EBN A Famous Author's Lesser Known Work: The Roald Dahl Omnibus by Roald Dahl

I'm getting a little behind in my reading. I think I probably ought to stop picking such huge books to read. Looking at the stack of books I have sitting by my bed waiting to be read, at least three of them are a good 2 1/2 to 3 inches thick. Looks like I'm just going to have to step up my game.

I loved this book. It has been a long time since I have read a collection of short stories that I loved as much as these. They were clever, witty, full of dramatic irony, and cleanly written. Some of the stories were absolutely hilarious. I really liked the Claud and Gordon story "The Champion of the World". The two main character's made me think of Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street, if Burt and Ernie had been a couple of lovable low level con men.

I found Dahl's female characters kind of perplexing. I felt that his portrayal of them was both sexist and feminist at the same time. I had grown up reading his children's novels and especially loved his heroines like Matilda or Sophie. These girls were all pretty tough and bravely took the problems life had thrown them and made them better. The female character's in these adult stories were, I was surprised to find, all just a little pathetic. They were all cast in very traditional rolls and prone to traditional foibles. They fell pray to emotional breakdowns and were either hysterical or downright crazy. This sexist portrayal is probably due to the time period Dahl is writing in, as well as his gown-up audience. I don't like it, but I can excuse it. The feminist side of his work is not in the female characters themselves but in what causes their psychotic breaks. With the exception of one (whose back story we don't learn about) all the main female characters are brought low by the men in their lives. In "Lamb to the Slaughter", the main character was a perfectly happy expectant mother until he husband tells her he is leaving her; happy housewife then turns killer. Maybe Dahl is pulling a "Yellow Wallpaper" here. It's the oppression of their lives, caused by men, that makes them that way.

All in all. This was a great read. I enjoyed the stories a bit too much (I took too long to get through them all). It was fun and I would definitely recommend it.