I had no idea Roald Dahl led such a fascinating life, fighting in the air battle for Athens, mixing with the most powerful American politicians, and circulating amongst the Hollywood gliterati. For most of his life, it seems he was least famous for writing children's books.
It's no shock that he had a challenging childhood given his kids vs. adults approach to children's lit, but his life was full of more trials than imaginable. Yet he approached many of them with such directness and intensity that it often seems his life was best when he needed to struggle the most. His life also presents an enthralling dichotomy of an extremely generous soul with a personality that struggled to truly connect on a personal level with anyone beyond puberty. He struggled to connect even with his own children once they became teenagers. Tragically it says he didn't fall in love until late in life, most unfortunately after he had already been married. This flaw is especially hard to accept, but also illuminates the struggle of his day to day life, the unacknowledged loneliness he must have certainly battled. He overcame far more than I realized. The far-reaching effects of his fighter pilot experience should include him amongst the casualties of WWII, except his overwhelming determination led to such great successes.
Ultimately this is a wonderful tale of a man, with all his flaws, who shone very brightly and created a lot of joy for children of all ages, 2-102. I must also mention that the book is beautifully and lyrically written in a manner that I would imagine would make Dahl quite proud. By the time Sturrock was describing his death, Dahl felt like an old friend and the loss was painful. It is an amazingly well researched and assembled biography, an achievement even more notable because in his extensive correspondence, Dahl remained a storyteller.

A beautiful biography about an exceptionally interesting man.

Several years ago, I picked up a different biography of Dahl (by Jeremy Treglown), assuming I would enjoy it. I was a HUGE fan of Dahl's work as a child, and as a teenager I loved his creepy "adult" stories.

But Treglown's biography, despite having a fascinating subject, was not enjoyable. It wasn't well-written at all, and I was extremely disappointed. I hoped that someone else would come along and do Dahl justice in bio form. Little did I know, Donald Sturrock was doing just that.

This biography is long, detailed, and an absolutely joy to read. If you are a fan of Dahl (or ever were), this book is a must-read.

I thought it was a really good biogaphy, just a bit long at times. Roald dahl has led an extraordinary life and the story about his family i found the most interesting.

As a big fan of 'Boy' and 'Going Solo', it was fascinating to read more about Roald Dahl's adult life, including his work in the United States during World War 2, particularly his espionage work for the British government alongside his pal Ian Fleming. Donald Sturrock has created a meticulously researched biography, where he disputes long-held truths about Dahl's life, often stories spun by Dahl, the master story-teller himself.

Even though it is a commonly-held assumption that Dahl was a bit grumpy and difficult, it was pretty shocking to read some of his thoughts about women's roles in society. Here's a sample from a letter written from Dahl to a friend about Dahl's new wife. Would this have been a 'commonly-held truth' in the 1950s?

"To have a career and to be a wife at the same time is goddam hard work and I've noticed that the few who do it successfully (and it can be done), seem to double their efforts to be a wife in order to compensate for the other. A woman cannot get by saying to herself, 'I am a successful career person and therefore I do not have to be much of a normal wife. My husband will not expect me to be a normal wife because I have this great career to look after.' She can't say that, because, unfortunately, and although he makes allowances, he still expects her to be comparatively normal - certainly when she's not working."

This biography has definitely made me eager to read more of Dahl's adult fiction, which never really caught my interest. Perhaps the idea of such dark and disturbing narratives residing in the head of my favourite childhood author was too difficult to deal with...

My two-star review has nothing to do with Donald Sturrock’s writing. He writes very well, and the amount of research that has gone into this book is staggering.

The two stars are for my experience reading this book. When I was a child Roald Dahl’s books were some of my favourites, especially “Matilda”. Finally some stories where the bad guys were actually bad, and not just misunderstood and in need of a hug! When I started this biography I was curious to learn more about the man who created all these wonderful reading hours for me.

I was very surprised when the more I read about him the less I liked him. Sturrock admits himself that he was very impressed by Dahl’s personality, and he does his best to show him in a good light, but reading between the lines I get the impression that Dahl was not at all an easy person to be around.

He comes across as manipulative and condescending even as a child, especially towards the women in his life, his sisters, his partners, his daughters, even his mother! No respect for rules, self-important and arrogant. Even when he does things that you might argue are good deeds, I get the impression that deep down, he did it to feel good about himself.

He did have a difficult life. Again and again his family and himself were the victims of accidents and diseases. I’m sure this shaped his personality in many ways. But still, I don’t think I would have liked him if I had met him.

I’ll keep celebrating his books, because they really are wonderful!

A very wise man (my Dad) once told me that a good way of knowing if you liked someone was to think about how you would feel about getting stuck in a lift with them. If the idea would not phase you or you think that you would get on quite nicely, you probably think they're ok. If on the other hand, the idea makes you shudder, then he or she is most probably someone you would prefer to avoid. I loved pretty much all of Roald Dahl's children's fiction growing up but having read his biography, I think that I would not like to get stuck in a lift with the man himself. Given that he has been dead for twenty years though, it's not something to worry about. As a child, I had no idea that he was anything other than the wonderful author of The BFG, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory etc but growing up, you realise that there was an awful lot more there, Roald Dahl was a pilot, a screen writer, an author and a spy who married a movie star and invented a life-saving piece of medical apparatus. Roald Dahl was an undoubted genius but to put it simply he was 'not a nice man'.

For my full review:
http://girlwithherheadinabook.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/storyteller-donald-sturrock.html

"Roald Dahl thought biographies were boring. He told me so while munching on a lobster claw."

The new biographer of Dahl is Donald Sturrock, who once made a film about the writer, so knew the man and his family very well. His book charts Dahl's rich and varied life as fighter pilot, intelligence operative, and the adult writer who then wrote for children in such an impactful way that he remains hugley popular with today's young readers. He was truly on their wavelength. He spoke to them through books such as Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, The BFG and Danny, Champion of The World.

Sturrock investigates Dahl's eternal popularity as a writer. And of course the man behind the books...

2. According to Dahl, it was a dramatic war-time plane crash that steered him towards being a writer.

The reader is Julian Rhind Tutt and the voice of Dahl is Ian McDairmid Producer Duncan Minshull.

Sturrock's biography is well-researched and detailed. He uses his primary sources well, integrating Dahl's letters and notes into the text, and he also brings in different perspectives from interviews and other secondary sources. The biography is also delightfully thematic as Sturrock uses stories and details to support his interpretation of Dahl as an outsider and a storyteller.

What I love about biographies is the tiny glimpse you get of the author as a person and not necessarily a writer (for the most part I only read the biographies of writers, I don't know why). For that reason I prefer to read them after the subject has already died :-) Dahl was an intriguing character-bigger than life at times, and incredibly, horrifically petty at others. I guess these biographies help remind me to not place my writer idols on a pedestal-they are only human and have the same foibles as any of us. I don't think I actually have anything of real value to say about this book, just that the author did a pretty good job of portraying Dahl as a man, and not a superhuman.