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A review by thebobsphere
Storyteller: The Life of Roald Dahl by Donald Sturrock
4.0
When I was a child, although I was a voracious reader, I liked weird books. I was fascinated with stories of children turning into TV sets , I remember one book about a boy who managed to turn people into chocolate by touching them, another – also chocolate based was about a boy who develops a chocolate sickness due to over consumption of chocolate and despite me liking them, I always felt that they lacked spark. Things changed that fateful day I read George’s Marvellous Medicine. Here was a writer that had a lot of energy in his writing, kept me turning the pages and made me laugh. From the years 1989 – 1991 I had read all of his books with The Minpins being the last one. Then in 1995 I discovered that he wrote adult fiction and consumed all his short stories and novel during that summer.
At first I thought that Roald Dahl didn’t need a second biography. Jeremy Treglown already wrote one, which revealed that Dahl was a person of two extremes. He got along well with children but anyone over the age of 12 and he’d treat them nastily, Yet he also was kind and generous to underdogs. Basically if you were a bully or egotistic he’d do his utmost to belittle you and he could be nasty at times.
Sturrock’s biography takes everything that Treglown did and expands that. Thus there’s more about his childhood, more about his days in Africa, more about his relationship with his two wives and children. I’ll admit where Treglown is dry and clinical, Sturrock’s writing is lively and flows. For a 600 page biography it’s a fun, flowing read.
I did learn a lot of new things about Dahl, especially when Sturrock describes the hidden influences behind his children’s books a short stories. There are a lot of good anecdotes as well. Due to these factors I would say to read this one, rather than Treglown’s.
Storyteller is everything I like in a biography. It’s fresh and manages to tackle an already documented topic with a fresh perspective. The book neither glorifies nor villifies Dahl. Although he seemed like a terrible character Sturrock does create a decent balance.
At first I thought that Roald Dahl didn’t need a second biography. Jeremy Treglown already wrote one, which revealed that Dahl was a person of two extremes. He got along well with children but anyone over the age of 12 and he’d treat them nastily, Yet he also was kind and generous to underdogs. Basically if you were a bully or egotistic he’d do his utmost to belittle you and he could be nasty at times.
Sturrock’s biography takes everything that Treglown did and expands that. Thus there’s more about his childhood, more about his days in Africa, more about his relationship with his two wives and children. I’ll admit where Treglown is dry and clinical, Sturrock’s writing is lively and flows. For a 600 page biography it’s a fun, flowing read.
I did learn a lot of new things about Dahl, especially when Sturrock describes the hidden influences behind his children’s books a short stories. There are a lot of good anecdotes as well. Due to these factors I would say to read this one, rather than Treglown’s.
Storyteller is everything I like in a biography. It’s fresh and manages to tackle an already documented topic with a fresh perspective. The book neither glorifies nor villifies Dahl. Although he seemed like a terrible character Sturrock does create a decent balance.