Review – Roald Dahl's Autobiography Going Solo
Willie Wonka Creator's Memoir of World War II
Aug 27, 2009
British writer Roald Dahl is perhaps best known as the author of the classic children’s books Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, both darkly humorous stories. Dahl also wrote fiction for adults and short stories for magazines, and is considered one of the world’s best selling authors.
Readers of the aforementioned children’ books may have wondered just what kind of mind could write (for children) about an odd candy factory where snotty kids with names like Veruca Salt and Augustus Gloop are sucked away up a tube or nearly drowned in a river of chocolate. Dahl’s autobiography, Going Solo, provides some hints.
Going Solo the Sequel to Dahl's First Memoir Boy
Going Solo, first published in 1986, is actually the sequel to the author’s first memoir, entitled Boy. The latter tells the story of Dahl’s boyhood in Wales, while Going Solo continues into his young adulthood, covering primarily his experiences as a pilot with Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. The two memoirs are now available as a single autobiography.
Whether it is Dahl’s unique “luck” to chance upon odd and/or harrowing experiences, or his ability to turn life into well-written, enjoyable reading, Going Solo is filled with unforgettable moments, truly a lifetime’s worth in a few short years.
Author's Variety of Experiences Seemed to Inform His Later Works
In Tanganyika, Africa where Dahl is working for Shell Oil just prior to the war, he witnesses his cook’s wife dragged off by a lion. He narrowly escapes deadly snake attacks. Later he is charged with the awful duty of rounding up German civilians for imprisonment, an act he simultaneously regrets and must discharge. These examples are not even the most intense of those included in Going Solo, yet Dahl tells them all in a highly readable, almost fictional style. Both the variety of odd experiences and the way they are related will remind readers of his children's books.
Another section of Going Solo deals with his actual participation in warfare, as a pilot of small fighter planes: Tiger Moths and Gladiators. During flight training in Kenya, Dahl writes of flying low over the beautiful Rift Valley, watching the wildlife: “What a fortunate fellow I am, I kept telling myself. Nobody has ever had such a lovely time as this!” It is this sort of enthusiasm that infuses each story of the memoir.
Roald Dahl's True-Life Experiences Both Harrowing and Entertaining
Going Solo is a delightful read for all ages (teen and older) with the caveat that it does contain the actualities of war (including a beheading), but nothing kids don’t see on TV. At least this author renders these atrocities with some dignity and style. It would be an excellent teaching tool for a high school History/English class. Like his fiction, Dahl tells his factual story in a highly entertaining (if not always pretty) manner, reminding readers of the close connection between the real and the imagined.
Dahl, Roald. Going Solo, 1986, Jonathon Cape Ltd, Great Britain. 210 Pages. (ISBN: 978-0-140-10306-9).
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