Boy is the first of two autobiographies by British author Roald Dahl and, as the title suggests, concerns his childhood. He describes growing up in Britain during the 1920s and 1930s, with considerable focus on his time at boarding school, and how his experiences there later informed his writing, as well as his familial life, particularly his relationship with his mother.
- A writing style that is accessible for younger readers, as there are not any complex or pretentious words, terminology from the 1920s/1930s that would not be in a modern child’s vocabulary is defined, and the contexts provided are detailed without being verbose.
- There is an excellent balance between comedy and drama within the narrative – the former in some of the shenanigans that Roald Dahl got up to as a youngster, the latter in the emotional nature of his relationships and the tragedies that the Dahl family experienced.
- Adult readers particularly will appreciate the reflective tone of much of Roald Dahl’s writing, as he details how much of his perspective and understanding of events have changed with hindsight and a more nuanced understanding of people and the world alike.
- Whilst there are aspects of them which feel embellished, like he is writing about them as though the way they seemed to him as a child is the way they actually were, Roald Dahl’s descriptions of his interactions with adults provide a fascinating insight into what informed the way that he wrote adult characters within his children’s books.
- Even as a child, it always bugged me that Roald Dahl never even provided the names of five of his siblings. Whilst (as an adult) I now appreciate that they may have requested that he not name them, if they did then some reference should have been made to that. Additionally, there is scarcely any consideration or detailing of Dahl’s relationships with his siblings.
VERDICT: MUST
Pete Kirkpatrick's Reviews 