The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar And Six More

The stories in this one range from bewildering and I couldn't quite figure out the point of them, to being really memorable. Interestingly, the one I probably enjoyed the most was only one that was probably the most non-fictional, “Lucky Break”. These stories definitely aren't geared towards children as most of Dahl's iconic works are, but feel a bit more like what we would call young adult nowadays, although definitely much more brutal than most YA stuff.

“The Boy Who Talked with Animals” is about a fisherman who hauls up a giant snapping turtle near a Jamaican beach resort. While the guests and fisherman alike are clamouring over how best to kill and consume the turtle, its life is saved by a little boy who claims to have spoken to the turtle and so pressures his parents to pay off the fisherman and hotel manager to save the turtle's life. This one was pretty touching, although I couldn't help feeling a little sad for the boy's parents in the end.

“The Hitch-hiker” didn't feel like it had a proper ending. Our protagonist meets a hitch-hiker who eggs him on to test out the speeds on his new flashy car, but then is caught by a very mean policeman. The hitch-hiker later explains his talent to get them out of a scrape. The story ends on a very strange note, like there is no hint of a resolution and I don't get what the whole point of this story was.

The same can be said for “The Mildenhall Treasure”, which was even less interesting than “The Hitch-hiker” even though it was about people finding buried Roman treasures in a farm. I couldn't quite figure out what was the point of writing this, but apparently it's based on a true story so I'll have to do a bit more research on that one.

“The Swan” was probably one of the most memorable stories of the lot as well, only because it was the most brutal. It dealt a lot with the theme of bullying and I was beginning to wonder why Dahl had a thing for depicting cruelty in children, inflicted both by children and adults. I found this also to be the case in the other Dahl book I just read today, The Witches. In any case, “The Swan” was way worse than that, although I guess I could understand why the ending was left deliberately ambiguous, but also there's a certain sense of melancholy and hopelessness in that ambiguity and that was probably deliberate as well.

“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” is the cornerstone of the book, and actually probably the most wholesome of the lot. Essentially, it talks about a man who is only motivated by self-interest and greed to embark on a pursuit for a magical talent, but the discipline it required of him to even achieve those talents changed his entire worldview. This was probably the most well-rounded story with a proper conclusion.

“Lucky Break”, as I had mentioned earlier, is really Dahl recounting bits of his life story and how it all led up to his actual lucky break as a writer when he was in America at the tail end of WW2. This was the most absorbing story to me. I hadn't known that Dahl was a fighter pilot, or that he had himself been the victim of bullying and some really brutal treatment (although probably normal at the time) at boarding school, and that probably accounts for the casual violence that his books can sometimes have. Not that, I think, Dahl was a proponent for violence on children, but he seems to have grown up with it as a normal part of life. In any case, it was fascinating to hear about how Dahl had a run-in with C. S. Forester who was generous enough to help him get his first lucky break with a publisher.

“A Piece of Cake” felt like a fever dream, but probably deliberately so. Dahl describes this as a non-fictional account of his own experience when he crash-landed as a fighter pilot, but I've read that there were some details that may have been changed. Nevertheless, it's hard to reconcile this pretty hard-hitting account with all the traumas of being severely injured in war with the children's author that we all know.

Overall, some pretty interesting stories in here but definitely don't expect anything geared towards children in this book.

The Great Automatic Grammartizator and Other Stories[return]Paperback, 264 pages[return][return]The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More[return]Paperback, 213 pages[return][return]Roald Dahl[return]Published by Puffin Books[return][return][return]I recently developed a fascination for the works of Roald Dahl, perhaps years too late. But better late than never. I found the 2001 Puffin Books editions irresistible and decided that it's probably a good investment for my personal library.[return][return]Both books in this column are aimed at teenage readers, but of course, older readers will likely also enjoy them. The number of stories in both volumes total up to 20. Because I'm feeling cheeky today, I'm going to talk about some of the stories but not specify which book it came from.[return][return]Unless it's really obvious... like The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.[return][return]In the beginning of his story, Henry Sugar is a rich and selfish man. His main concern in life is making sure that he stays wealthy. He stumbles upon a strange story in a friend's library, written by a doctor who interviewed an Indian who can see without using his eyes.[return][return]The doctor's story conveniently describes how the Indian achieved this, so Henry followed the instructions. Three years and three months passed before he perfected his yogi-inspired powers.[return][return]But something happened to Henry in that time. He no longer finds pleasure in casinos and the shallow pursuit of riches. Yet he possesses the skill to clean out any casino he chooses to play in. An incident with a policeman gave him an idea, and Henry sets out to do good.[return][return]It's also rather obvious which book The Great Automatic Grammartizator came from. [return][return]Adolph Knipe's invention, the great automatic computing engine, is a success but Knipe is feeling depressed. By night, he is a writer, and not a very successful one either.[return][return]When sent home by his boss Mr Bohlen for a well-deserved holiday, Knipe mourns his failure as a writer before hitting upon an idea. After spending all of his holiday thinking about it, he convinces Mr Bohlen to back him on this and invented what is virtually an automatic story writing engine, able to produce works depending on the target audience. [return][return]Any writer, especially those who've ever gotten a reject slip, could appreciate the wicked humour behind this piece.[return][return]Another one with wicked humour that made me laugh out loud (“LOL” to you Internet people) at the end is “Mrs Bixby and The Colonel's Coat”. Mrs Bixby have been having an affair with someone only known to us as the Colonel. Her carefully concealed trips have been successful so far, until the Colonel gave her a luxurious mink coat.[return][return]There was no way Mrs Bixby will be able to explain this to her husband. She devises a plan on the way home and left the coat in a pawn shop. Upon returning home, she tells Mr Bixby that she found a pawn ticket in the taxi she took, and sent him off to collect. That's where the fun begins.[return][return]A story that I found particularly harrowing to read comes under the peaceful-sounding title of The Swan.[return][return]Precocious Peter Watson is unfortunate enough to be out in the woods birdwatching alone when local bullies Ernie and Raymond came along. They made him their captive and subjects him to the kind of cruelty we associate with people who grow up to become serial killers.[return][return]First, they tied Peter to the train tracks and let him believe that he'll be run over. Finally, they shot a swan, cut her wings off and tied them to Peter's arms. They made him climb a tree as high as he could go and made him jump. [return][return]The surprise came when Peter discovers that he is one of those souls whom bullies will never break.[return][return]Dahl delights with his humour, yet some stories contain a sensitivity that moved me. As an extra bonus, one of these books contain Dahl's account on how he got his luck break into writing, as well as his very first published piece. Both of these pieces offer a glimpse into how this surprising man accidentally became one of the greatest authors in modern literature.[return]return

You can never go wrong with classics. This was another interesting read and I'm glad to have stumbled upon it.