I think Roald Dahl is probably the best children's storyteller. When my third grade teacher read "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to our class I remember thinking, "This guy is really good." But as good as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is (or The Twits or The Witches or Matilda or pick your favorite), it is "Boy", his memoir or childhood written for children, that I read so many times that the copy I found in my basement last week is completely ripped to shreds. He writes for children as children, not children as a less intelligent adults. I can only imagine that I will continue to reread this book into the future. I should probably invest in a new copy.

I recall my teacher reading this to the class in 1986 I believe. As a child I found it hilarious and highly entertaining, and as an adult I wholeheartedly agree. The archaic practices of corporal punishment in schools and barbaric medical treatments and care were horrifying. We don’t know how good we have it! The author was a little full of himself and his achievements, but considering his lifelong phenomenal success he had earned the right.

این کتاب به نوعی به عنوان زندگینامه‌ی رولد دال شناخته می‌شه اما اصلا شبیه یک بیوگرافی خسته کننده نیست. کتاب پر از داستان‌های بامزه از زندگی شخصی رولد دال ه و با خوندن این کتاب می‌بینیم که شخصیت خودش تا چه حد توی خلق داستان‌هاش مؤثر بوده.
شخصیت مادر رولد دال رو خیلی زیاد دوست داشتم. کسی که با وجود اینکه رولد تک‌پسرش بوده و شوهرش هم اوایل بچگی بچه‌هاش از دنیا می‌ره لوس بارش نمیاره. حنی وقتی قرار می‌شه بره آفریقای شرقی به جای اینکه مثل اکثر مادرها از دوری بچه‌ش غر بزنه تشویقشم می‌کنه! خلاصه اینکه مادرش برام الهام‌بخش و تحسین‌کننده بود.

After reading a particularly substandard piece of fiction, I wanted to read something that I knew would be completely amazing. So I turned to this book.

Roald Dahl was someone who had truly lived, and I say that without even having read Going Solo, which highlights his adult life. The amount of talent Roald Dahl possessed in his index finger far surpasses most people's talents in their entire body.

It was utterly bizarre how a book as fun, as charming, as quaint, as beautiful, as whimsical, and as picturesque as this could be categorized as a non-fiction autobiography, which oft tend to be pretentious, boring, and sanctimonious.

Having read 95% of Roald Dahl's fictional stories, recognizing the parts of his own life where various stories took their inspiration from was delightful.

The picturesque calm of Norway which he elaborated upon in this book had me in a state of reverie, and I truly loved every single page of this book. Every book that I read of his reinforces his position as one of my favorite authors of all time.

In questa biografia, Dahl racconta di sé e della sua famiglia da prima della sua nascita ai vent’anni.

È un libro carico di ambivalenze, che passa da minuziose descrizioni storiche a episodi carichi di tensione narrativa, da scene divertenti ad altre agghiaccianti.
Gli excursus sugli ambienti in cui Dahl ha vissuto trasportano il lettore nelle vicende e la scrittura vivace e fluida aiuta ad empatizzare col giovane protagonista.

La trama salta fra episodi e anni diversi, e finisce un po’ in sospeso; mi ha un po’ delusa che l’autore non abbia spiegato perché e come sia diventato uno scrittore, ma in compenso qua e là si coglie da dove ha tratto alcune idee per le sue storie.

Al testo si accompagnano gli immancabili disegni di Quentin Blake e numerose fotografie; nella seconda parte dell’opera sono presenti anche stralci di lettere scritte dal giovane Dahl (degli interessanti documenti storici, che però talvolta interrompono il racconto).

È encomiabile come questo grande autore si sia aperto ai suoi lettori, raccontando non solo episodi intimi o scottanti della sua vita, ma anche i suoi pensieri e le sue sensazioni con estrema spontaneità.
Senz’altro consiglio questo libro a tutti gli appassionati di Roald Dahl.

NB: Per l’ambientazione storica, certi toni usati e le dettagliate scene di sofferenza, ritengo questo libro adatto a ragazzi almeno delle Medie.

Normally I would only give this about three stars, but I remember being fascinated by this book as a child. Now I think that there's very little real content -- I read it while my girlfriend was having dinner, for god's sake, and she didn't take that long, not even as much as an hour I'd say -- but of course what there is is well written and fun, and you can see the seeds of Roald Dahl's books in his autobiography. Not just the big ideas, but the sense of fun and even the way he describes things.

It's also fun because he includes photographs and letters and other such bits and pieces of his life.

A really lovely, endearing and funny account of a very lovely, endearing and altogether adventurous childhood from a wonderful author. Full review to follow.



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None of these things is important, but each of them made such a tremendous impression on me that I have never been able to get them out of my mind. Each of them, even after a lapse of fifty and sometimes sixty years, has remained seared on my memory.

Little Dahl is accused of cheating and lying to his master Hardcastle. Master Hardcastle is not ready to listen to what Little Dahl has to say. He gives him a stripe. Now a stripe means five cane sticks on your bum from the Headmaster. The next day Little Dahl is invited to the Headmaster's chamber and is asked to lower his pajamas and bend down. Litle Dahl keeps explaining that he is innocent, but he just can't win in words with his Headmaster. The headmaster takes out his cane and hits Little Dahl as hard as he possibly can. Little Dahl writes that it felt like a rifle shot. He screams. The door of the chamber is open, possibly Master Hardcastle standing outside smiling, all his mates can hear the screams of Little Dahl. They feel august for the injustice that has been done. When the Little Dahl returns to his dorm, all boys come to surround him with sympathetic faces. But one of the boys is so violently incensed by the whole affair that he comes to him and says, 'I know why they did that to you because you don't have a father. But I do, and I am going to write him about what has happened. He'll see do something about it.'

Little Dahl knew that nothing will come out of this brave act, and nothing did. But Little Dahl nevertheless felt that it was a touching and generous gesture from one small boy to another.

Now I have never read Roald Dahl before, I saw the spines of his books on the shelves of my school library but for some reason back then my heart always lingered around tech magazines and books with lots and lots of pictures. Dahl has an amazing talent for vividly taking the reader to the places that he has been to. If I ever decide to write an Autobiography of my own, this is exactly how I will try to write it. In form of short stories about the most memorable and impressive moments of my life.

And I have to start project dahl: read all his books.

I don't generally read children's or young adult books, but had to make an exception with this. I must have read many books in my childhood - as I read voraciously - some things don't change much. However the three books that have stayed with me longest and most vividly are: Beverly Nichols 'The Tree that Sat down' Nina Bawden's 'Carrie's War' and Roald Dahl's 'Danny the Champion of the world' The later I remember with such affection that although I was never necessarily a huge Dahl fan, I always regarded him and his work as something precious, something from a time when life was simpler. Many years later during a literacy lesson at the school I am a teaching assistant at - the children were played an extract from a dvd, with a voice over of Roald Dahl, reading from "Boy" I decided I must read this book at some point - as I would have considered myself a little past the natural age for Roald Dahl when this was first published. Well recently a copy of this book and his other autobiographical volume going Solo came my way - and so I had the chance.

Non of that is in way much of a review - merely an explanation.

At first - just for a few pages - I was irritated my the heavy - "elderly adult talking to child" voice that pervades the first few pages -as Dahl explains his parents Norwegian background. An unreasonable irritation on my part as the author was only writing for his usual audience, and I am not it. However I quickly settled into the charming and often shocking anecdotes of Dahl's early years. Of course the treatment of children during the 1920's is rather different from today - but the harsh treatment of children by adults, including violence I found horrifying. I can easily see where Dahl got his inspiration for much of his fiction from. So many of Dahl's children's stories seem to pit children against terrible adults. Dahl's home life was blissfully happy, but as so many other boys of his age did, he frequently fell foul of the school masters and the older boys (Boazers at Repton) who held positions of some power over him. Roald Dahl's well known humor comes out in these stories of his childood, which would I am sure delight all fans of Roald Dahl - whatever their age. Overall I found this a thoroughly charming read.

This was one of those eye openers for me as a child; I read Boy countless times (and back home still have the well worn edition from 1986). The concept of an autobiography was so new and radical, at a time when reading was all make believe and fiction; it 'really happened', it wasn't made up! Rather, a magical book that opened up another world, glimpsing a life I would never experience.

His remembrances of childhood and school life are frank, vivid and frequently horrific. In particular, his account of the unexpected removal of his adenoids has vividly stuck with me to this day, since I read it the first time (starkly imprinted as I too had my adenoids removed as a child and the graphic depiction freaked me out entirely). Tales of life at boarding school, fagging, the cane, chocolate and tuck boxes, a memorable car trip and a general air of menace exposed a truly different way of life.

Reading it now, I'm struck by how brief and narrow it is. It just seemed so much bigger as a child (much like headmasters, I guess). Still, I enjoyed revisiting it immensely. It's also great to pick out those glimpses of future Dahl stories and characters. This is a truly great book for kids to read and discover, even more so as we move further away from the era depicted.

Dahl says near the beginning that everything is true but it really doesn't matter either way. It's all story-telling magic. Well worth reading, whatever your age. Now, on to his later years...

April 2020
I've just finished reading this with my 7 year old, initially after dinner and then at bedtime. It's his first autobiography and he seemed to enjoy it and wants to read on (though I think Going Solo may not keep his attention at this point). Great for discovery, we learnt lots about Norway and how badly children have been treated (he seemed to find that aspect fascinating).

My interest in reading this novel was stimulated a few weeks ago when I visited some friends, one of whom over the course of the evening dug up his collection of Roald Dahl books and proceeded to reintroduce us the magic we had near forgetten we had experienced as children in reading them.

I have always loved the sheer dottiness of the tales of Roald Dahl - the horrid nature of the some of his adult characters and the heroic nature of his young but strong willed main characters.

What I loved about this book was that, not only was it written in the eccentric and yet no-nonsense style Dahl was known for, but it also gave me fascinating insight into some of the influences that shaped his writing.

One experience of note that I particularly warmed to was the tale of the woman who owned the sweet shop near his school, who had hideously dirty fingers, and was the fond recipient of one of Dahls' school boy pranks - putting a dead mouse inside one of her lolly jars to find.

From this, and some of the members of his family (the ancient older sister for example) I can only imagine Dahl gained the inspiration for his extraordinarily nasty characters - Aunt's Sponge and Spiker, the Twits, and George's horrible Grandma.

Charming were also some of his harder experiences - the joys of growing up in a time where there was no such thing as anaesthetic and so getting your tonsils out was a lot more painful.

Enchanting were his recounts of visiting his Norwegian family on holidays as a child, the confusion of language barriers and cultural differences I'm sure inspired some of Dahls more eccentric characters - Mr Willy Wonka for instance.

All in all, this reads more like one of Dahl's fictional novels and not like an autobiography at all. Not one for pomposity, Dahl cheerfully deleted the duller elements of his life, for which I am thankful. Nevertheless, this book is a wonderful recount of a well spent (for the most part) childhood. For those fans of autobiographies, who love to read to understand what makes a person tick, this story of childhood will not disappoint. This book goes far to impress upon the reader the events that led to the cheerful dottiness his readers loved him for.

I haven't read many autobiographies but even then I feel that this was a completely different take on what an autobiography should be. Fun and witty, Roald Dahl really manages to take the reader on a ride through his childhood and early adult days and shows a realistic picture of what it was like growing up in England in the early 20th century. I loved how the book is interspersed with his personal photographs taken with his family and in his different schools and well as the letters he writes home to his mother and the witty nicknames he kept for his step sister and brother (ancient half-sister and not so ancient half brother