His characters, their perpetually gleaming eyes, their moist lips, constantly wringing their hands and exclaiming, even cackling demoniacally, might put one in mind of fantasy villains. Many of these stories, for me, were the antidote to reality.
Taken as a whole, The Collected Stories is as impressive as Saki’s Complete Works if you ask me. In most cases, any supernatural element is secondary to the hu Dahl’s adult stories are not as famous as his children’s books. You could give King a run for his money.ĭahl’s adult stories are not as famous as his children’s books. Some stories are duller than others, but on whole, not bad, Dahl.
The perfect murder weapon is not an icicle, members of the jury, it is in fact a pot roast. Smashing his brains in with a leg of lamb, then popping it into the oven and offering it to the cops that come investigate. Lording over her husband's sentient brain after it was saved for research. Leaving him to rot in a trapped elevator, for one. But on the other hand, Dahl has a tendency to write passive women, that have been squashed down their whole lives by their hubby, getting revenge in most grisly fashion possible. Bixby's coat that opens with a bunch of working-class men shivering in a pub together, away from their cunning, sharp-tongued wives. I'm on the fence as whether to call his work feminist because there are portrayals I'm rather uncomfortable with, like in Mrs. "But to be quite honest, I think that it was a bit of pig. Even a sweet story like a boy going to live with his vegetarian grandmother, like in The Witches, turned out to have a far more horrifying result than I expected. In his adult fiction, Dahl rolls up his sleeves, wipes away the creamy kiddie layer and lets it hang out in all its macabre glory.
If it were Stephen King writing, you'd get a better sense of how twisted these situations are.Ī children's writer and a horror/thriller writer. He has a husband and wife play pranks on each other, one of which leaves the other floating up into the clear blue with her arms trussed up.
He has two aunts steamrolled by a giant peach in James and the Giant Peach and left for dead. He has a kid squeezed up a narrow pipe in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and experiences an impromptu liposuction. If it were Stephen King writing, you'd get a better sense of how twisted these situati If you really think about it, Roald Dahl is one sick bastard. If you really think about it, Roald Dahl is one sick bastard.