfish ends. Dahl writes the story in such a way that the reader becomes convinced Henry Sugar was a real, breathing person.

In addition to these imaginative and magical tales, this book also contains the true story of how Roald Dahl became a writer, as well as a copy of the very first nonfiction story he wrote for The Saturday Evening Post:

"Lucky Break: How I Became A Writer" >> This story is really a short autobiography of the writer from his early school days through his war experiences. The sections outlining his years at one of England's public schools should be read by anyone who thinks American places of learning are terrible. English public schools, Dahl writes, are actually very private academies devoted to the total education of their pupils. During the writer's childhood, this meant harsh, rigid discipline of a type usually seen in the military. The brutality exhibited by teachers and elder classmates at the school is shocking: the older students routinely whipped younger pupils with switches, an activity mirrored by the teachers whenever students misbehaved. There are great, tension filled descriptions of the beatings endured by Dahl at the hands of these tormentors. I would've loved to have had Mrs. O'Connor as a professor! She was indeed a fountain of information for the greatest of English literature.

"A Piece of Cake: First Story-1942" >> This was Dahl's first published story, which appears to be based on his wartime experiences without necessarily being 100% accurate in its minor details. For an enthusiastic Dahl fan like myself, getting a glimpse of the man behind the curtain is exciting, and getting to know more about Dahl is a real treat.

Book Details:

Title The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More
Author Roald Dahl
Reviewed By Purplycookie ( )

I normally love all of Roald Dahl's books, but this one was not up there with the others. Some of the stories were better than others. ( )

This is a collection of seven short works by Roald Dahl. Four of them are fiction, three are not. The fictional pieces are what one would expect from Dahl - weird, off-kilter tales of fantasy, usually with some dark elements. The Swan, in particular, is quite dark for a story aimed at younger readers as two bullies torture a smaller boy with the intent (by the end of the story) of killing him. The title story about Henry Sugar has a happy ending, but also includes some fairly dark portions. The Boy Who Talked to Animals has what one might call a happy ending, although the boy's parents probably don't see it that way. I thought the weakest story was The Hitchhiker, although it was still fun.

More interesting, to me, were the three non-fiction pieces. The Mildenhall Treasure, describes the story of how two British farm workers found one of the greatest treasure troves in British history, and the odd events that followed. A Piece of Cake is Dahl's first published work, the account of some of his exploits as a fighter pilot, focusing mostly on how he was injured (and had to leave combat operations) in a crash. Lucky Break is the best of the bunch - describing how Dahl came to be a writer, including the story of how he came to write A Piece of Cake at the request of C.S. Forester. His depictions of life in a British boarding school are scary, and give some insight into why so many of his young protagonists have horrible lives. One wonders how he managed to learn anything at all in the school environment he describes as, save for one part time instructor, the masters seem to be completely disinterested in passing any kind of learning on to their charges.

This is an excellent collection of short works, and a very enjoyable sample of Dahl's writing. The stories are funny, twisted, and all have a slightly odd but benign moral of the type that that characterizes Dahl's work. ( )