- Mass Market Paperback
- Publisher: Ballantine Books; First THUS edition (Aug 12 1983)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0345302230
- ISBN-13: 978-0345302236
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.7 x 2.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
One of the most widely read and influential writers of our generation The Times Dahl is too good a storyteller to become predictable Daily Telegraph
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Book Description
These four stories are, by turns, funny, bawdy, touching, and outrageous. They are for lovers of tales that combine the macabre and the erotic with intriguing twists of plot.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Not long ago, a large wooden case was deposited at the door of my house by the railway delivery service. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Not long ago, a large wooden case was deposited at the door of my house by the railway delivery service. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Far End of Roald Dahl,
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This review is from: Switch Bitch (Paperback)
A highly recommendable read, and one that many Dahl fans may not have seen, as these four stories of an erotic bent (originally published in "Playboy") don't commonly appear in his anthologies. They range from suspenseful-humorous ("Switcheroo") to devastating ("The Last Act"). The deft descriptions of sexual pleasure show yet another area of Dahl's expertise. Don't read the last story ("Bitch") before reading the first (the at first slow-moving "The Visitor", both dealing with the recurring character "Uncle Oswald"), as the opening of the latter reveals the ending of the former. When you read this, you will likely find it something of a tragedy that Dahl is primarily known to the broader public for his (admittedly brilliant) children's stories alone, like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".
3.0 out of 5 stars
Amusing, Engrossing, Disturbing and Strange,
By
This review is from: Switch Bitch (Paperback)
I found these stories amusing, engrossing, disturbing and strange in equal measure. Like his children's stories, particularly Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, these tales are very moralistic, full of vice and retribution but these focus specifically on sexual politics. On one level these stories could all be read as a sort of morality tale condemning the objectification of women for sexual purposes. Or, are they satire? Simply a magnification of men's baser instincts for comedic effect and shock value. Or, is the punishment he dishes out to his lecherous heroes simply a device that Dahl employs so he can expose attitudes not far from his own without appearing to do so? I'm guessing it's a bit of all three.I doubt I'll ever seek out more of his stories but I am glad I read these. I found the quality uneven with the first story being far superior to the others but all taken together were quite unlike anything I'd read before and I'd recommend them based on that alone.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not what I had hoped.,
By
This review is from: Switch Bitch (Paperback)
I checked this out on tape from the library for a long car trip, and I was excited to experience some "adult" work from the author of my beloved _Matilda_ and _The Witches_.I was pretty gripped by the first story; I found the character to be very layered and interesting. Dahl included a lot of elements that lent depth to the character. But the ending disappointed me; it was so gimmicky! I felt rather cheated, as though the whole story had been a long road to a cheap punch line. What about all that character detail? Had it been for nothing? The rest of the stories seemed the same way, too. I wouldn't call the book "worthless." It was certainly entertaining. But by the third story, all I could do was listen and try to guess what the next punch line would be, and the layers of the characters seemed to lose all meaning.
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