• mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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    7 months ago

    Roald Dahl did not fuck around. He grew up in one of those psychopathic early-20th-century British boarding schools, and then went to Africa once he graduated, and World War 2 broke out and he fought in Egypt and Greece.

    He wrote children’s literature because kids tend to vibe with how his brain works, but he was not playing games. Read his adult short stories sometime.

      • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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        7 months ago

        Holy hell, dude… I’m looking over the list now and just reading plot synopses is getting me unsettled.

        Honestly I think the two autobiographical books, “Boy” and “Going Solo” are probably better than the short stories unless you’re in a pretty twisted mood. If you’re in for the darker material, a random selection of short stories I liked:

        • “Mr. Feasey” is a very mild one that still has the Roald Dahl dark energy about it.
        • “Pig” is a deeply unsettling one.
        • “They Shall Not Grow Old” is haunting but quite good.
        • “Man From The South” is a fairly famous one that’s also very dark and unsettling.
      • BanjoShepard@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I’ll add “The Great Automatic Grammatizator.” It’s my favorite by far, but I like all of the stories in “The Umbrella Man and other stories.”

    • SanguinePar@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Yeah, I’ve read a couple, one about a frozen leg of lamb, I remember. He was a pretty dark character, including holding some deeply offensive views.

      Talented guy when he was focusing his work though - there was a great anthology TV series in the UK called Tales of the Unexpected, some episodes of which I think were based on his more adult writing (including the leg of lamb one).

      • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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        7 months ago

        Are you gonna try to tell me the oompa-loompas weren’t so much happier moving to England and working in the factory instead of being in their home

        But listen to them singing their working-songs