Imaginative and well-written, but although I realize he did write these stories for Playboy, the misogyny and phallomania disturbed me, particularly in the last story. ( )

Short stories with bite. Dark, bleak, cunning, humorous. ( )

Dahl's humor is flawless and he leaves you on the edge throughout every strangely sexual tale in this book. If you haven't read "Switch Bitch" , some wonderfully sly, bawdy and remarkably well-written entertainment awaits you.

There are only four stories in this collection but its well worth reading, especially if you've already read Dahl's "My Uncle Oswald", one of the funniest books on erotic humor I've ever read. Makes me feel like reading the other book again, to re-acquaint myself with that Victorian lecher of a character. He's a man who would "absolutely never permit himself an intimate relationship to last for more than twelve hours."

The philandering, eccentric character of "Uncle Oswald" is a hedonistic delight indeed. "Wherever he went, he left an endless trail of females in his wake, females ruffled and ravished beyond words, but purring like cats."

Those four stories are:

The Visitor >> where we are introduced to the diaries left behind by Uncle Oswald to his nephew; the only treasure he could bequeath. We thus learn of Uncle Oswald's adventure in the Sinai desert after his tryst in Cairo. He meets two of the most remarkable women in his long amorous-filled life. We are also exposed to the "method" he utilizes to hypnotize women with words: "The words themselves, innocuous, superficial words, are spoken only by the mouth, whereas the real message, the improper and exciting promise, comes from all the limbs and organs of the body, and is transmitted through the eyes."

The Great Switcheroo >> Two husbands set out to accomplish something that (to their recollection) hasn't been done before: to sleep with the wife of the other without the wife knowing about it. How do they go about it you ask? Better read to find out ;)

The Last Act >> A sad story about a woman who has lost her husband and never quite let go, even with the return of an old flame from her past.

Bitch >> Returning to another entry in Uncle Oswald's diary is the story of his acquaintance with Henry Biotte, one who has devoted his life to the study of olfaction. He meets Uncle Oswald and proposes that with the financial backing of the former, he could then create a perfume which will send anybody into a sexual frenzy. "There was something diabolically splendid about a person who wished to set back the sex habits of civilized man half a million years." The question is will they succeed in inventing the world's most potent aphrodisiac?

In the end, Dahl twists things around but is never cruel to the reader or character; justice is usually served, often a la carte...

Book Details:

Title Switch Bitch
Author Roald Dahl
Reviewed By Purplycookie ( )

Short stories much along the lines of what he's written in "My Uncle Oswald," from stories about the negative effects of planning a wife swap to marketing the best aphrodisiac-with abysmal results.

Dahl's sardonic, no-adults-don't-know-best wit and emotion carry through this entire book. ( )

like Naughty O. Henry stories. ( )