The Best of Roald Dahl
by Roald Dahl
On This Page
Description
This collection brings together Dahl's finest works, illustrating his genius for the horrific and grotesque which is unparalleled.Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
If you think Roald Dahl is just for children, think again! These short stories were culled from collections of short stories Dahl wrote throughout his career and show incredible range and originality. Each shows a devious and original mind at work and offers a twist... sometimes a double twist in the end which makes you want to read the story over again knowing what you know. A great way to (re)discover an author you thought you already knew via Charley and the Chocolate Factory. I know I'll be getting the Complete Roald Dahl (in two volumes) next as I can't wait to discover all the other gems from this master storyteller who knew how to pull you in and keep you keenly interested from the first words to the last.
My husband and I have been reading to each other out of this book for years. His favorite is Claude's Dog. My favorite is Lamb to the Slaughter. That creeps my husband out - read it to find out why. We both really like The Hitchhiker and Skin.
All the stories are in true Roald Dahl style - but written for adults!
All the stories are in true Roald Dahl style - but written for adults!
I'd read and enjoyed most of the stories in this collection already, but the ones I hadn't were a joy. In particular 'Claud's Dog' a long, novella length story (really 5 stories that run together) about the misadventures of 2 young men trying to get rich quick.
Review: the best of Roald Dahl
By Roald Dahl
520 pages
Short Story Collection
Story Diversity: high quality; broad range of characters, settings, and themes used; stories vary wildly in length, and some sound poetic while others are dialogue-centric. Over all, very well done
Vocabulary: standard; didn’t encounter too many college-level words; writing uses plenty of colorful adjectives and verbs, though
Twists: some twists are delivered in shocking fashion, some are subtle, some are questionable—ties into story diversity
Strengths: when Dahl talks about the brain, you’ll think he’s a brain surgeon—extremely detail-oriented writer; characters are colorful; dialogue sounds natural and free-flowing; stories are memorable; pacing nearly show more always matches the content—makes for a great read
Weaknesses: reoccurring themes can be problematic as they make stories predictable—for example, the theme ‘bad guys get what’s coming to them.’ While stories are diverse and characters are diverse and sentence fluidity is diverse and everything is polychromatic, there’s none of that wild imagination that fueled his children’s books—makes this a bit underwhelming.
Bottom line: if you love his children’s books be warned, this is not the same author writing them—these stories (and a lot of the characters as well) are grimy. While I have no problem with Dahl going down a dark road, I wish some of that incredible imagination carried over from his children’s books.
I liked these short stories, that’s the bottom line. They’re well written and of much better quality than most short story collections. But nearly all of them are (more or less) grounded to reality, which is a minor letdown, considering it’s Dahl’s work. show less
By Roald Dahl
520 pages
Short Story Collection
Story Diversity: high quality; broad range of characters, settings, and themes used; stories vary wildly in length, and some sound poetic while others are dialogue-centric. Over all, very well done
Vocabulary: standard; didn’t encounter too many college-level words; writing uses plenty of colorful adjectives and verbs, though
Twists: some twists are delivered in shocking fashion, some are subtle, some are questionable—ties into story diversity
Strengths: when Dahl talks about the brain, you’ll think he’s a brain surgeon—extremely detail-oriented writer; characters are colorful; dialogue sounds natural and free-flowing; stories are memorable; pacing nearly show more always matches the content—makes for a great read
Weaknesses: reoccurring themes can be problematic as they make stories predictable—for example, the theme ‘bad guys get what’s coming to them.’ While stories are diverse and characters are diverse and sentence fluidity is diverse and everything is polychromatic, there’s none of that wild imagination that fueled his children’s books—makes this a bit underwhelming.
Bottom line: if you love his children’s books be warned, this is not the same author writing them—these stories (and a lot of the characters as well) are grimy. While I have no problem with Dahl going down a dark road, I wish some of that incredible imagination carried over from his children’s books.
I liked these short stories, that’s the bottom line. They’re well written and of much better quality than most short story collections. But nearly all of them are (more or less) grounded to reality, which is a minor letdown, considering it’s Dahl’s work. show less
Dahl is best known as a children's author, but as these stories demonstrate his imaginative writing is enjoyable to all ages and some of these are probably not entirely suitable for kids.
Great stories filled with dark humor and a twist at the end. I had read "Lamb to Slaughter" in high school, but didn't realize the author was Roald Dahl -- at least not THAT Roald Dahl.
Before Harry Potter, there was Roald Dahl. This entry shall be the rep for all his books. Every lit kid's obligation to read. Also enjoyable, of course.
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Top-Rated Books on LibraryThing
272 works; 117 members
Books Read in 2010
631 works; 11 members
Author Information
688+ Works 270,566 Members
Roald (pronounced "Roo-aal") was born in Llandaff, South Wales. He had a relatively uneventful childhood and was educated at Repton School. During World War II he served as a fighter pilot and for a time was stationed in Washington, D.C.. Prompted by an interviewer, he turned an account of one of his war experiences into a short story that was show more accepted by the Saturday Evening Post, which were eventually collected in Over to You (1946). Dahl's stories are often described as horror tales or fantasies, but neither description does them justice. He has the ability to treat the horrible and ghastly with a light touch, sometimes even with a humorous one. His tales never become merely shocking or gruesome. His purpose is not to shock but to entertain, and much of the entertainment comes from the unusual twists in his plots, rather than from grizzly details. Dahl has also become famous as a writer of children's stories. In some circles, these works have cased great controversy. Critics have charged that Dahl's work is anti-Semitic and degrades women. Nevertheless, his work continues to be read: Charlie and Chocolate Factory (1964) was made into a successful movie, The BFG was made into a movie in July 2017, and his books of rhymes for children continue to be very popular. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Work Relationships
Contains
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Best of Roald Dahl
- Original title
- The Best of Roald Dahl
- Original publication date
- 1978
- Original language
- English
- Disambiguation notice
- Roald Dahl wrote both Children AND Adult stories. A Roald Dahl Collection must be examined to determine which type of story is included.
10-ISBN: 0679729917 is a collection of ADULT short storie... (show all)s.
10-ISBN: 0140066942 is a collection of ADULT short stories.
10-ISBN: 0394725492 is a collection of ADULT short stories.
10-ISBN: 0141003375 is a collection of ADULT short stories.
10-ISBN: 141771848X is a collection of ADULT short stories.
10-ISBN: 071812250X is a collection of ADULT short stories.
There is a similarly named "The Best of Roald Dahl" which is a box set of six of his children's books. Please DO NOT combine those entries with this collection of his adult stories.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 1,692
- Popularity
- 13,074
- Reviews
- 16
- Rating
- (4.27)
- Languages
- 7 — Dutch, English, German, Korean, Norwegian (Bokmål), Norwegian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 24
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 5