Boy
1984
- social life and customs
- english authors
- youth
- nonfiction
- authors
- biography & autobiography
- juvenile literature
- childhood and youth
- biography
- travel
The story
Boy is an autobiographical book by British writer Roald Dahl. This book describes his life from birth until leaving school, focusing on living conditions in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s, the public school system at the time, and how his childhood experiences led him to writing as a career. It ends with his first job, working for Royal Dutch Shell. His autobiography continues in the book Going Solo. An expanded edition titled More About Boy was published in 2008, featuring the full original text and illustrations with additional stories, letters, and photographs. It presents humorous anecdotes from the author's childhood which includes summer vacations in Norway and an English boarding school.
What it’s like
Brisk, wry, conversational prose with short chapters that read like a string of well-told anecdotes, each one ending on a dry punchline. The sensory world is lived-in and specific: cold Welsh harbour towns, the sticky clutter of a 1920s sweet shop, the bright, clean air of Norwegian summer holidays, and the grey corridors and iced-over playing fields of an English boarding school. Old black-and-white photographs and small drawings sit among the pages, giving it the feel of a family album kept by someone with a sharp memory. Vibe: nostalgic, mischievous, faintly rueful. It suits a rainy Sunday, a comfortable afternoon with a cup of tea, or a dip-in read before bed. Pacing is easy and episodic, with no need to hold a thread. The tone is warm and amused, though the school chapters include harsh discipline, corporal punishment and a few unkind adults, described matter-of-factly rather than graphically, with no gore or sexual content. It is for readers who enjoy memoir with a comic streak, families sharing a book aloud, and anyone curious about how childhood in Britain looked a century ago.
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