Boy is one of many books written by Roald Dahl, and the author describes his childhood in this story. However, Dahl states that Boy is not an autobiography because he left out the boring details!
In Boy, the author describes events in his life between 1922, when he was 6, and 1936, when he was 20. Roald Dahl mainly talks about his school and family life with the book being split into sections based on which schools he went to. In the period 1923-5, Dahl went to Llandaff Cathedral School and then St.Peter’s from 1925-9. His final school was an English public school called Repton which he attended between 1929-34.
A major surprise was to learn how much we have changed in the last century. Dahl attended Repton between 1929 and 1934 and they used a cane to punish him. I always thought that sort of physical punishment was very far in the past, but I was wrong. Another surprise was how quickly cars have become popular. Nowadays, we have races, multiple car brands and super cars. However, cars were extremely rare during Roald Dahl’s time at St.Peter’s.
During his time at Repton, Dahl enjoyed sports and was captain of both the fives and squash-racquets teams. Another hobby was photography. This continued into adulthood with the author getting a photo of the Arch of Ctesiphon, one of the previous Seven Wonders of the World, while flying a plane in World War II. Being a famous author wasn’t Roald Dahl’s first job. He initially worked for a company called Shell that sold fuels internationally. Some places and people described in Boy were clearly inspiration for some of Roald Dahl’s books: the messy and mean Mrs. Pratchett bore a close resemblance to the main characters of The Twits and the chocolate factory near Repton inspired Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Boy has helped me appreciate the technology we now possess. While we can just take a flight for a few hours, Roald Dahl and others had to spend multiple weeks on a boat to reach somewhere like Africa or China. Even though cars existed during Roald Dahl’s time, they were much rarer and most people had to walk or take another type of transportation. The final thing that Boy has helped me appreciate is phones: Dahl had to send letters in order to contact family, while we can just send a quick text or call. Overall, Boy is a fantastic book and I look forward to reading the sequel: Going Solo.
This window into Roald Dahl’s life is full of information, action, punishment and truth. This is a book for any Roald Dahl fan 10-years-old or older. While Dahl does make it very accessible, Boy is an autobiography and not really something a younger child would enjoy.