Boy: Tales of Childhood (Roald Dahl's Autobiography, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Feb 14, 2007 Elizabeth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: autobiographical, childrensbooks, england

I just reread this book after reading it many times during my childhood. It was as compelling as ever. As was I rereading I picked up on so many influences that I unconsciously carried through the rest of my childhood and perhaps even adulthood. Places and ideas that as a child I romanticized; Going to Norway swimming in the fiords and filling a pipe with goat's tobacco with my pack of siblings-- heaven. The way Roald Dahl tells a story--with such good humor and without ornament--makes even gett ...more

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Apr 03, 2014 Ginger rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir-biography

Funny at parts and a little frightening at parts. I had no idea English schools in the 1920s and 30s were quite so Dickensian.

This reads just like a Dahl book, only these stories are his true life adventures! I definitely saw a Trunchbull and a Ms. Honey and a Willy Wonka lurking in some of his characters.

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Sep 07, 2010 Kay rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, audiobooks, biogr-memoir

Vivid childhood memoir

Roald Dahl brings all his trademark powers of description to bear on this striking account of childhood memories, chronicling both the joyous and painful. Dahl, the child of Norwegian immigrants to Wales, begins by describing his one-armed father's unlikely journey to success and then his own early days of childhood and subsequent school years. There are many sparkling comic incidents, told with relish, but throughout an unmistakable theme is the cruelty of public (American ...more

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May 26, 2012 Dana Arbelaez rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: five-stars

I absolutely LOVE Roald Dahl. I can't believe that it took me this long to read his first autobiography, but I probably wouldn't have appreciated it as much had I read it as a kid, when I was enjoying all of his fiction. He made me wish that I was living when he was, experiencing similar events. Although...realistically, since I couldn't have gone to an all-boys school, nor could I have lived as a BOY, I definitely can settle for having read this book now and living through Dahl's eyes and memor ...more

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Dec 02, 2023 superawesomekt rated it really liked it

Shelves: humor, memoir

3.5 stars

I very much enjoyed this collection of biographical sketches from Ronald Dahl's childhood. Looking forward to the second installment.

I listened to Dan Stevens' audiobook narration. ...more

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