Following the adolescence time period in the life of child author Roald Dahl. It's mostly him recalling events and stories of what he went through... much of which makes me glad I grew up in the time period I did, with technology, medical advances, etc.

Ranging from the loss of a sibling and his father, to boarding school, to working for the Shell Oil Company in Africa and ultimately fighting in The Great War, it seems Dahl lived an interesting life to say the least. It's easy to see how his experiences influenced his storytelling.

A lot of adventures and quite a few frights for a boy in British public school in the 1920’s and 1930’s. I was surprised that Dahl would so vividly and directly recount the brutality of his headmaster, since the man (Geoffrey Fisher) later became Archbishop of Canterbury and crowned Queen Elizabeth II. The quote was rather sad: “It was all this, I think, that made me begin to have doubts about religion and even about God. If this person, I kept telling myself, was one of God’s chosen salesmen on earth, then there must be something very wrong about the whole business” (146).
Much of it is joyful and funny, though, and the episodes that inspired scenes from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory were instantly recognizable. I loved his recounting of summer visits to his mother’s extended family in Norway - the food, the traditions, the scenery, and even the prank played on his sister’s fiancee. His enthusiasm at the end for his first adult job, in East Africa, is infectious - you get a real sense of the thirst for adventure, activity, and new experiences that the young Dahl brought with him from childhood into adulthood. And the book certainly gives you a sense of his close-knit family and his love for his mother, and hers for him.
A very readable coming-of-age story, complete with photographs and scraps from his letters home that fill in the narrative and convey a wonderful sense of the time and place.

This is a good little book - quite a historical artefact now as Dahl, writing in the mid-80´s, talks about events which are taking place about 100 years ago from today. He´s a very clear, cutting writer, with plain yet highly original style. This is mostly because of he sticks to writing about what HE finds interesting - caning, for example, which is described over and over in great detail. As he says, he is revolted by it - especially luxuriating in describing the ritual his Repton headmaster would go through when caning a child - making them bend over his sofa as he alternated between caning their bare buttocks and smoking his pipe. This man, as Dahl explains, went on to become a Bishop and then Archbishop of Canterbury. Elsewhere he describes his Norwegian heritage, the removal of his adenoids (at home, without anaesthetic) and a filthy-nailed sweetshop harridan.

My favourite passage comes late in the book, when he compares the life of the businessman he was then - working for Shell - with the writer he would later be.

"The life of a writer is absolute hell compared with the life of a businessman. The writer has to force himself to work. He has to make his own hours and if he doesn´t go to his desk at all there is nobody to scold him. If he is a writer of fiction he lives in a world of fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not. Two hours of writing fiction leaves this particular writer completely drained. For those two hours he has been miles away, he has been somewhere else, in a different place with totally different people, and the effort of swimming back into normal surroundings is very great. It is almost a shock. The writer walks out of his workroom in a daze. He wants a drink. He needs it. It happens to be a fact that nearly every writer of fiction in the world drinks more whisky than is good for him. He does it to give himself faith, hope and courage. A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it."

Amen.

It is a collection of memories arranged by age, which left their mark on a great storyteller and an inexhaustible Indiana Jones-like adventure seeker.
Only when he reaches adolescence in the book does he begin to make value judgments about what happens to him. He recounts his childhood with the child's feelings, not with the adult's interpretation.
He recounts his disbelief when he saw that the person who became Archbishop of Canterbury and crowned the current queen of the UK was the same unknown school principal that he suffered, who punished his students with viciousness close to sadism, and how that distances him from a religion that delivers fierce punishments while proclaiming love.
The other thing this book does is get the child in all of us to flap freely. We recognize in real people unforgettable characters from his stories. We are just one-step away from being ourselves who imagine the passage from reality to fantasy in books like Matilda, the Witches, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It blends the everyday with the world of fantasy, and of all the reasons I can think of to enjoy a good book, this is probably one of the best.

"A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it."

Dahl is as charming and child-friendly as always. In his accounts of taste-testing free Cadbury and Nestle samples you can see the germs of his ideas for Charlie. And Matilda echoes the beatings Dahl and his friends used to get at school from some of his teachers. There is even a nod to The Twits in the form of the disgusting sweet shop lady with food all down her dress.

Off to add all Dahl’s adult books to my list now!

I read this in year 7 for English and I loved it.

Me, I normally hate school books. But this one was different, I really liked this one. It was just so interesting. I can still remember half the stuff that happened in the book. That is how much it stuck with me. I recommend this to fans of Roald Dahl and even non fans, this book is different from all his other work.



Good different...

I still recommend it, the things that happen and how he describes it is just...



That is the only word to describe the book.

Such a sparkly review...

I love reading nonfiction, especially autobiographies. This book was not just any autobiography but a book about Roald Dahl's childhood. Growing up I loved the book Matilda and enjoyed James and the Giant Peach and the BFG and now as an adult I am making it my goal to read all his books. I just set this goal a couple weeks ago and have read this book and The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me.

Roald Dahl told fascinating stories about his childhood up the the age of 18. He explained his extreme love of chocolate and his fear of most of his teachers. I believe these two factors were huge for his writings and stories.

I really enjoyed Roald's autobiography, that he swears wasn't one and I suggest it to anyone that enjoys him as a writer.

This is a charming collection of stories from Roald Dahl's childhood. I loved his books when I was a kid (my favorites were Danny the Champion of the World, The BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and it was fun to hear some true tales from the great storyteller.

One of my favorite stories was about the free candy bars he got when he was at boarding school. Cadbury's would send over boxes of test chocolates, and the boys would sample the new flavors and write their reviews. Dahl said the boys took it very seriously, "nibbling each chocolate with the air of connoisseurs, giving our marks and making our comments. 'Too subtle for the common palate,' was one note that I remember writing down."

Dahl said this experience was important because he realized that large chocolate companies actually had inventing rooms, and he imagined what it would be liked to work there and create new flavors. "I have no doubt at all that, thirty-five years later, when I was looking for a plot for my second book for children, I remembered those little cardboard boxes and the newly-invented chocolates inside them, and I began to write a book called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Another sweet story was when Dahl became homesick while he was away at school, and he decided to fake an appendicitis so he could return home for a few days. He knew the symptoms because his older sister recently had it, and he put on quite a show for the nurse, yelping and moaning in pain. His act worked, until he got home and his regular doctor instantly knew he was faking. The doctor made him promise never to do it again.

I listened to this on audio, narrated by the actor Dan Stevens, and he did a marvelous job performing the different characters. I especially enjoyed the screechy voice he created for the mean woman who ran the local candy shop, Mrs. Pratchett. Roald and his friends so hated Mrs. Pratchett that one day he cooked up a plot to scare her: he put a dead mouse in one of the candy jars. Unfortunately, the mean Mrs. P figured out who had done it and had them whipped by the school's headmaster.

Even though I listened to this book, I had a print copy to flip through, and I do recommend peeking at the pages because it has some lovely photos, notes and drawings. Recommended for all Dahl fans.

Favorite Quote:
[After leaving school, Dahl was hired by the Shell Company and traveled to foreign countries]
"I began to realize how simple life could be if one had a regular routine to follow with fixed hours and a fixed salary and very little original thinking to do. The life of a writer is absolute hell compared with the life of a businessman. The writer has to force himself to work. He has to make his own hours and if he doesn't go to his desk at all there is nobody to scold him. If he is a writer of fiction he lives in a world of fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not. Two hours of writing fiction leaves this particular writer absolutely drained. For those two hours he has been miles away, he has been somewhere else, in a different place with totally different people, and the effort of swimming back into normal surroundings is very great. It is almost a shock. The writer walks out of his workroom in a daze. He wants a drink. He needs it. It happens to be a fact that nearly every writer of fiction in the world drinks more whisky than is good for him. He does it to give himself faith, hope and courage. A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it."

Was a breeze through read giving me a peek into the childhood and ancestry of Roald Dahl. A good overview of the British school system of those days. I also came to know about the motivation behind his book "Charlie and the chocolate factory".

I am participating in a summer reading challenge. I was tasked with reading a book that was published the year I was born. I did a GoodReads search and stumbled across this book. I have always been a fan of Roald Dahl. From James and the Giant Peach to the Twits to Fantastic Mr. Fox. I haven't read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and that doesn't upset me.

I enjoyed hear about his life growing up granted more often than not, this book focused on young boys getting beat with canes from headmasters. I could only imagine that would leave a deep impression when recalling childhood memories. Reading about his trips to Norway and the family car accident stick in my head as points I enjoyed throughout the book.

What child is not completely enamored by the stories written by Roald Dahl? For that matter, what adult does not have a special place in their heart for his audacious, fantastical, magical, whimsical tales? Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, James & The Giant Peach, Fantastic Mister Fox, Matilda. To name only a few. Not to mention his equally magnificent fiction / nonfiction for adults.

Here is a chance for a behind-the-scenes look into this storyteller's world. What was this man's childhood like to have the imagination necessary for such grandeur stories? What were his formative years like? His family? Friends? In his teenage years, did he know he wanted to be a writer?

Boy: Tales of Childhood answer these tantalizing inquiries, and more. Readers learn of seven-year-old Roald's personal adventures with the candy shoppe down the street, which no doubt inspired Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, and a woman whom owns the shoppe that shares similarities with characters featured in The Magic Finger, even Matilda. Aside from that, it is a historically accurate look at life in England/Wales in the early twentieth century, from the onset of automobiles to the questionable medical practices to English boarding schools to the economical industry at the time.

He is raised by two loving parents in Norway, until the death of his sister Astri, followed soon thereafter by his late father (likely attributable to the grief over his favorite daughter). He attends Llandaff Cathedral School for two years, until his tencious mother, raising him and his siblings alone and determined to follow her late husband's wishes that his children have an English prepatory education ("The very best is the world"), sends Roald Dahl to St. Peter's in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. His mother and siblings (two from his late father's first marriage, three sisters with his own mother, minus Astri, making four!) remained in nearby Wales.

At nine years old, boarding school was understandable a lonely, intimidating experience. From his memories of the Headmaster and Floor Matron, readers are given the undeniable inspiration for what became the novel Matilda.

The role of the headmaster continues to be central in Roald's life when he begins Public School at thirteen, this time at Repton near Derby. His family had relocated to Kent by then. More anecdotes of his early years are told, often endearing, always hilarious. As a photographer (amateur) myself, I was inordinately thrilled to learn of his affinity for it. He was also an unexpected captain for Fives (similar to handball) and Squash during these years.

At Repton, Roald and his classmates were given boxes of chocolates from The Cadbury Corporation, in exchange for their feedback on each piece. A fine marketing test group strategy by them, but, better yet, another childhood memory that contributed to Charlie & The Chocolate Factory!

At eighteen, opting out of university, Roald begins prosperous career at The Shell Company in England. Two years later, the company reassigns him to a post in East Africa, to his delight. Unfortunately, a few short years later, in 1939, World War II dawns, relocating Roald again, this time to Nairobi, then all over The Mediterranean, serving as a Royal Air Force pilot. Alas, as the author promises, that is another story (later published as Going Solo). Going Solo

Included in this are personal portraits of Roald at various ages (an adorable child,an ambitious teenager, a handsome and charming young man), family photographs, places he lived, attended for his early education, visited, etcetera. Of course, for everything else there are the iconic sketches and doodles by Quentin Blake (readers will remember the same hand that illustrated all their favorite children's stories).

For twenty years, from 1925 to 1945, his mother conscientiously saved Roald's more than six hundred letters to her, equally diligently, lovingly written year after year. A priceless archive, especially for a writer such as himself, given to him as a gift on his mother's deathbed. Parts of these are interlaced between the text (thus exhibiting young Roald's evolving penmanship), colorfully but authentically supplementing, telling a tale almost as grand as the fiction he wrote for decades.

This was such a pleasure, as Roald Dahl is one of my favorite children's book authors. Many share my sentiments. May he rest in peace.