Boy: Tales of Childhood (Roald Dahls Autobiography, #1) By Quentin Blake

Luca Ambrosino

English / Italiano

Chosen by my daughter as bedtime reading, this book immediately got an excellent response from her. It's easy for a writer like
Roald Dahl to produce novels for kids. Even his life takes the form of an extravagant novel for kids. Imagination is fundamental to the writer, and life experience is no less. Probably it's the perfect mix of experience and imagination to constitute the perfect recipe for a successful writer.

Vote: 7

Scelto da mia figlia come lettura serale prima di andare "a nanna", questo libro ha subito ottenuto i favori della sua critica. Deve essere semplice per uno scrittore come
Roald Dahl scrivere romanzi per ragazzi. Perfino la sua vita prende la forma di uno stravagante romanzo per ragazzi. L'immaginazione è componente fondamentale per chi scrive, ma dopo questa lettura capisco che l'esperienza di vita non è da meno. Anzi, probabilmente è proprio la miscela ottimale di esperienza ed immaginazione a dare la ricetta perfetta per lo scrittore di successo.

Voto: 7

Ahmad Sharabiani

Boy: Tales of Childhood (Roald Dahl's Autobiography #1), Roald Dahl

Boy: Tales of Childhood (1984) is an autobiographical book by British writer Roald Dahl. It describes his life from birth until leaving school, focusing on living conditions in Britain in the 1920's and 1930's, the public school system at the time, and how his childhood experiences led him to writing as a career.

It ends with his first job, working for Royal Dutch Shell.

His autobiography continues in the book Going Solo.

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «پسر»؛ «خاطرات پسر بچه»؛ نویسنده: رولد دال؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز ششم ماه فوریه سال2000میلادی

عنوان: پسر؛ نویسنده: رولد دال؛ تصویرگر: کوینتن بلیک؛ مترجم: شهلا طهماسبی؛ تهران، نشر مرکز، کتاب مریم، سال1378؛ در چهار و166ص؛ شابک9643054586؛ چاپ دوم سال1381؛ چاپ سوم سال1383؛ چاپ پنجم سال1385؛ چاپ هشتم سال1393؛ شابک9789643054588؛ موضوع: کودکی و جوانی رولد دال، از سال1990م تا سال1916م - سده 20م

عنوان: پسر؛ نویسنده: رولد دال؛ مترجم: نسرین مهاجرانی؛ تهران، نشر پیدایش، سال1379؛ در184ص؛ شابک9646695876؛

عنوان: خاطرات پسربچه؛ نویسنده: رولد دال؛ تصویرگر: کوینتن بلیک؛ مترجم: فریبا قاسملی؛ تهران، نشر گاج؛ سال1395؛ در224ص؛ مصور، عکس؛ شابک9786003593220؛

این کتاب؛ زندگی‌نامه ی نویسنده ی بزرگ، و نام آشنای‌ «نروژی تبار انگلیسی»، «رولد دال» نیست، با اینحال، همه ی رویدادها واقعی هستند، رویدادهایی که از داستان، چیزی کم و کسر ندارند؛ شاید هم، همین یادمانها بوده‌ اند، که داستان‌های سحرآمیزی شده اند، و تلخ و شیرین بسیاری برای خوانشگران آفریده اند؛ ایشان عاشق داستان، و کتاب بودند؛ «ترول‌»ها، و دیگر موجودات اسطوره‌ ای «نروژی»، در قصه‌ هایی که مادرشان برای ایشان، و خواهرانش، می‌گفتند، یاد ایشان ماندند، تجربیات ناخوشایند دوران تحصیل، زندگی در «افریقا»، برای کار در شرکت نفتی «شل»؛ و پیوستن به نیروی هوایی سلطنتی «بریتانیا» در جنگ جهانی دوم؛ همگی، مواد خام داستان‌های ایشان بودند، که به قلم آن بزرگوار پخته شدند؛ «رولد دال»، در جنگ جهانی دوم، به نیروی هوایی «بریتانیا» در «نایروبی» پیوسته بودند؛ و مدتی در «یونان»، و «سوریه»، خلبان جنگی بودند؛ ایشان در سال1942میلادی، به «واشنگتن» رفتند، و نویسندگی را آغاز کردند؛ چه مبارک سحری داشت، و چه فرخنده شبی بود؛ نخست داستان‌های تجربه‌ هایشان از جنگ، در نشریات «آمریکایی» به چاپ رسیدند؛ سپس، خوب ایشان دوست داشتند، برای کودکان و نوجوانان بنویسند، و نوشتند؛ برترین آثارشان «چارلی و کارخانه ی شکلات‌ سازی»، «جیمز و هلوی غول پیکر»، «ماتیلدا»، «داستان‌های کوتاه چشم نداشتنی»؛ و ...؛ هستند؛ از بیشتر آثار ایشان فیلمهایی نیز آفریده شده ‌اند

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 17/11/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 15/08/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

Miranda Reads

We all have our moments of brilliance and glory, and this was mine.

This novel consists of a myriad of short stories that centered on memorable events throughout Dahl's childhood. Each story had bits of wonder, adventure, intrigue and terror. Lots of terror.

When writing about oneself, one must strive to be truthful. Truth is more important than modesty.

The stories about doctor's visits and accidents were the most memorable - for they were described in extremely explicit detail. I was covering my mouth and shielding my eyes when he described how he nearly lost his nose in the car accident...and again during the plane accident.

His time at boarding school was the inspiration for Matilda - abuse was rampart and there was little (if anything) that could be done. The students, the teachers and even the Headmaster all took delight in exercising their power. I felt for the little Roald but the author did not write a pity-me memoir.

He included the inspiration for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. During his early boarding school years, he and the other kids tested new sweets for Cadbury. The children took this extremely seriously and wrote long (and complicated) assessments.

Roald Dahl never grew up. The quality of the writing - the way he uses just the right word made this truly a classic novel.

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Calista

I should probably give this 5 stars as I really enjoyed this, liked this and it's so good. I mean there is a lot of pain here and it's so funny.

Dahl is telling stories from his childhood. He would holiday in the summer in Norway with his family every year. He also went to boarding school. You can see how this is the seeds for almost all his stories. All the horror of adults he tells come from his experience at school. I can't believe some stuff he had to live through. It was abusive.

There was caning and students could also use corporal punishment on each other. Teacher would single out students and yet he makes it all funny. It was too short and probably a good thing. You see where Charlie and the chocolate factory come from. I mean the Trunchbull from Matilda is right out of his experience.

In the last chapter, I got tickled the most. So the chapter is called fagging. In British boarding school an older boy would have younger classmen under him that did chores and things for him and he was called a fag. This is back in the 20s or 30s before the meaning of the English word took over. One of the boys forces Dahl to go and warm up the outhouse toilet seat for him by sitting on it for 15 minutes or more. He tells Dahl something like, "You have a warm bottom, I don't like a cold bottom fag, I like hot bottom fags." I know it's childish and I simply died laughing. I mean, so funny sounding. How strange the past interacting with the future. There term is still derogatory in a different way. I mean it's still sad they had that kind of power over underclassmen and hopefully it is better for kids now. I guess school has always been hell.

This is worth the read.

Mariah Roze

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.

Elizabeth

I just reread this book after reading it many times during my childhood. It was as compelling as ever. As was I rereading I picked up on so many influences that I unconsciously carried through the rest of my childhood and perhaps even adulthood. Places and ideas that as a child I romanticized; Going to Norway swimming in the fiords and filling a pipe with goat's tobacco with my pack of siblings-- heaven. The way Roald Dahl tells a story--with such good humor and without ornament--makes even getting canned sound like the most marvelous adventure in the world!
It's such a cheerful experience to reread a book you read as a child and find that it still makes you smile in all the same places.

Swrp

"When writing about oneself, one must strive to be truthful. Truth is more important than modesty."

Memoirs are always interesting.

Roald Dahl's
Boy: Tales of Childhood is an interesting book. It is about the eventful and adventurous childhood days of
Roald Dahl. The book is written in a simple language, which makes this a good read, a delightful memoir.

Tahera

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😄). Through this book he also shares his point of view on some of the not so pleasant punishment practises in public schools in those days like getting thrashed by a cane, fagging, etc. and includes a chapter on his Head Master at Repton who besides being a Head Master, was a clergy man too and loved using this punishment practice which did create a lot of doubts and questions in the young Roald Dahl's mind about some 'men of God' not practising what they preached.

Diane

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."

emma

children are boring.

even children who one day grow up to be genre-defining authors are boring.

and this book is pretty boring, too.

it's fine. there are worse things for a book to be. but it's the truth.

part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago, and so on and so forth and what have you

Jo

(Deciding to re-read this book was inspired by the wonderful ladies at
Gathering Books and their fantastic bimonthly meme‘Everything Dahl and Magical’. Which I absolutely adore. )

“When writing about oneself, one must strive to be truthful. Truth is more important than modesty. I must tell you, therefore, that it was I and I alone who had the idea for the great and daring Mouse Plot. We all have our moments of brilliance and glory, and this was mine.”

I first read this glorious memoir aged twelve when I had to do a project in history on a historical person of my choice.
I went to Staples, giddy as a kipper, and bought about five piles of coloured sugar paper and two packets of gel pens (the smelly glitter ones, of course) and set about completing possibly my favourite piece of homework.
I was minding my own business in the classroom, armed with a Pritt Stick and a copy of every one of his book, when this absolute… so and so… in my class said ‘Roald Dahl? Historical? I don’t think so. You should have chosen a monarch or something. You’re going to get a rubbish mark.”
Because I was a shy and retiring wallflower back then, I muttered something under my breath and glared at her from underneath my unfortunate fringe.
BUT, if she had said that to me today I would have found a desk,
stood on it and, with my chest puffed out, I would have declared: “Roald Dahl is a historical figure because if Roald Dahl hadn’t written his books then British children’s fiction… nay, British fiction would have been far too bleak to tolerate. He captured the imagination of so many children and wrote timeless stories that encouraged, and continue to encourage, children who would never normally pick up a book to do just that. And if making generation after generation fall in love with his writing doesn’t qualify him as a historical person then I don’t know what does.”
But… like I said.
Mumble. Glare. Unfortunate fringe.
Anyway, I got my project back (and I still have it!) and my wonderful history teacher wrote: “Fantastic and original work here. You really did justice to a wonderful figure in British culture. 10 credits”
10 credits? Fantastic and original. YEAH.
Anyway... back to the book.
I loved how Dahl only briefly mentions the stories that he is known for once. It is only right near the end where he is describing how Cadbury’s World (Which is just like Charlie's Chocolate Factory by the way!) used to send the boys of his boarding school sample chocolate to taste and how this lead to him writing Charlie and his adventures.
So whenever it was mentioned that his grandfather was nearly seven foot tall or how the young boy used to wonder how gobstoppers worked, you can’t help but feel that Dahl is giving you a knowing wink or whispering a secret that only the two of you are privy to.
Witnessing these glimmers of inspiration that lead him to write his beloved stories, all those years later, was definitely my favourite thing about this book.
Mrs Pratchett with her blouse covered in “toast-crumbs and tea stains and splotches of dried egg-yolk” and hands that “looked as though they have been putting lumps of coal on the fire all day long.”
Remind you of any one?

Or the Matron, that “large fair-haired woman with a bosom” who “ruled with a rod of steel.”

And Dahl’s Bestemama with her perpetual chair rocking or Bestepapa, who sits “saying very little and totally overwhelmed.”

Paired with photographs, hand-written letters home and, of course, Quentin Blake’s glorious illustrations (My favourite one being the bug-eyed, twitching Captain Hardcastle), Boy is still one of my all-time favourites.

I could quite happily fill this review with quotes.... but I'll just leave you with this one...

“Anaesthetics and pain-killing injections were not much used in those days. Dentists, in particular, never bothered with them. But I doubt very much if you would be entirely happy today if a doctor threw a towel in your face and jumped on you with a knife.”

You can find this review and lots of other exciting things on my blog
here.

Matt

One of the great authors of children's stories, Roald Dahl entertains readers with this piece that encompasses his life to age twenty. While Dahl clearly states that this piece is not an autobiography (for those sorts of books are filled with stale and dusty tales), this is a fabulous compendium of memories from his early years. The eldest son of two Norwegians, Dahl's early years were a mixture of pain (he lost his sister and father within a single week) and childhood frivolity (he loved to play with his school chums whenever time permitted). In one vivid memory, Dahl recounts his love of sweets and a shopkeeper who had a hate-on for him, which led young Roald to concoct a plan to exact revenge, which backfired horribly. A child from his father's second marriage, Dahl remembers riding with his elder half-sister, who got into a serious motor vehicle accident that almost cost him part of his face, Dahl recounts this with as much humour as the event permits. Dahl works hard to recollect those annual summer vacations outside Oslo, where grandparents doted on him and he could not wait for school to let out each summer. However, those glorious thoughts are countered with memories of the strap and horrid matrons patrolling the dorms when he left for boarding school. By the end, Dahl bridges his memories of entering the workforce and the hope that he might pen another short volume to entice readers to continue on with this journey. Like many of his books, the reader is lured into a blissful experience with Dahl's easy writing and fascinating ideas.

One cannot read Roald Dahl and not feel some connection to the characters that fill the narrative. Although this is a move away from fiction and forces the author to recollect his own life, Dahl is happy to admit he does not remember large portions of life before eight, though his memories flood forward thereafter. While some would think that a man of seventy would have so much to tell, Dahl does not wish to fill pages with dreary recollections, choosing to succinctly tell his early life. I could see some interesting themes in the vignettes Dahl chose to present, which ended up being major children's stories that I read in my younger years. Dahl's use of these memories to craft timeless classics, such as The BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, only adds to the greatness of this short book. Told in a highly animated fashion, the reader cannot help but picture the young Roald heading to see that horrid matron or visiting with his beloved Norwegian grandparents while dreaming of sweets on his way home from school in second form. A piece that was so interesting, I am scrambling to get my hands on the second volume, to hear of his wartime memories. A must-read for anyone who has a little while to relax and loves the style Dahl has made famous.

Kudos, Mr. Dahl for all you did in your life. You will always hold a special place in my heart, which is only strengthened after reading this piece.

Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:

http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

James Hartley

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.

Sita

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.

description

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...

Melissa

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.

Becky

Before this year, I'd never read any of Dahl's work, and when I picked this up I didn't realize that it was an autobiography. So imagine my surprise when I crack the book open and see nothing at all whimsical or silly. Which is cool, but just not what I expected. Not reading the description strikes again!

Anyway, this is a nice collection of stories from Dahl's childhood and while I think that maybe a bit is embellished (who can remember that much detail from early childhood?), I enjoyed it quite a lot. I especially liked his family, and how awesome his mother was. She was definitely a strong and committed woman to do what she did for her family.

I definitely saw some influence on his stories here, which isn't surprising but was fun because it's like watching the building blocks of the creative process being put into place. I'll look for the second book in this series if I can find it because I'd love to get to where he was actually a working writer and read more about that. Dahl comments briefly here about it, but only to contrast a more structured and "normal" job with fixing oneself to write and be creative. Interesting stuff.

Also, I'm very glad that I never had to be an outhouse toilet-seat warmer. O_o

James

This is the first instalment of Dahl’s autobiography – written with his customary wit, style and accessibility. ‘Boy’ provides an entertaining insight into Dahl's early years and upbringing. Included here are some events that undoubtedly provided influence and ideas for some of his later novels.

Minor quibble – in the edition I was reading, many of the facsimiles of excerpts from letters / reports etc. from Dahl’s childhood were somewhat difficult to read due to the size of the writing and maybe would have benefited from being slightly larger copies of the originals?

Definitely well worth a read for all fans of Roald Dahl.

Andy

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).

Jane Stewart

3 ½ stars. I was sad and angry that so much punishment and cruelty was done to boys in the school system.

Roald went to a Welsh school for kindergarten. The teacher beat him with a cane. His mother then sent him to different English schools thinking they were the best schools in the world. But sadly, in every school he went to he was beaten with a cane either by teachers, headmasters, or boys with the title Boazer(Prefect). When Roald was a teen he was a star athlete. That usually would have made him a Boazer. But the administrators would not make him a Boazer since they knew he would not use a cane to beat younger boys. I think this was a horrible way of life in the schools back in the 1920s and 1930s. It was widespread. Many of the teachers and staff were cruel. Sometimes innocent boys were accused of things just to be able to punish them.

CAUTION - VIOLENT AND GRAPHIC CONTENT IN SPOILER:

There were other stories that were interesting and did not make me as mad as the above.

This is nonfiction - 25 short essays about events in the author’s life from age 6 to age 20.

DATA:
Narrative mode: 1st person. Story length: 172 pages. Swearing language: none. Sexual content: none. Setting: mostly 1920s and 1930s Wales & England. Copyright: 1984. Genre: autobiography, memoirs.

Jessica

Absolutely charming stories about Dahl's family and his early school days. As he says, it's not actually an autobiography, but its the bits and pieces he remembers. And you can see how those memories informed his books, and how his intelligent, close knit and fantastical family inspired him as well. Complete with illustrations and snippets of his letters home as well.

Tim Orfanos

Όπως χαρακτηριστικά αναφέρει ο Νταλ στον πρόλογο του βιβλίου (1984), δεν έγραψε μια αυτοβιογραφία, αλλά ένα μυθιστόρημα που αποτελείται από αναμνήσεις, τις οποίες ανέσυρε από το υποσυνείδητό του. Οι αναμνήσεις αυτές ξεκινούν από την ηλικία των 6 χρόνων και καταλήγουν στη ηλικία των 20 χρόνων, το 1936.

Ο αναγνώστης θα γελάσει, θα συγκινηθεί και θα απορήσει με τις τρομερές περιπέτειες του συγγραφέα, οι οποίες ξεκινούν με τον θάνατο του πατέρα του, μόλις 57 ετών, συνεχίζονται με την επιβολή σκληρών μεθόδων διαπαιδαγώγησης στα βρετανικά σχολεία και κολλέγια, ενώ, ταυτόχρονα, εντυπωσιάζουν η εποικοδομητική σχέση του Νταλ με τη μητέρα του και το περιπετειώδες ένστικτό του.

Ο τίτλος του βιβλίου προέρχεται από τον τρόπο με τον οποίο ολοκλήρωνε τα πολυάριθμα γράμματά του προς τη μητέρα του (δεν έγραφε το όνομά του, αλλά τη λέξη 'Boy').

Ένα από τα πιο πρωτότυπα βιβλία του Νταλ, όπου αντικατοπτρίζεται ένα μεγάλο μέρος της ευρωπαϊκής κουλτούρας της δεκαετίας του '20 και του '30.

Βαθμολογία: 4,3/5 ή 8,6/10.

Rebecca

Like so many children, I grew up with Roald Dahl’s classic tales: James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Matilda. I was aware that he had published work for adults, too, but hadn’t experienced any of it until I was asked to join a blog tour in advance of Roald Dahl Day (September 13th). Last year Penguin brought out an eight-volume paperback set of Dahl’s short stories, grouped thematically. I focused on Innocence: Tales of Youth and Guile, which opens with a reprint of Boy (1984), the closest thing to an autobiography that Dahl wrote. That’s in spite of his prefatory disclaimer:

An autobiography is a book a person writes about his own life and it is usually full of all sorts of boring details. This is not an autobiography. … throughout my young days at school and just afterwards a number of things happened to me that I have never forgotten. … Some are funny. Some are painful. … All are true.

Dahl’s father was a one-armed shipbroker who’d moved from Norway to Wales for the coal. His mother, Harald’s second wife, was also from Norway, so Dahl was a full-blooded Norwegian. After his father’s early death he attended Llandaff Cathedral School and then boarding school and public school in England. Sofie Dahl, quietly tough, tended her brood of six children and stepchildren, giving them magical summers on a Norwegian island and keeping her cool during the car accident in which Dahl’s nose was almost severed.

Any time they were separated, Dahl wrote to his mother once a week, without fail. The book includes facsimile excerpts from some of these letters, along with black-and-white family photographs and drawings. This is more of a scrapbook than a straightforward chronological memoir, especially in the way that it moves between playful and disturbing vignettes from Dahl’s school days. It’s particularly delightful to spot incidents that inspired his children’s books, such as a plot to plant a dead mouse in the mean sweet shop lady’s gobstopper jar and the boxes of new-recipe Cadbury’s chocolates that would arrive at Repton School for testing by eager boys.

Pranks and larks and holidays: these are all here. But so is crushing homesickness and a bitter sense of injustice at being at the mercy of sadistic adults. Dahl had his adenoids removed without anesthesia, and at school he received and witnessed many a vicious caning. Aware that such scenes are accumulating uncomfortably, he addresses the topic directly:

By now I am sure you will be wondering why I lay so much emphasis upon school beatings in these pages. The answer is that I cannot help it. All through my school life I was appalled by the fact that masters and senior boys were allowed literally to wound other boys, and sometimes quite severely. I couldn’t get over it. I never have got over it.

When he graduated, instead of going to Oxford or Cambridge, he wanted to see the world and have adventures, so he spent the summer of 1934 exploring Newfoundland and joined the Shell Company at age 18. His first placement was to East Africa for three years; soon afterwards he would become a fighter pilot in the Second World War. In the short years he spent as a London commuter, he realized how easy a 9-to-5 office job is compared to making a living as a writer. (I could sympathize.)

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. … A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul.

I don’t often like reading books from a child’s perspective (particularly novels with a child narrator) because I find that the voice can ring false. Not so here. Nearly 60 years later, Dahl could use memory and imagination to fully inhabit his childhood self and give a charming survey of the notable events of his life up to age 20. I’d highly recommend Boy to fiction and nonfiction readers alike.

[I dipped into Trickery: Tales of Deceit and Cunning and particularly liked “The Wish,” in which a boy imagines a carpet is a snakepit and then falls into it, and “Princess Mammalia,” a Princess Bride-style black comedy about a royal who decides to wrest power from her father but gets her mischief turned right back on her. I’ll also pick up Fear, Dahl’s curated set of ghost stories by other authors, during October for the R.I.P. challenge.]

Originally published on my blog,
Bookish Beck.

[ J o ]

Paul Christensen

Funny and moving account of a 1920s chlidhood in Wales, England and Norway, written by a master storyteller.

Sara Kamjou

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.

سارة سمير

“When writing about oneself, one must strive to be truthful. Truth is more important than modesty.”

في البداية انا قررت اقرأ الرواية دي لسبب واحد بس وهو فيلم You've got mail
والمشهد الشهير اللي بتقرأ فيه ميج رايان للأطفال من الكتاب دا ومن ساعتها وانا نفسي فعلا اشوف الكتاب كله بيتكلم عن ايه

وكانت المفاجأة انها مش قصة من قصص روالد ابدا .. لا دي قصة حياتة او طفولته بمعنى اصح وليها جزء تاني قصة فترة شبابه
الحقيقة الكتاب كان لذيذ جدااا وخفيف على القلب وسهل فهمه اوي ولغة بسطية ومواقف مضحكة وشقية كتير من حياته في المدرسة من الطفولة ولحد سن العشرين

“It is almost worth going away because it's so lovely coming back.”

كانت تجربة ممتعة جدااا وحبيتها كلها على بعضها ومستنية اقرأ الجزء التاني كمان واشوف شبابه كان فيه مصايب ايه تاني

ارشح الكتاب بششششدة للي عايز يقرأ انجليزي لكن لغة بسيطة سهل فهمة تعوده على اللغة نفسها

Vonia

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.

Joey

I am very fond of reading books about children’s bitter experiences. Perhaps I believe in American psychologist, Erik Fromm’s belief that “ to understand children, we, adults, try to think like a child again.”Unfortunately, not all adults are aware of this fact. That’s why the main purpose of literature is to educate people about life, basically about children life. I have read some books about children. I can hardly ever forget Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt ( 5 stars ), The Butcher’s Boy by Patrick McCabe ( 3 stars ), Torey Hayden’s books such as The Innocent Child and its sequel The Tiger’s Child ( I was so generous to fault to give both 5 stars at that time when I was not yet critical on Good Reads. ) I also cried over the classical books such as Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist and David Copperfield. Even Beloved by Toni Morrison, one of my favorite fictional writers , punched my chest although the character is a young teen-ager gives eerie feelings. For local books, one is the Connecting the Dots by Gojo Cruz ( 5 stars ) which author swept me off my feet. ( laughs ) Such books are awash in the same theme: human cruelty in children, perhaps, out of ignorance.

This book of Road Dahl is one of the books above. This may be intended to make readers laugh. Of course, I did. However, the real highlight of this , even Dahl admitted it at the end of the story, is his miserable experiences as a student in the hands of his school head masters, teachers, and matrons. ( or you’d rather I put it bluntly , under the rotten educational system in Britain at that time ) Dahl narrated how he was such a poor innocent child . He was an archetype of educational upbringing. He had been beaten many times. So had his classmates. He had been humiliated and treated unfairly. So had his classmates. Admittedly, I abandoned myself to his said stories. If I had been his classmate at that time, I would have been so defiant that I could have been booted out. ( laughs ) So , the title of this book fits all the stories- Boys: Tales of Childhood.

I always want to be an active advocate for children’s rights, particularly for their education. Like Dahl, I was also a victim of wrong education from teachers who may have been ignorant of child psychology. As a teacher now , I believe in teaching students based on their individualism.

The good thing about this is that Road Dahl was still able to make us laugh despite those harboring ill-feelings. He was like a friend I have just made, sharing his ala Thomas-Sawyer stories. The atmosphere he built was so amiable that I felt sympathy for him. In addition, reading it was so easy unlike the other autobiographies or novels about children which require higher level of thinking. He narrated his stories age by age and every sentence is well-written. Since it is a children book, I hope young readers take precious lessons from it. And I do not think that it should be banned from the hands of young readers just like of what happened to his Charllie and the Chocolate Factory which received negative criticism. Duty on their distorted realities! ^^

Road Dahl said in his preface that an autobiography for him is full of all sorts of boring details. If I take him for his words, what he meant to say I believe is like what the famous American writer, William Arthur Ward, said:

“The adventure of life is to learn. The purpose of life is to grow. The nature of life is to change. The challenge of life is to overcome. The essence of life is to care. The opportunity of like is to serve. The secret of life is to dare. The spice of life is to befriend. The beauty of life is to give.”

Yippee! ^^

George K.

Ο Ρόαλντ Νταλ, γνωστός και αγαπημένος σε όλο τον κόσμο χάρη στα πολύ ωραία και ευχάριστα παιδικά βιβλία του, έγραψε και δυο μικρά βιβλία, κάτι σαν αυτοβιογραφίες, με προσωπικές στιγμές από το παρελθόν του, με γεγονότα που τον στιγμάτισαν με τον έναν ή τον άλλο τρόπο. Πρώτο βιβλίο είναι αυτό που μόλις τελείωσα, στο οποίο αφηγείται γεγονότα από τα παιδικά και εφηβικά του χρόνια. Δεύτερο βιβλίο είναι το "Σόλο πορεία", στο οποίο γνωρίζουμε τον νεαρό μεν, ενήλικο δε, Ρόαλντ Νταλ. Όντας ανάποδος, το 2010 διάβασα το "Σόλο πορεία", μιας και τότε μου είχε φανεί ενδιαφέρον και, έτσι κι αλλιώς, δεν είχα βρει το "Αγόρι". Βέβαια, τόσα χρόνια που πέρασαν από τότε και τόσα βιβλία που έχω διαβάσει στο μεταξύ, είναι σαν μην το έπιασα ποτέ στα χέρια μου. Δεν θυμάμαι και πάρα πολλά. Σίγουρα θα το ξαναδιαβάσω.

Λοιπόν, σας κούρασα. Ας μπούμε στο ψητό. Στο μικρό, καλογραμμένο και άκρως ευχάριστο "Αγόρι", ο Ρόαλντ Νταλ μας αποκαλύπτει στιγμές από τα παιδικά και εφηβικά του χρόνια: Από τα σχολεία και τα οικοτροφεία στα οποία φοίτησε, από τις καλοκαιρινές του διακοπές στην Νορβηγία (χώρα καταγωγής του), από οικογενειακές μαζώξεις, από διάφορες σκανταλιές που έκανε, και πάει λέγοντας. Μην περιμένετε κανένα πλήρες και λεπτομερές χρονικό, απλά γεγονότα και στιγμές που θυμόταν για δεκαετίες και που τον στιγμάτισαν. Τα περισσότερα γεγονότα είχαν να κάνουν με την ζωή του στα οικοτροφεία, δίνοντάς μας έτσι την ευκαιρία να δούμε και πως ήταν τότε τα σχολεία στην Αγγλία. Υπάρχουν και, ας πούμε, σκοτεινές στιγμές, με ξύλο και τιμωρίες, ο τρόπος που τα γράφει όμως σε κάνουν να χαμογελάς και να συμπάσχεις μαζί του.

Η γραφή είναι ιδιαίτερα ευχάριστη, τέτοια που ακόμα και αν έχεις κάμποσες σκοτούρες στο κεφάλι σου και ψυχολογικά δεν είσαι στην καλύτερη δυνατή κατάσταση, σίγουρα θα σου φτιάξει το κέφι, θα σε κάνει να χαμογελάσεις, θα σε κάνει να ξεχάσεις τα προβλήματά σου για λίγες ώρες. Εκτός από τις πάρα πολλές στιγμές που ο Ρόαλντ Νταλ μ'έκανε να χαμογελάσω, κατάφερε να με ταξιδέψει πίσω στον χρόνο, τόσο στα δικά του παιδικά χρόνια, όσο ακόμα και στα δικά μου. Ουσιαστικά πρόκειται για ένα νοσταλγικό ταξίδι στο παρελθόν, που είμαι σίγουρος ότι το ευχαριστήθηκα όσο το ευχαριστήθηκε και ο ίδιος. Είναι ένα βιβλίο που προτείνω σε όλους.

Υ.Γ. Αν και τώρα μεγάλωσα πια, μελλοντικά ίσως διαβάσω και κάποιο από τα παιδικά του βιβλία. Είτε το πιστεύετε είτε όχι, μικρός δεν διάβαζα και πάρα πολύ, και ποτέ δεν έπεσε στα χέρια μου κάποιο βιβλίο του. Σίγουρα έχασα κάποια πράγματα. Επίσης, θα ξαναδιαβάσω το "Σόλο πορεία".

Rebecca (whymermaids)

I don't know if it was the book itself, my affinity towards Roald Dahl, or Dan Stevens' narration, but I absolutely adored this and, like listening to your grandfather's old stories, would most definitely listen to it again.

Title	:	Boy: Tales of Childhood (Roald Dahls Autobiography, #1)
Author	:	Quentin Blake
Rating	:
ISBN	:	0141311401
ISBN-10	:	9780141311401
Language	:	English
Format Type	:	Paperback
Number of Pages	:	176
Publication	:	First published January 1, 1984

Boy: Tales of Childhood (Roald Dahls Autobiography, #1) by Quentin Blake

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