We review a book of short stories by Roald Dahl. But wait, Someone Like You is for adults not children!
Someone Like You – the blurb
Here, in Roald Dahl’s first collection of his world famous dark and sinister adult stories, a wife serves a dish that baffles the police; a harmless bet suddenly becomes anything but; a curious machine reveals a horrifying truth about plants; and a man lies awake waiting to be bitten by the venomous snake asleep on his stomach.
Through vendettas and desperate quests, bitter memories and sordid fantasies, Roald Dahl’s stories portray the strange and unexpected, sending a shiver down the spine.
Adult in theme
Everyone has read Dahl right? But who has read Dahl for adults? Not me which is what attracted me to the book in the first place. With tales of murder, gambling and nude paintings it is definitely adult in theme. Some of the stories are brief, some a little longer, most unrelated to the rest of the book with the exception of four at the end yet all are intriguing.
Number 9
The stories in someway reminded me of the programme Inside Number 9 if you’ve seen it on TV. Whilst all being very different, they all have an unexpected twist. Indeed the subheading for the book is ‘Expect the Unexpected’. The content was wide ranging however there did seem to be an overall theme of middle/upper class characters with the women firmly placed as the little wife running the home. If you can get over that fact (it was first published in 1954) Someone Like You makes for an enjoyable read.
My favorite stories were ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’, ‘Dip In The Pool’, and ‘Galloping Foxley’. The sheer breadth is applaudable – from a little boy with an over active imagination crossing a carpet made of snakes to a machine that can write you a winning novel. Some of them were also pretty gruesome, certain parts of ‘Claude’s Dog’ in particular. There clearly has been some research in to various subject matters as each character really seemed to know what they were talking about. There was also humor and at one point Dahl even inserted himself.
More where that came from
It’s definitely worth dipping your toes in to adult Dahl. There are a number of short stories written by him (Switch Bitch, Over to You, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar). You don’t have to have been a fan of Dahl as a child to enjoy them. If you like your short stories, have a look at Scribbles in the Margins a book of snippets all about the love of reading.