A review by tomhill
Switch Bitch by Roald Dahl

2.0

Despite its catchy title, Switch Bitch is ultimately disappointing, especially compared with how much fun the stories in Kiss Kiss are. Only the first story, "The Visitor" really feels on par with those stories, it's also the only story here that manages to be darkly humorous without also being deeply problematic. The main character "Uncle Oswald," as lascivious as he is, doesn't actually commit any crimes or acts of violence. But by the end he has paid a price for being a cad. All the stories are well-written and expertly plotted and I mostly enjoyed reading them. What makes reviewing a book like this potentially tricky is deciding how much can simply be dismissed as dated or "of the time," and how much is deeply misogynistic and just plain icky, no matter when it was written. "The Great Switcheroo" is a story about "wife-swapping" without the wives' knowledge. Not entirely sure what this would be classified legally as in the 1960s, but it should be clear to everyone that having sex with someone while being tricked into thinking they are someone=non-consensual. So that's pretty gross, although as with the first story, the protagonist does face some kind of punishment for his crime. More of a comeuppance really. The third story "The Last Act" probably should not have been published. The ending is violent, disturbing and seems to exist only to shock. I am all for a shocking ending, but there seems to be no other purpose to the story and it makes me think that Dahl was incredibly angry with a woman at the time he wrote it. The last story, "Bitch" brings back good old Uncle Oswald, whose role in this story is more actively problematic, and what Dahl seems to be saying about women and sexual pleasure is again, just kind of gross. There is the question of intent though. "The Last Act," however is just mean and hateful towards women and the intent seems clear. As a collection, I have to dock a star for the problems of 3 out of the 4 of stories. Especially since, having read many other Dahl stories, I know he was capable of more thoughtful, less hateful work.