Nope. I prefer his children's books.

I was disappointed with this book. I love everything Dahl wrote for kids and I am sure that he has an extraordinary talent, but in this book I did not find it. It was not remotely funny, which I admit might be because I read a translated version and British humour is so hard to translate. But the book was also lacking substance, it was sexist, homophobe and all that jazz. Now I know times have changed and all that, and I would be willing to maybe not be so offended, but since it was not ever a fun book to read, I will not give it another thought. Maybe I will try and read something else Dahl wrote for grown ups in English, but it is not a priority.

Hilarious! This is Dahl for adults. I think this is a gem that has yet to be discovered by the general public. Definitely worth your time. Here is the summary from Amazon:

1938 diary of Oswald Hendryks Cornelius - his memories at age 43 of his escapades some 25 years earlier.

English youth Oswald makes his first fortune at 17 by journeying to the Sudan, purchasing a chunk of the world's most potent aphrodisiac (ground-up Blister Beetles), and selling it in pill form to the wealthiest men (and then women too) of Paris. But Oswald returns to England determined to strike it even richer. Enter A. R. Woresley, Oswald's chemistry tutor at Cambridge - who's doing research in sperm preservation, extracting semen from prize bulls - and, after Oswald has helped out with the sticky mechanics of bull-semen-snatching, he naturally gets the idea to transfer the technique to humans. Needed (once reluctant Woresley agrees to cooperate): a resourceful female confederate. They find such a woman in Yasmin Howcomely ("She was absolutely soaked in sex"), and soon the trio has its game plan: Yasmin will slip each famous man the super-aphrodisiac, greet the expected response with a condom, and collect an authenticating signature before hurrying off with the "stuff. . . in the bag."

TW: Rape

I love Dahl's stories for adults, they're usually interesting, dark, or witty. This is something else entirely. I would be a really funny story if it didn't focus on rape and creating a pill that makes people want to rape.

I've read that Dahl was used as a spy after being invalided out of the war by sleeping with important women to learn the secrets of the day, and wondered if some of this books comes from that experience.

The only upside to this story was that the main character gets what he deserves in the end.

E zgjodha këtë libër rastësisht në panairin e nëntorit 2021, duke qenë me -50% thash pse jo…siç dihet në histori, populli s’para e ka qejf letërsinë e mirëfilltë (duke parë një zhvlerësim të tillë te çmimi…)
Si fillim, më duhet të theksoj se doli tejet parashikimit tim, edhe pse kopertina të jep një indicie për përmbajtjen. U shokova, dhe kishte pjesë mjaft të çuditshme, nëse mund të shprehem kësisoj, që s’di ç’të mendosh për Dahlin.
Duke qenë se ka një goxha eksperiencë rreth letërsisë për fëmijë, pas përfundimit të librit, më shtyn të mendoj se ka një dualitet mjaft ekstrem te Dahli.
Lexova dhe review-t e tjera, të cilat mendoj se janë nga një grusht me budallenj sade, duke qenë se e marrin librin si sulm direkt ndaj një X gjinie, apo Y grupi.
Duhet marrë parasysh që libri është nga faqja e parë, në të fundit, një komedi që presupozohet të jetë “budallaqe”. Jo të analizohet nga të frustruarit e shekullit të 21 sikur është bombë seksizmi që pas leximit obobo na infektoi të gjithëve.
Jo, s’më zuri afshi seksual për të udhëtuar në Sudan dhe për të shpikur viagra me qëllim përdhunimin e gjenive të 2022-it. (Meqë ra fjala kjo është pak a shumë përmbajtja) Jo për gjë, por në krahasim me 1920ën, gjenitë janë me pakicë…

Роалд Дал е един от любимите ми писатели, но това не ми пречи да виждам слабите страни на текстовете му. Вземете "Моят чичо Осуалд" например. Започва страхотно, набира инерция и направо полита по магистралата. А после идва средата на книгата, сюжетът зацикля, пътят край прозорците се превръща в монотонен пейзаж и нямаш търпение вече да стигнеш дестинацията.

Типичното чувство за хумор на Дал в съчетание с онези така любими what-da-fuck моменти и хрумки са напълно достатъчни да сплетат находчивия текст и да повдигнат читателското очакване до небесата. За съжаление се оказват недостатъчни да извисят текста до нещо наистина култово и се разбиват на пух и прах стотина страници преди края.

Без значение. "Моят чичо Осуалд" е една от най-оригиналните и забавни истории, които ще прочетете някога, така че си е задължителна.

I've just finished re-reading "My Uncle Oswald" and I found it just as entertaining as I did last time. It's dirty, it's porn-y, it's ridiculous from start to finish, with mad metaphors substituting for some of the dirty scenes (Oswald pictures himself as a jousting knight defeating a giant man-eating woman during one of his sexual encounters). Definitely no children's book, this one.

Oswald is an immoral bastard in love with money, sex, wine and food, with a penchant for finding good business everywhere. After finding out about the world's strongest aphrodisiac, he makes a small fortune selling pills for men and women in need. Later on, he decides to multiply that small fortune into a huge one by using the extra-strong aphrodisiac to seduce them and enlisting the aid of the amazingly beautiful Yasmin for, er, sperm collection. And some of that leads to fantastic and very unlikely things appearing (a king who has a couch which moves to do the fornicating for him, for example).

I see some other reviewers complaining this book is misogynistic, which I didn't feel at all. Oswald looks down on anyone, male or female, and Yasmin is nicer, better, deeper and cleverer than him all the way, if you pay attention to the subtler details. And she, unlike him, actually grows very wary with the whole thing once she realizes just how horrible it is on the victims.

Aside from unfortunate implications, the book is hilariously funny, especially if taken not at all seriously.

6 stars! That shit was shockingly funny! So juicy and wrong but I have laughed so hard. Even now I'm only shaking my head in disbelief. Never had I ever imagined a book could do that to me. How does one come up with such a story?! I really don't know...

I read this novel long back - and still remember it for being different from all the other Dahl stories. It is one dirty joke stretched across 200+ pages.

The Uncle Oswald of the title and two of his friends, with the help of the aphrodisiac the Spanish Fly (powdered Sudanese Blister Beetle) put a daring scheme into operation: extracting and selling the sperm of famous people. The idea is to get the said famous men to take a small dose of the medicine, in presence of Yasmin, one of the threesome and a drop-dead gorgeous female. Sexually aroused beyond control, they will all fornicate with Yasmin: and their sperm will be collected by an ingenious method and frozen by Arthur Worsley, the other member of the threesome. (Remember this story is set in the early years of the Twentieth Century, when such things were unheard of.)

What follows is sexual encounter after sexual encounter, narrated with Dahl's characteristic flair for telling a funny story. I read it in my early twenties and loved it.

But now? I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. It's sexist and misogynist, and terribly shallow.

I will let the rating stand, however, since it entertained me so much at the time of reading.

Sungguh buku yang liar! Kalau rajin baca Roald Dahl pasti sudah tidak asing dengan keliaran imajinasinya yang membuahkan, antara lain, Matilda dan Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Tapi kali ini dia membawa imajinasinya ke dimensi lain yang jauh lebih dewasa, My Uncle Oswald.

Pernahkah terpikir bisa punya anak dari tokoh-tokoh hebat dunia seperti Monet, Picasso, Einstein, Puccini, Bernard Shaw atau dari raja-raja Eropa yang tak tersentuh? Tidak harus menikah dengan mereka tentu saja, karena peluangmu paling-paling satu banding seribu. Tapi dengan membeli sperma mereka. Sperma asli bersertifikat!

Oswald yang genius dan selalu mendambakan tantangan memilih cara yang tidak biasa untuk meraup uang, yaitu dengan menjual sperma milik tokoh-tokoh terkenal. Tidak sendirian pastinya. Dia dibantu profesornya yang menciptakan wadah penyimpan sperma agar bisa tahan hingga puluhan tahun, dan gadis cantik keturunan Persia, Yasmin, yang menjadi 'pancingan' agar para lelaki hebat itu bisa berejakulasi. Tapi gadis cantik saja tentu tidak cukup. Toh maestro-maestro seni seperti Puccini hampir tiap hari didekati wanita cantik yang mengaguminya. Maka Oswald pun melibatkan bubuk Sudanese Blister Beetle yang dibelinya di Sudan setelah mendengar cerita seorang veteran tentara Inggris. Dengan bubuk ini, dijamin lelaki paling steril pun bakal panas dingin melihat perempuan, apalagi perempuan secantik Yasmin.

Sulit untuk tidak cengar-cengir selama membaca buku ini. Dahl dengan cueknya menggambarkan tokoh-tokoh itu sesuka hati. Ada yang ternyata masih perawan eh perjaka, ada yang selalu 'on' bahkan tanpa bubuk Blister Beetle, ada yang gay, walaupun ada juga yang sangat menyenangkan dan sempurna sebagai laki-laki. Tokoh mana yang seperti apa, sebaiknya sih baca sendiri. Nanti jadi nggak lucu lagi kalau diceritain :D

Pintarnya Dahl, dia memilih setting tahun 1919, sehingga hal-hal yang mustahil terjadi di masa modern bisa saja terjadi di masa itu. Misalnya, hanya dengan sepucuk surat berkop palsu Kerajaan Inggris, Yasmin bisa diterima di ruang pribadi raja-raja Eropa. Alasannya, saat itu Inggris baru menang perang jadi raja-raja lainnya tidak ingin membuat Inggris marah dengan menolak 'utusan' mereka yang hanya punya waktu sebentar untuk mampir. Mau dicek lewat telepon juga tidak mungkin, karena saat itu Alexander Graham Bell pun masih dianggap orang gila dengan penemuannya yang tidak mutu!

Komentar-komentar yang rada rasis juga bertebaran di buku ini, karena Oswald menceritakan pengalamannya tidur dengan banyak perempuan dari berbagai suku dan bangsa. Menambah 'keliaran' buku ini.

Tapi itu bukan masalah besar. Buka pikiran lebar-lebar, dan bacalah buku ini sambil tertawa. Dijamin ampuh mengusir bete :D

I don't often review books, but thought I should add a comment for this one.
I am trying to read all of Roald Dahl's published works and so I read this.
It is NOT a book for children. Also, I usually introduce some of my middle school students to Dahl's short stories. I would not let them read this book.
If this is your kind of book then by all means go ahead and read it but please pay attention. It is not for kids. You can read other people's reviews about the content and the sexism etc. but I just wanted people to be aware.

Very rarely will I kill a novel in just a few sittings. This is one that I tore through. I found it inventive, dastardly, and comical.