61. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More- Roald Dahl
3 stars
This is a collection of some of Roald Dahl's short works, thus some of the stories I would rate higher and some lower. Compilations are a pain to give an overall rating. Another important thing to note is that though the cover art and author suggest that this book would be ideal for children, I think the targeted audience is generally more mature.
The first story, "The Boy who Talked with Animals," is light and cute. Something kids might enjoy. The story is told from the perspective of an adult man staying at a resort on the beach who sees the boy's relationship with a giant turtle caught by native fisherman. An odd but decent tale.
The second story, "The Hitchhiker," is funny. Basically it's a long joke.
"The Mildenhall Treasure" is one of the few nonfiction stories that Dahl ever wrote; this one inspired by true events he found to be so fantastic he could not help but record them. I find them slightly less fascinating, perhaps because he hyped them up so much in the intro to the story.
"The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" was a very interestingly constructed story. It is told this way: the narrator records the tale he is being told by a man who knew Henry Sugar, included in which is a book Henry read, in which a doctor recorded another man's tale. Complicated a bit, especially in explanation. Good story, although I could have been happy with a bit less exposition into the book about Imhrat Khan.
"The Swan" terrified me. I don't know that kids should read this. It's about two bullies who pick up on a nerd, who survives, but only because the fantastic intervened. In real life, he would have died. Yikes.
The last two stories are also nonfiction. One is the first story Roald Dahl ever wrote, which deals with the time his plane crashed when he was flying for the RAF in WWII. The other tells of how he came to be a writer, starting with his humble, unsuspecting beginnings through his lucky break into writing. This story was by far my favorite one, perhaps because I love to read and want to write.
