Tales of the Unexpected

All of the stories in this collection live up to the billing of the title. In some cases the "unexpected" is "unexpectedly short", but Dahl probably knew what he was doing when ending them where he did. He covers a wide range of subjects here: disembodied brains, machines that allow us to hear ultra-high-frequency sounds, wine snobs, tattoo artists, and possibly the perfect crime. He is equally adept at writing about complicated mechanical devices and medical procedures as he is at capturing the essence of the perfect routine commute.

My personal favourites were "William and Mary", "The Way up to Heaven", "The Hitchhiker," and "The Boy Who Talked to Animals". I had previously read the latter two in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and show more Six More, but it was a delight to read them again. "The Boy Who Talked to Animals" actually made me tear up a little bit on the bus (embarrassing). And in "The Way up to Heaven", the husband's perpetual lateness had me just as upset as his wife, who always strove to be punctual. I actually had to flip past some of it because I was so upset with him. I don't like being late for things either. This collection also includes the classic story "Lamb to the Slaughter", which I read in high school English but did not realize was ROALD! FREAKIN'! DAHL! until much later.

I would gladly recommend this collection to grownup fans of Dahl and those who like a lot of variety in their short stories -- if you don't like the subject matter of one story, wait five minutes and another topic will be along shortly. show less

Roald Dahl's name is so closely associated with children's literature that people are often surprised to discover he wrote for adult audiences, too. And, while many of the stories collected in Tales of the Unexpected are essentially comedic even when dealing with crime or general human unpleasantness, a few of them qualify full-bloodedly as horror stories: not only "Man from the South" (Dahl's single most famous story for adults, and one which has been anthologized in some horror collections), but also "The Landlady" and "Skin." The former is a near-perfect vignette about a seventeen-year-old Londoner who accepts a job in a strange town and seeks lodging upon his arrival; the latter, in which a broken old man recalls his friendship with show more a famous painter (who commemorated that friendship with a singular gift), contains the most chilling closing paragraph of any story I've ever read.

The aforementioned are the highlights for horror fans (those interested in Dahl's take on sci-fi absurdism may also enjoy "Royal Jelly"), but all of the stories are eminently readable. show less

Dahl is an absolute master of brevity, drawing the reader in and painting vivid character studies with just a few words. The stories in this collection have a fairly common structure (something unusual or macabre happens to some ordinary-ish characters), but he manages to get something different out of each tale. They're all gripping and whilst Dahl doesn't always hit a satisfying high note at the end, when he does it's a joyous thing. Favourites for me in this collection were 'Man from the South', 'Lamb to the Slaughter' and 'Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat'.
HUGELY recommended.

I read this anthology when I was in grade school. We had a little library in our parish school classroom which I thought was brilliant. It was mostly filled with Sweet Valley High novels, so this book really stood out. None of the other students read it, but then they weren't as nerdy as I was with my watching Dr.Who and Blake's 7 every weekend on PBS. I kind of miss that kind of ostracism. When adults ostracize one another, it's far more wicked, especially among women. Sigh.
Returning to this book for the Halloween season was a real joy, though it took a bit of effort to track down a clean copy. Dahl is so beloved for his seemingly children's novels, that these Poe-meets-Cheever-and-O.Henry-on-a-rambling-Cotswalds-path stories are a show more bit overlooked. I was excited to re-read the showstopper classics like "William and Mary," "Royal Jelly," and "The Sound Machine." I still remember the chill I experienced reading these for the first time as a kid. I also adored "Galloping Foxley" which a lot of folks might relate to in a quiet way, and "Neck" which is full of quintessentially British repressed rage. Maybe I'll try to track down the follow-up volume, More Tales of the Unexpected. show less

I listened to a selection of eight stories from this book, available from internet archive at https://archive.org/details/talesunexpected5420/01+Tales+of+the+Unexpected+-+sid....

Some of the stories were better than others...the readers are excellent (in particular, Geoffrey Palmer).

The thing is that although I love Dahl's witty and twisted humor, many of the endings are predictable. Some of the stories are so famous that even I had read them before. In Lamb to the Slaughter, a wife feeds murder weapon to police colleagues of her husband, who come to the house to investigate his murder; in The Way Up to Heaven, emotionally abused woman is anxious for her six-week trip to France to visit her daughter and grandchildren. Her Tormenting show more Husband (TH) clearly intends to make her miss her flight. When TH deliberately orchestrates a detour to the airport, dropping him at his club, insuring that she will miss her flight, he relishes in further frustrating her beyond belief as he feigns having forgotten something and traces his steps back to the house to retrieve the missing item. It is clear that she will miss the flight unless drastic action is taken, and when she can no longer bear it she rushes back up to the house to see what is holding him up. As she nears the door, she hears the familiar sound of a technical failure inside. She stops in her tracks, turns on her heel, and tells the driver not to wait, but to take her straight to the airport stating that her husband can hail a cab and make his own way to the club. Six weeks later she returns home from France and calls the technician….The dark humor in this story is just toooooo delicious!

There are several familiar betting stories where the dupe is absolutely guaranteed to win but of course loses (some of you may remember Sky Masterson, in Guys and Dolls, warning about a card jumping out of the deck and squirting cider in your ear…) but even when losing there is the Dahl twist on a twist.

In Parson’s Pleasure two dim marks unwittingly get the better of a conning antique dealer trying to steal a Chippendale Commode from under their noses. There is a meh story about a cat who is the reincarnation of Franz Liszt (the point of this story might have gone over my head), in Neck, Narrator/Reporter tells of how a very wealthy and kind lover of art, bachelor Sir Basil Turton, is snagged by a determined pretty woman who had him hitched before the altar before he knew what hit him. Six years later she was very much ruling the roost; N/R and others are guests at the family estate for the weekend. N/R describes how he and Sir Basil witness her cuckolding coquettish flirtation with other weekend guest. When her head gets stuck inside an aperture of a treasured wooden sculpture in the garden….Sir Basil calls for the axe and the saw to extricate her head from the beloved statue….

Altogether a fun read/listen show less

A favorite. Dahl definitely has types in this book, but the twist endings are a delight, the conceits each a charming curiosity. "Hitchhiker" was one of the stories which made me want to write.

About a month ago I wrote: I'm going to try and keep reading this - I've only got through about four stories so far. My main problems are boredom - as others have said the plots of these stories are anything but unexpected, rather being entirely predictable - and the complete lack of any positive qualities, even in passing, in any of the characters. I used to think Dahl was a misogynist, based particularly on 'Kiss Kiss', another collection of his short stories, but I'm beginning to think he was actually a misanthrope. I feel as though I'm slogging through a mire of revolting, and not even very interesting, human behaviour and it's just bloody depressing. With some of Dahl's other writing I've come across really startling and show more beautifully crafted writing, making up for the general sense of misery. So far I'm yet to find any such magical writing in this collection.

I finished reading last night, and have to say things didn't really improve. The writing was very pedestrian and I can't think of any one story whose ending wasn't predictable. I remember enjoying the TV adaptation of this when I was a kid, but it seems the "plot twists" aren't twisty enough for me as an adult. I won't be rushing to read any more Dahl. show less