Roald Dahl, Kiss Kiss

There are 11 stories in this book, but you might find one or two of these in previous complilations of Dahl's work such as 'Skin' or 'Tales of the Unexpected'.

This is the Roald Dahl for adults, still as always a creative and wonderful storyteller; but quite sick, is the only way I can describe it.

Some of the short stories were obviously written a while back, which can be dedeuced from some of the use of vocabulary and old-fashioned terms, however this will not deter the reader from turning the next page.

I will try not to spoil the surprise of each story (which is easily done as each tale winds away until you finally come to the ending, when all is revealed!)

My very favourite was 'Pig', a seemingly unfortunate and innocent young man is taken in by a relative and brought up in a happy and suitably civilised upbringing-only to experience life and come to a rotten end.

'Georgy Porgy' is another story about a young man. This one is probably the darkest in the book, very disturbing. Dahl uses the character to tell the story. He talks of flashbacks as he tells his tale, but it is confusing as to how it relates to real life. When the story ends, the commentary makes sense, but it makes you think 'Was that what I thought he meant??'

Dahl loves to make something happen to one character in each tale, nearly always it is some sort of misfortune or revenge.

Revenge is certainly the order of the day in 'The Way up to Heaven' this story reminded me of those old, unhappy couples that become bitter and subservient with age. When you read this one, you might just re-think your marriage! Another story that does this is 'William and Mary'

I am a squeamish person and just found this story utterly gross! Dahl goes into biological descriptions. He is so detailed (about one particular part of the anatomy) that I had to skip several pages! The ending is quite triumphant for the main protagonist you cannot help but enjoy the revenge!

'Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat' gives away the age of the story-telling. It is written in quite a sexist manner, but I cannot tell if Dahl did this to be ironic.

Dahl must have met some interesting couples in his time (or maybe he experienced these things first hand!?) because this is another one that explores the pretention of marriage. The theme of the story is greed and deceit.

Again Greed and it's consequences is the moral of the story in 'Parson's Pleasure' I won't spoil it, just read it.

You will be suprised by 'Genesis and Catastrophe' as it's apparently a true story. Let's just put it this way it relates to an infamous dictator.

The only downside of this book is the last story 'The Champion of the World' if you have read Dahl's 'Danny the Champion of the World' you will see that this is the poor-mans version. That is probably a bit harsh as it was probably written before Danny was and maybe this was the first draft? It's ok but if you have read 'Danny the Champion of the World' you can't really go back.

The synopsis describes this book as dark, dangerous and macabre.

That's exactly what it is.