What do You think about Skin And Other Stories (2002)?
I'm a nasty person. And so are you - in a secret sort of way. That's why we get along together." Wowzers! I loved this collection of short stories! From the author who brought us Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, Jame's Giant Peach, Matilda, The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) and more. This collection of stories was published after the death of Roald Dahl and brings together a perfectly wonderful batch of fun written for adults rather than children.Within the pages of Skin are the answers to many of life's mysteries such as how to catch pheasants with raisins and where to look for early works of art by famous painters.I absolutely loved SKIN and highly recommend it to all my twisted friends.
—Dustin Crazy little brown owl
Beloved children author Roald Dahl wrote a series of delightful, dark humour for teen readers and eleven of them are compiled in Skin and Other Stories. [return][return]Dahl once said, "The success to a short story is simple, it must have a beginning, a middle and an end. The reader must never want to put it down."[return][return]There is no reason to put down this book too early. A single story, if not the entire book, is short enough to finish in one sitting.[return][return]Take for instance, the story "Skin", where an old man finds that the tattoo on his back is worth well over a million pounds because the one who did it for him is now a famous painter. He received offers for it but how do you sell something that's etched into your skin?[return][return]Creative murder is the theme for "Lamb to the Slaughter". Mary Maloney didn't take the news that her husband is dumping her ver well, so she kills him... with a frozen leg of lamb that the police never found. Although they did have a very nice dinner while at the scene of the crime.[return][return]In "The Sound Machine", a man named Klausner invents a most remarkable machine. It can detect the sound of plants crying. That's probably enough to make anyone seem mad.[return][return]And the whimsy continues - a child who decided that certain colours in the carpet will certainly eat him, a surgeon who received a diamond as a gift and has to hide it somewhere, and so on.[return][return]A few of these stories start with a lot of preface before it gets to the point, which is usually rather short and turns the entire story around. Oh, the characters here don't usually do the morally right thing. They do something unexpected, if not blatantly wrong.[return][return]One could say Dahl has a sick mind, but the rest of us would love the irony. After the first couple of stories, I found myself already anticipating what kind of twist of he has in store next.[return][return]Some younger children will need some of the stories here explained to them, but teens and adults should enjoy it just fine.[return][return](2006)
—Georgette
Short stories always have that pleasant quality about them. It's no wonder Roald Dahl is the person I turn to when wanting some good ones.Dahl's short stories build up the normal way: a lot of description in the beginning and middle, and at the end there is a moment when you can just tell that something is about to happen, and then Dahl keeps on writing as if that moment did not occur and the ending comes in. It's a bit like an old-fashioned film, the reel just keeps on rolling. The thing about these short stories is that they are such a mixed bunch. You'd think that with the cover and Skin that the whole thing would be filled with creepy stories. Well the first three were quite twisted, which was fine. However as you keep on reading the dark factor just fades away and you get a bunch of pointless stories with no apparent change in the story. Some of them were funny though, and others had that British dry humour. Overall this compilation of short stories started off with a bang then just sputtered and died. But they were still entertaining reads which was good since I wouldn't have expected any less of Dahl.
—Mawa Mahima
