vittidimartino's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
tskel123's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.5
alliem's review against another edition
3.0
More of a 3.5 - some of these are awesome - Dahl’s ability to build that eerie tension taking you one way and then do something totally different is masterly. And then a few are just a bit messed up (and I usually don’t mind messed up) and just a bit sexist. Prioritise The Landlady (obviously), The Way up to Heaven, Mrs Brixby and the Colonel’s Coat. HM to Royal Jelly and Genesis and Catastrophe. Run away from Gorgy Porgy (yikes).
velvet_young's review against another edition
dark
funny
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Body horror and Murder
sunnybopeep's review
3.5
Roald Dahl hates MARRIAGE and CAPITALISM. He spends a lot of time cursing abusive husbands and making their daft-but-well-intentioned wives serve them their just desserts.
Content Warnings
It’s lotsa content warnings ngl
tomhill's review against another edition
4.0
Every story hits and is immensely satisfying. Except the story about Hitler as a baby. That one felt rather pointless. There is one story that feels a bit misogynist at times, but I have heard that Dahl was capable of much worse. These macabre stories for adults are quite different from Dahl's novels for children, and at the same time share some obvious DNA. They are dark and a bit fantastical and Dahl often delights in delivering comeuppance to a bully. I first read "The Landlady," the first story in this collection, in seventh grade and I thought it so strange at the time that it was written by the same man who wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It's a very good story, although after reading Kiss Kiss, I'm not sure it's the absolute best in the collection. But it is a story that is so compact and perfectly structured and it delivers a very satisfying twist ending that still forces the reader to put the puzzle pieces together, although what is going to happen to the central character is fairly obvious. This is what makes it such a good introduction to adult short fiction for seventh graders I suppose. Every story but "Genesis and Catastrophe" is worth reading. Whatever his faults may have been, the twisted sense of humor and cynical worldview Dahl brings to the stories here show him at the peak of his talents, I think. A lot of misfortune befalling characters, and it's all so enjoyable for the reader.