The sequel to Boy, Going Solo, is an autobiography by Roald Dahl describing his time working in Africa and fighting in World War II.
The first half of Going Solo describes Dahl’s time in Africa with most chapters talking about one of his adventures. Meanwhile, the second half discusses his time in the war with many chapters featuring a battle or attack that Dahl was part of.
Roald Dahl was sent to Africa to sell fuels by the company he worked for, Shell, which led to many encounters with peaceful and aggressive animals. During this time, Dahl also developed a close bond with his servant, Mdisho. However, Dahl’s work trip was interrupted by World War II and he decided to join the RAF, leading to many epic and dangerous sky battles.
Reading this book has taught me a lot about Roald Dahl. I always assumed that he had been an author his entire life, but I was wrong. He had dangerous encounters with lions and venomous snakes. However, the true excitement was during the war. Dahl survived crashes and attacks from enemy planes. He shot down many of his enemies and flew through forests. He even survived a dog fight where a RAF legend died.
I also learnt a lot about World War II. Germany started the war, wanting to expand their territory. Britain sent many troops to assist far-away countries like Greece in the battle against Germany and its allies. Also, the odds were stacked in Germany’s favour in some places: they had hundreds of fighter planes and bombers while the RAF only had a handful of Hurricanes.
This book gripped my attention with the descriptions of dangerous animal attacks and epic sky battles. Dahl uses lines like ‘there was a green flash as the snake darted forward’ and ‘the tracer pouring like yellow fire’ to keep the reader interested and eager to keep reading. However, my favourite chapter is ‘The Voyage Out’. While there aren’t any dangerous animals or epic battles in this chapter, it is full of humor as Dahl talks about comedians that he was on a boat with. For example, Mrs Trefusis insisted on not touching any food due to fingers being filthy, even after being washed.
I would recommend this book to 12-year-olds and older who like action and danger. However, the book does have some graphic accounts of war, so some may want to leave it for when they are older.