Donald Sturrock

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

If you're anything like me, you mostly only know British author Roald Dahl through his deliciously dark children's tale Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, as well as maybe a handful of other Young Adult titles like James and the Giant Peach, Matilda and The Witches, all of which have been made into show more major Hollywood movies in recent years. But as this first-ever authorized biography from veteran journalist Donald Sturrock shows, both Dahl's life and career were a lot more dramatic and event-filled than that; a dashing and adventurous fighter pilot in WW2 Africa, he eventually married an Oscar-winning actress, developed the most notorious Disney Golden Age cartoon to never actually get produced, briefly hosted a "Twilight Zone"-style creepy television series, and had an entire career as a subversive adult author before turning to children's stories in middle-age, along the way incidentally co-inventing a new type of medical valve that would save thousands of lives, and co-inventing a new type of rehabilitative stroke therapy that's now the industry standard. And to the family's credit, this engrossing book doesn't shy away from the dark parts of Dahl's life either, despite it being endorsed by them; he was a fatally egotistical philanderer as well, a mean drunk who would often pick fights at dinner parties with strangers just to liven up the evening, who played hardball over royalties with a series of publishing companies and who famously declared in the '80s that Salman Rushdie deserved the Islamic fatwa that had been issued against him. But as this balanced look at a topsy-turvy life shows, Dahl was also charming, quietly generous with his time and money, and apparently truly amazing when it came to interacting with children, a passionate advocate of YA literature in his later years who helped legitimize that genre in the first place. A fascinating and surprise-filled bio, well worth your time if you've ever been a fan of any of his books.

Out of 10: 9.4 show less

What I love about biographies is the tiny glimpse you get of the author as a person and not necessarily a writer (for the most part I only read the biographies of writers, I don't know why). For that reason I prefer to read them after the subject has already died :-) Dahl was an intriguing character-bigger than life at times, and incredibly, horrifically petty at others. I guess these biographies help remind me to not place my writer idols on a pedestal-they are only human and have the same show more foibles as any of us. I don't think I actually have anything of real value to say about this book, just that the author did a pretty good job of portraying Dahl as a man, and not a superhuman. show less

Tremendous. Mr Sturrock's fondness for Roald comes through, but in a clear seeing way...no cover-ups, we see all sorts of disaggreeable features to Dahl's life, and yet it all adds up to a man who left an interesting, unique legacy.

This is a great and detailed look at a fascinating author. My only quibble is that it is SO detailed. As in, every detail. ALL of them. Together. Which can be useful, but is also a bit of a slog to get though at times. It took me ages to finish, even though it was an interesting story, and I'm pretty sure that is solely because there were days where I was reading only about a family member's health issues. Which is relevant to the overarching story, but not always riveting in the moment.