Going Solo by
Roald DahlMy rating:
5 of 5 starsRoald Dahl’s funny and vivid second autobiography covers the 1930s and 40s.
It deals with his time in:
AfricaDodging deadly black mamba snakes.
GreeceFighting against the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Athens with only seven rickety planes.
PalestineAs a witness to the prelude of the creation of the Zionist entity. This section is extremely creepy and deserves to be quoted:
‘Is this your land?’ I asked him.
‘Not yet,’ he said.
‘You mean you’re hoping to buy it?’
He looked at me in silence for a while. Then he said, ‘The land is at present owned by a Palestinian farmer but he has given us permission to live here. He has also allowed us some fields so that we can grow our own food.’
‘So where do you go from here?’ I asked him. ‘You and all your orphans?’
‘We don’t go anywhere,’ he said, smiling through his black beard. ‘We stay here.’
‘Then you will all become Palestinians.’
‘No,’ the man said, ‘I do not think we will become Palestinians.’
‘Then which country did you have in mind?’
‘If you want something badly enough,’ he said, ‘and if you need something badly enough, you can always get it…’
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