My Uncle Oswald - Roald Dahl

One of Roald Dahl’s few substantial works for adults, ‘My Uncle Oswald’ feels like it’s very self-consciously reaching for the higher shelves of ‘adult’ classification, as if the author needed a release from all the repressed sexuality of his increasingly popular children’s fiction, but was still too much of a gentlemen to include much in the way of graphic description or recognised swear words. Although the generous blurb and opening chapter indicate that the reader is in for a no-holds-barred account of raunch and sauce across pre-World War II Europe, the entire narrative is primarily focused on Oswald’s story of how he accrued his substantial wealth, explained in far ...  Read the complete review

Just as a dog is not just for Christmas, a Dahl is not just for children. In fact, in this case it's not for children at all. Oh, no. You really don't want your kids reading this one. It's a bit mucky to say the least, what with it being full of fornication an' all. Allegedly taken from the diaries of his Uncle (Oswald Hendryks Cornelius) and dating back to the 1930's, Uncle Oswald's exploits make Casanova seem like a librarian. He describes his hobbies as "rakery and wenching" and he observes a "no-woman-more-than-once" rule. We hear how one Major Grout, having recently returned from the Sudan, tells the ...  Read the complete review