I don't know how Roald Dahl did it! He made a childhood memoir from the early 20th century suitable for children to read.

Dahl may have grown up privileged but it doesn't mean he didn't suffer. "Boy" is mainly full of the horrible stories of pain that he had to endure throughout his younger years - beatings, surprise operations, loss and homesickness. But, somehow, he has made it light and almost fictional. If I was reading this as a child I probably would have found some of it funny, without the understanding that I have as an adult that these things were real and painful. Don't get me wrong, there are also some lovely memories there of family and, of course, various types of sweets (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory anyone?!)

A lot of the stories really display where he got ideas from for his later publications: terrifying headmasters, Oslo, his grandmother, lolly shops etc. As I was reading along I really enjoyed having little bits flick through my memory of his books and wonder if that was the inspiration. I'm super curious now about his time aboard and his time as a pilot. I might have to pick up the second installation "Going Solo" to find out more.

-@becandthebooks