Küsschen, Küsschen!: Elf ungewöhnliche Geschichten

by Roald Dahl, Wolfheinrich von der Mülbe (Translator)

Hier ist das Gruseln zu lernen – von einem Meister des makabren Humors. Die ungewöhnlichen, weltberühmt gewordenen Schockgeschichten garantieren die schärfsten Genüsse, die ein literarischer Cocktail mit Arsen und Spitzenhäubchen zu bieten vermag.

10 % der Autorentantieme aus dem Verkauf dieses Buches kommen dem Roald-Dahl-Wohltätigkeitsverein zugute.
roalddahlfoundation.org
roalddahlmuseum.org

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Horror, Classics, Humor, Fantasy, Book Club

295 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Roald Dahl was a beloved British author, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter pilot, best known for his enchanting and often darkly humorous children's books that have captivated generations of readers around the world. Born in Llandaff, Wales, to Norwegian parents, Dahl led a life marked by adventure, tragedy, creativity, and enduring literary success. His vivid imagination and distinctive storytelling style have made him one of the most celebrated children's authors in modern literature.
Before becoming a writer, Dahl lived a life filled with excitement and hardship. He served as a Royal Air Force pilot during World War II, surviving a near-fatal crash in the Libyan desert. His wartime experiences and travels deeply influenced his storytelling, often infusing his works with a sense of danger, resilience, and the triumph of the underdog. After the war, he began writing for both adults and children, showing a rare versatility that spanned genres and age groups.
Dahl's children's books are known for their playful use of language, unforgettable characters, and a deep sense of justice, often pitting clever children against cruel or foolish adults. Some of his most iconic titles include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The BFG, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr Fox, and The Witches. These works are filled with fantastical elements and moral undertones, empowering young readers to challenge authority, think independently, and believe in the impossible.
Equally acclaimed for his work for adults, Dahl wrote numerous short stories characterized by their macabre twists and dark humor. His stories were frequently published in magazines such as The New Yorker and later compiled into bestselling collections like Someone Like You and Kiss Kiss. He also wrote screenplays, including the James Bond film You Only Live Twice and the adaptation of Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Despite his literary success, Dahl was a complex and sometimes controversial figure, known for his strong opinions and difficult personality. Nonetheless, his books continue to be treasured for their wit, originality, and the sense of wonder they inspire. Many of his stories have been adapted into successful films, stage plays, and television specials, further cementing his legacy.
Dahl's impact on children's literature is immeasurable. His ability to connect with young readers through a mix of irreverence, heart, and imagination has made his stories timeless. Even after his death, his books remain in print and continue to be read by millions of children worldwide. His writing not only entertains but also encourages curiosity, courage, and compassion.
Roald Dahl's work lives on as a testament to the power of storytelling and the magic of a truly original voice. He remains a towering figure in literature whose creations continue to spark joy, mischief, and inspiration across generations.

Reviews

[Mario the lone bookwolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slowly, the final plot twist is coming closer, the reader waits for the revelation and a „bam in your face“ solution offers a final thrill. In each freaking short story.

I don´t read many short stories, I mean, who does, and so it´s quite subjectively that I find this funny, weird, strange and frightening little story hybrids very entertaining. One of the main reasons I don´t read short stories is that, procrastinating as I am, avoid any unnecessary move and beginning a novel is always a bit similar to, ugh, work, as one has to remember some elements to get in the story, except in the rare cases of true masters of the art.

But those stories are so easy to access, so full of interesting thoughts about human nature, so clever and complex in their minimalism, leaving the reader with the thought that this could probably really happen somewhere and what a strange place the minds of many human beings must be.

It´s the deep cynicism, the darkness close to misanthropy, that makes Dahls´work unique, that shatters any positive worldview by taking general pictures and especially intimate relationships with family members and loved ones to crush the illusion of normality and happiness with terror and madness. I would deem this stories worthy to be used in psychological lectures or the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico for profiles of serial killers.

One of the reasons for Dahls´ view on humankind might have been his experiences as a fighter pilot in WW2 and, well, that he is right. Nothing against some kind of people in general, as long as I don´t have any contact with them, they are acceptable, and this sarcastic and disturbing kind of storytelling totally shows how such complex machinery like the human mind can easily go haywire.

I want to read more about and of the hidden darkness lurking in his children´s books, possibly comparing the English and German version, to see how much subliminal messaging towards showing the true, hidden faces of adults may be waiting to be found. The more I think about it, the more details in the movies and novels come to mind that seem to be more than just characterization and comic relief, more a preparation and training camp for a world filled with… special people.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

[Nayra.Hassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

غذاء ملكات النحل كان و مازال ثمين جدا اغلي من الذهب يصل ثمنه الى 500دولار للرطل عام"1959" تتنتجه النحلات المربيات بنفس طريقة لبن الام..و ابنتنا حصلت منه في يوم واحد ما يفوق اي شخص في التاريخ "

انه رعب خارج اى صندوق قد يجرؤ خيالك على تصوره ..لا لا..لا يوجد هنا شياطين و كيانات قديمة و اشباح و الجو المعتاد المبتذل
هنا الرعب كله ينبع من النفس المضطربة و العقل الشاذ

من اذكى وأقوى المجموعات القصصية المترجمة التي قراتها في مجموعة روايات عالمية..لم انسى معظم القصص منذ 2001..النهايات كانت قاسية..مرعبة ..ساخرة
ولكن لم يكن هناك افضل منها
قصة النحال والخوري والفندق..كانوا الافضل..خير بداية لمن يريد التعرف على رووالد داال
و خياله المتطرف

[Miranda Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finally, a short-story collection by Dahl that didn't send me running for the hills

To put this into context, I've already read The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More & Switch Bitch and both were disturbing and misogynistic. Kiss Kiss was marginally better. Without further ado, here is Dahl's most macabre collection of short stories:

The Landlady - A young man excitedly moves to a new city for his job. He finds a lovely little bed and breakfast run by a dotty old woman who dabbles in taxidermy. I'm sure you can surmise what happened next. Sometimes it is worth it to spend the extra quid.

William and Mary - Mary spent her entire married life belittled and bullied by her husband. Every purchase was scrutinized and every decision (even to turn on the telly) was questioned. Her husband, on his deathbed, makes a rash decision and unfortunately lives to regret it.

The Way Up to Heaven - In a somewhat similar vein to the previous novel, Mr. Foster delighted in antagonizing his wife. He deliberately made her late to every single occasion - knowing how stressed and upset she would become - simply because he liked to watch her squirm. Let's just say that he will no be bothering his poor wife again.

Parson's Pleasure - Mr. Boggis does what any self-respecting antique dealer does - he dresses up as a parson to swindle poor farmers out of their ancient and expensive furniture. He has it down to an absolute art. This terrible fellow is about to get the shock of a lifetime.

Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat - Found the misogynistic one. Mrs. Bixby is one of many American females who have found a way to cheat the system by taking advantage of poor men - they marry, divorce and live on the alimony. Robbing these men of the livelihoods and youth. Sigh. Anyway, there's a mink coat involved and some rather dubious behavior on both sides of this marriage.

Royal Jelly - Found the disturbing one. New parents Albert and Mabel worry over their little one. She hasn't eaten nearly enough and her little ribs are sticking out. Well, Mabel worries and Albert blusters and bumbles about - talking over and around her worries constantly. He eventually 'solves' the problem but this leaves Mable absolutely horrified.

Georgy Porgy - Georgy always loved his mother. A freak accident involving cannibalistic rabbits and a catastrophic car accident left Georgy with one very dead mother and one very large fear of women. So, he becomes a man of God only to discover that all the lascivious and horny women follow him everywhere. At one point, he pitted sex-starved male rats and female rats against each other.

Genesis and Catastrophe: A True Story - Baby Hitler, anyone? Literally, just a snippet of Hitler's mom/dad and his birth. Marginally confused to the point of this one...

Edward the Conqueror - Louisa found a stray cat who had a very peculiar reaction to music. Upon a bit of testing, she starts to believe that this cat contained to reincarnated soul of one of her favorite musicians, Liszet. Louisa's husband, Edward, finds this absolutely ridiculous and constantly berates his wife. All it took was one late meal, one meal in which Louisa is happily cooking up a treat for the cat rather than her husband, for Edward to absolutely snap.

Pig - A boy tragically loses his parents and is raised by his Aunt Glosspan, who despite being eccentric, loves this child with all her heart. The boy quickly excels under her homeschooling and rises with particular gusto under her cooking tutelage. A firm animal lover, Aunt Glosspan raises both of them to be vegetarian. Upon her death, the boy sets off to see the world and learns of long pork.

The Champion of the World - This is an earlier version of Danny the Champion of the World, which I adore. In this version, we have a mechanic and his poaching friend. While we still have the same main plot outlined, the Danny version is so, so much better.

The 2018 ABC Challenge - K

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[Melki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looking for some deviously funny cautionary tales riddled with delightfully diabolical twists?

Well, here be eleven goodies to amuse and entertain you.

You will learn to beware of old ladies bearing tea, to be kind to your wife or she will totally screw up your afterlife, to never bilk idiots and that meat really is murder.

Dahl is a superb writer. I had no idea where some of these stories were going until the last paragraph. With others, I predicted the ending, but read eagerly to find out if I was right. There's a slight trace of misogyny running through one or two of the tales, but I can forgive that from the man who gave the world Matilda.

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't remember exactly when I encountered Roald Dahl - perhaps in my pre-teens. But I sure remember I did not encounter him in any story "appropriate" for children. "The Veld" (not included here) and "Pig" (included) are two stories I remember vividly from those days - both delightfully creepy, yet weirder than the standard fare you get from horror-story writers.

This delightful little collection contains creepy gems such as "The Landlady", "Pig", "Georgy Porgy" and "Royal Jelly"; "William and Mary", "The Way up to Heaven", "Edward the Conqueror" - tales of marital revenge with a touch of the horrific; tales of mischief and just desserts ("Parson's Pleasure", "Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat", "The Champion of the World") and one uncharacterisable and weird little piece ("Genesis and Catastrophe: A True Story"). If you are new to Dahl, this book may be the ideal place to start.

[Praveen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of eleven short stories of Dahl.
All the stories in this book are already present in his more comprehensive collection The Best of Roald Dahl, which I had read.

If someone is looking for the short story collection of the author, then I will unquestionably recommend The Best of Roald Dahl over this book, because that will provide you a bigger range of talent and artistry of the author with 25 of his best tales.
The last story of this collection "Champion of the world" will be present there under the title "Claud's dog", which has included a total number of five stories as a subset under it.

This book too has picked up the best of Dahl.

The whole gamut of Dahl's excellence and dexterity!

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought I’d read this book all the way through years ago, but there were stories here that I didn’t remember at all, and so now I’m not sure what I’ll read before or not. When my children were growing up we made our way through every one of his children’s books. These aren’t children’s stories, but it is hard to not notice that they are almost all very much like fairy tales.

One of the things a writer who is starting out is almost certain to do is to not fully trust their readers. This is almost inevitable, and something of a function of the medium. We want to be understood. There’s no point telling a story if your audience doesn’t understand the point of it, or rather, misses the point because you haven’t been directly explicit. And so, because a writer can never have feedback from their audience, they feel they have to use what Bernstein referred to as an explicit linguistic code. That is, you find yourself making sure you are right in the middle of the spotlight when you tell your little joke, and that you slap the cymbal immediately after the punchline. Tah-Dah! ‘You see, it was the brother – he was the one in the kitchen, not the uncle, she only thought it was the uncle, but really it was the brother…get it? Get it?’

Dahl never does this. Some people might even get a little annoyed with him because, well, the story he tells you is never quite the story he is telling. But he never speaks down to you. He trusts you as a reader. So, while he is telling you of the nice, if a little eccentric, woman how has made the young man a nice cup of tea that tastes just a little too much like bitter almonds, after explaining to him that she has quite a talent for taxidermy – you really aren’t meant to think, ‘oh, the things people get up to these days, you can never tell, can you? Still, better than her spending all her time watching television.’

As I said, these are fairy tales. I was wondering while reading these what it is we like so much about the little twist at the end of such stories. There are quite a few writers who specialise in them – Fredrick Forsyth has a lovely collection of them called No Comebacks, and many of Maugham’s short stories also almost invariably end with the same little sting in the tail. Writers need to be very careful with these, because readers expect the twists and unless they are ingenious, they can fall very flat. The joy of these is, as I’ve already said, the sting is rarely made explicit – it is often something you need to have figured out for yourself.

Some of these are little horror stories – Georgy Porgy is a particularly good example of that, a story to make a Freudian salivate, with its mothers eating their children and all females as sexual aggressors, even the rats. The characters are all caricatures, but never so over-drawn to make them grate. If these are morality tales, then like the punchline of the twists athe the end of the stories themselves, the moral is never made directly explicit either.

There are any number of casual cruelties described – often delivered by the person who knows you best and so who also knows how to punish you in the most horribly perfect way too. Not unlike, perhaps, the ideal little punishment awaiting us all in hell so carefully planned by our infinitely loving god. A god who also how knows us all too well and who therefore also knows the ideal place to stick the blade.

These are lovely little stories. That said, it is important to remember that there is no advice that, if pushed a little too far, doesn’t become bad advice, but that said, I do think that if you can trust your readers as much as Dahl clearly does, it is harder for you to go wrong.

[Gabrielle (Reading Rampage) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Human nature's dark side is not pretty. Lies, greed, violent impulses… In this collection of short stories, Roald Dahl tells us how the world sometimes exacts delicious revenge on people in the most grotesque ways…

I only knew Dahl through his children's books, "The Witches" being one of my own childhood favorites. My colleague Caroline adores his short stories and she kindly lent me her copy of "Kiss Kiss", that I devoured over a few lunch breaks. The dark humour, acid tongue and unsettling mind that had attracted me to Dahl's children's books shone just as bright here as they did in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Mathilda". I laughed, winced and gasped a-plenty as I made my way through this little book, and discovered that Dahl is an even better writter than I had imagined!

Like any short story anthology, some are better than others. I especially loved the tales of Mrs. Foster's phobia of missing her plane and Mrs. Bixby's ill-acquired fur coat. Sweet, sour, funny and bloody. Delightful!

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Real Rating: 2.75* of five

A cruel and demanding husband, or so his first wife Patricia Neal would have us know; a creepy old party, as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory amply demonstrated, with a great deal of disdain for Jewishness and gluttony and greed in general. His adult fiction is largely out of print in the US, and he was never really quite The Thing here as he was in Britain. I suppose his light sneers at us, so evident in his attitude towards the US's involvement in the Second World War, prevented his eventual literary rise from gaining the same boost as it did among the countrymen who saw, heard, absorbed his flying prowess and spying nous.

I decided to read this collection for some reason or another (maybe it was the 1960 Edgar-winning story, "The Landlady"?), I can't honestly recall why now. I know that I began to regret my decision as early as "William and Mary," the second story, wherein this is from the text of a letter written by Dahl as coming from beyond the grave of a man to his newly-widowed wife of thirty years:

"He is a magnificent neurosurgeon, one of the finest, and recently he has been kind enough to let me study the results of some of his work, especially the varying effects of prefrontal lobotomies upon different types of psychopath."

And then he goes on to give orders like "don't get a TV" and "disconnect the phone because I don't need it anymore"! How appalling. Sixty years ago, when this collection was published, that wasn't, whole and entire, a horrendous thing to say? I'd say it was, but I was a babe in arms at the time and have no direct knowledge of the way it would sound to the era's denizens. I suspect it wouldn't have raised an eyebrow on either of my parents, but they were right wingnuts and often didn't hear things that made, and make, my skin crawl.

And with this mordant but unamusing set of eleven weirdly unappealing tales, Dahl leaves my readerly ken for. fucking. ever. No more. No! I refuse. I liked three of the eleven stories enough to be glad that I'd read them, and recognized one story from my long-ago high-school read of it in an anthology I had to buy for school, but that's just not enough for me to want to know more about what went on in Roald Dahl's head.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though this books of Dahl's short stories is missing some of my favorites (like the one about the eavesdropping card-playing couples and the one with the frozen leg of lamb), it has many of Dahl's best. From a father who feeds his baby enormous quantities of royal jelly, to a nervous hyper-punctual housewife who exacts a seemingly innocent revenge on her passive aggressive husband, these stories are twisted, surprising and never overdone. The stories have just the sort of Professor Plum, crackling fire, pipe in mouth atmosphere that I love to sink into in a rainy day.

[GTF · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roald Dahl has put together a reasonably entertaining collection of short stories in 'Kiss Kiss', and I think that was the purpose of most of these stories: to entertain, rather than to provoke thought or emotion. While this is adult fiction that Dahl has written here, his knack for children's fiction makes an unwelcome presence in some of these stories. The thrills are a bit cheap at times, and the plotlines sometimes resemble episodes of Goosebumps, but nonetheless the prose are generally well written and most of the stories keep you reading from beginning to end.

[حبيبة · Rating 4 out of 5]

تحفة والله. قصص ممتعة جدًا جدًا أفكارها ذكية ودمها خفيف. أغلب القصص بنهاية مفتوحة كما يجب أن تكون، وأنا بحب النهايات المفتوحة والحقيقة حبيتها أكتر بعد هذه القصص الرااائعة.💓

[Helly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read my favorite road Dahl collection, and it never gets old. You MUST READ 'Mrs. Bixby and The Colonel's Coat' and 'William and Mary'

The master of a twist in the tale!

[Nicola Balkind · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roald Dahl is, needless to say, best known as the author of books for children. This collection of short stories is easy on the whizzpopping, frumpets, and strawbunkies, but his subtly sinister grown-up world is equally enthralling.

The beauty of Dahl's short stories is his innate talent for saying the most when he says nothing at all. Massive chunks of story line are told through every ellipsis, of which there are many. Rather than telling you exactly what is happening, Dahl creates the setting, throws in a few hints about his characters, and leaves you to deduce the rest.

Another aspect that makes these stories so enjoyable is his ability to impart a sense of impending doom for every character. They may have sinned, have misbehaved, but when their comeuppance comes a-calling, we cringe and gasp as they are served their just desserts.

Kiss Kiss also features the short story The Champion of the World, a precursor to his novel Danny, the Champion of the World. Re-reading the story with an adult edge, discovering where those notions and words were conceived, was like reading Danny for the first time all over again.

http://unculturedcritic.blogspot.com

[elea ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Problematic author)
This was really not as I remember it being but reading these short stories during exam season was still quite entertaining.

[Suna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlie'nin Çikolata Fabrikası ile tanıdığım yazarın benim için aşırı süprizli kitabı. kesinlikle yetişkinler için yazılmış kısa öykülerden oluşan son derece akıcı bir kitap İlginç karakterler, biraz karanlık öyküler ve süpriz sonlar.

[Natascha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meine letzes Jahr entdeckte Liebe zu Roald Dahl wächst von Geschichte zu Geschichte mehr. Für mich nach diesem Band der absolute Favorit, wenn es um Kurzgeschichten geht. Wie gut, dass ich ... und noch ein Küßchen! auch schon zu Hause habe.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these stories, all are just brilliant.

[Lotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully macabre short stories that feature neurotic vicars, vengeful wives, dubious antique dealers and creepy half-bee half-human babies (yes, you read that right).

[Zeehondkoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

leuk!!! ik heb bijna alle verhalen in de trein gelezen maar sommige minder leuk dan andere zoals dat hitler verhaal

[Stefania · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny. Dark. Brilliant. An incredibly fun read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I hadn't read any of the author's work until now, and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. Although the book is easy to read, it remains fresh and unpredictable. When the reader may start to expect the unexpected, Dahl finds a way to surprise them, either by means of a twist or by adding some macabre detail that leaves them feeling uneasy but strangely satisfied.

-----

Gracioso. Oscuro. Genial. Una lectura increíblemente entretenida que disfruté muchísimo.

Hasta ahora no había leído ningún libro del autor, y tengo que admitir que estoy gratamente sorprendida. Pese a ser una lectura rápida, es original e impredecible; e incluso cuando el lector comienza a esperar lo inesperado, Dahl encuentra la manera de sorprenderlo, ya sea a través de un giro en la historia o mediante algún detalle macabro que lo deja sintiéndose inquieto pero extrañamente satisfecho.

[Jules ♈ (witchyrover) · Rating 3 out of 5]

ACTUAL RATING: 3.5 STARS Roahl Dahl always manages to impress me (in a good way). I read this during my english course (still studying english-spanish translation) and even though I recognize that he is an excellent author, I'm growing slightly tired of him. I read lots of his books during Middle School so please understand.... I loved each plot twist that he made; each story ends completely different from what I was thinking (which is perfect cuz not all books have that). I read and analyzed this author when I was 15 years old and it's tiring to do it once more and having my final exam with this as a main subject.

[zed · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very clever collection of short stories that at times left one using the imagination as to the endings. Written for its times and with that I wonder how a contemporary author would write these stories. My favourites were Pig and Georgy Porgy. Pig is just a macabre little story that made me laugh. Georgy Porgy is a very witty tale about a sadomasochistic sexually repressed vicar.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book of surprise ending short stories, to all adults & some teens! They are well-written, fascinating, and memorable!

[Whale Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

น่ากลัวสัด
Roald Dahl เขียนเรื่องสยองขวัญได้ดีกว่าวรรณกรรมเยาวชนจริง ๆ แต่แค่คนอาจจะไม่ค่อยนิยม?

มีตั้งแต่ความกลัวที่คิดไปเอง ไปจนถึงการฆ่าคนแบบโหดสัด

[Sabin · Rating 1 out of 5]

What I learned from this collection of short stories:

• That women act like decent members of society as long as they are married. However, if by some misfortune they escaped their marital responsibilities, you can expect some to gut a young man and make an exquisite taxidermy number on him, others to always be on the prowl for eligible clergymen-bachelors, still others to torture their ex-husbands and even, as luck would have it, to go on holiday while their husband rots away in a malfunctioning elevator. To be fair, in that last situation the guy deserved a lot more.
• That peacocks love raisins, but it’s never a good idea to bundle a lot of them together with a baby.
• That the royal jelly made by bees is to be used for a baby’s nutrition only if you want it to grow 5000-fold.
• That enterprising farmers can resize any piece of furniture to fit in your car if you give them a saw and an axe.
• That it’s always a good idea to write down a description when you pawn an item in New York.
• That Hitler had a mother and a father who loved him.
• That pork is cheaper when the abattoir gives out free tours.
• And that cats have evolved an indifference to classical music, since those with a musical ear die before they have a chance to pass on their genes.

The collection here is hit and miss. Writing of a consistent quality throughout, but the situations and their development, the build-up and release of tension, were average at best. If I could ignore some stories like the historic dud about that Austrian fellow and the stories in which women are crazy, sadistic and maladjusted psychopaths, the collection might get a three star rating for not overstaying its welcome. But even the effortless prose and occasional humour can’t redeem its contents, which are way past their "sell by" date.

[Leah Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent collection of hilarious (and sometimes wonderfully disturbing) short stories.
You can see Roald's beautiful writing throughout the whole book, which was a plus for me, as I am a HUGE fan of it.
I would recommend this book for ages 13 and up, since there is a little profanity thrown in here and there.
I had a lot of fun reading through this story collection, and I hope you will, too!

[May]

So far, so good. Definitely not your conventional love stories-I'm on the third or fourth short story and at least four people have died so far. I feel like he has a lot to say about gender and power dynamics in marriage, but I think a lot of these marriages presented are more reflective of the times, when a wife was more of a housekeeper than a lover to the husband, and so it is only natural that she relishes in manipulating men when given the chance. I'll write more when I'm feeling more eloquent.

April 26, 2014: I finished this a while back; don't quite remember when.

1) "The Landlady": 5 stars
This is one of my favorites from the book because I think it is a superb example of short story writing. There is no definite conclusion, but the reader knows exactly what has happened. Dahl sets a scene and the reader can tell what's going on without having to be spoon-fed. Clear, but not too obvious with a creative plot twist.

2) "William and Mary": 4.5 stars
(spoiler alert, though you could tell which direction the story was going in pretty early on). It just so happened that I watched Tod Machover's robot-opera Death and the Powers, where the protagonist uploads his life to a computer so that he can still think after he dies, around this time, so it was interesting to see that the idea of preserving one's consciousness post-mortem is not an old one. I couldn't fully understand the relationship dynamic between William and Mary, but I think that is just a generational and cultural thing.

3) "The Way Up to Heaven": 2 stars
I was a little confused by this one until I read the plot summary. I find this one to be one of the problematic stories in this collection in terms of how Dahl writes about women. This is one of many stories where a woman sabotages a man, but in this one, there doesn't seem to be any reason for Mrs. Foster to kill her husband. I find the lady-kills-husband-for-no-apparent-reason plotline problematic because it's a little too reminiscent of the "Eve screwed Adam over and thus women are evil/subordinate." I dunno. But given that this was published in the 1950's, it was probably a given that the woman is the victimized one, so it was fair game for her to seek revenge. In terms of writing style, I think it was just too complex for a short story.

4) "Parson's Pleasure": 4.5 stars
In my mind, this one is in the running for "classic children's bedtime story" status, with emphasis on classic because this story of "cheaters never win" is timeless. Well written in the short story style with a solid storyline.

5) "Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat": 4 stars
Much like "Parson's Pleasure," this is another story of karma coming to bite you in the butt. I rate the former higher because I like the clean* storyline better and I feel that "Parson's Pleasure" has more impact and is more memorable than "Mrs. Bixby."
*clean as in "succinct"...none of these stories are particularly raunchy by any means.

6) "Royal Jelly": 3 stars
This one was a bit creepy and it struck me as more of a sketch than a story. (spoiler alert) Okay, so we know that Albert and his daughter are turning into human bees. So what? There is no motivation from the characters and no subsequent plot. One of the defining features of short stories is how they paint a short sketch without the lengthy plot development that novels have, but I think this one presented an interesting premise with far too little plot.

7) "Georgy Porgy": 1 star
I find this one the most problematic because of the "female temptress seducing the innocent man" storyline followed by one of the spinsters reporting that George had sexually assaulted her, when in reality she literally ate him. This made me uncomfortable because it was far to reminiscent of victim-blaming and rape victims being doubted when they report rapes to law enforcement. I don't know, maybe I'm overanalyzing this. Perhaps this is really a case of Hemingway-esque post-war sexual anxiety.

8) "Genesis and Catastrophe: A True Story": 4 stars
I really liked this one. An unexpected perspective on HItler's birth, though one must keep in mind that it is a fictionalized account of a historical event.

9) "Edward the Conquerer": 4 stars
Franz Liszt reincarnated as a cat. How could I not love this story? I suppose "Edward the Conquerer" is like "Royal Jelly" in the sense that it's more about describing an interesting situation than about telling a story, but this was a much more interesting premise than "Royal Jelly." But that's just me.

10) "Pig": 5 stars
Very Sweeney Todd. I like it! I also like the juxtapositions of country vs. city life, innocence vs. corruption, youth vs. adult, etc. Written clearly with a simple plot, an excellent example of short story writing.

11) "The Champion of the World": 3.5 stars
I never thought much of Danny, the Champion of the World when I first read the book, and I didn't really think much of the short story which the book was based on. For some reason, the plump raisins thing always stuck with me, and I think it's part of the reason why I put raisins in my soup because I like that they get plump and juicy. Anyway, it's another great example of Dahl's "you get what you deserve" kind of stories, but it's not one of my favorites.

All of these stories feature impossibly creative storylines and situations that only Roald Dahl can think of. The classic Roald Dahl tongue-in-cheek narration is prevalent as well.

fyi, pdf can be found here: http://www.mrebookclub.com/book/The_C...

[PurplyCookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a quiet zaniness that runs through the lot of these stories. Most of them are crisp, surprising and smoothly written at every turn. Dahl-licious one might say.

The Landlady >> "There is nothing more tantalizing than a thing which lingers just outside the borders of one's memory." A teenage boy finds himself assigned to Bath and decided to check into a Bed & Breakfast where he was welcomed by a nice (even if slightly dotty) old woman. He starts to wonder why no one else has come and stayed at this charming place.

William and Mary >> "There is no knowing what people will do when they are about to die." A woman is finally set free from her sham of a marriage by the death of her husband, but is he really at peace as she thought he was? What if he found a way to come back, albeit not necessarily in the same state he left?

The Way Up To Heaven >> A perfectly loyal wife of so many years finds herself at the end of her rapidly fraying rope at the sadistic pleasure her husband derives from torturing her on her one small fault.

Parson's Plasure >> A trickster of a salesman finally finds his match in the countryside while donning the disguise of a clergyman.

Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat >> Citing the lucrative process that is of divorce emerges this short piece of how one can never really cheat somebody (especially one's spouse) and not be expected to pay for it in the end.

Royal Jelly >> Shows Albert Taylor turning his baby daughter into a big human bee like himself. The secret ingredient? Royal Jelly, lots of it.

Georgy Porgy >> Imagine a man who is truly repulsed by the merest physical skin contact of a woman but who, at the same time, feels attracted to them and is content from observing them. He tries to find a solution to his problem of conquering his "fear" of women and ends up going mad in the process.

Genesis and Catastrophe >> The birth of Adolf Hitler and his mother wanting him to live after the deaths of her three previous children--supposedly based on a true story.

Edward the Conqueror >> Shows Edward obstinately refusing to believe that the cat Louisa discovers is a reincarnation of Franz Liszt.

Pig >> Vegetarian gourmet cook Lexington becomes a tragic hero by eating a piece of pork and then meeting a death in the packing-house as horribly cruel as it is for pigs.

The Champion of the World >> Shows the easiest and most ingenious way of catching pheasants. I believe this is a direct inspiration for Dahl's children's book"Danny The Champion of the World".


Each story will be reread, remembered, and retold, for each is a riddle, as tantalizing as a lingering, lethal kiss.


Book Details:

Title Kiss Kiss
Author Roald Dahl
Reviewed By Purplycookie

[adya · Rating 4 out of 5]

[4.5 stars]

This book was SO GOOD. I'm so tired of Roald Dahl being known only for writing children's books. Please let's highlight the gory, unnerving, sinister gruesome, thrilling, and horrific side to his oeuvre as well. It's a pity that very few people have heard of this book.

I liked almost all of the stories in this collection, all of which had a twist(ed) ending, and made my skin crawl. Dahl's talent of presenting unnerving events in a light-hearted manner is amazing!


(Some stories reminded me of Dahl's "A Lamb to the Slaughter", and I think the latter could've been added to this collection as well.
Also, the last story titled "Champion of the World" is almost a direct copy of "Danny, the Champion of the World" (I don't know which one he wrote first, but I read the latter first so this was redundant)

Content Warning: Some stories have elements of cannibalism and sexual assault.)