Snapshot Book Review: Tales of the Unexpected

Tales Of The Unexpected by Roald Dahl

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
The problem with this book is that all of the endings were expected! This would be a great book to use as a model for lessons in irony with a creative writing class, because that is the purpose of every story--to provide an ironic ending to an otherwise relatively mundane story. I like irony as much as anyone else, but none of the endings were surprising. It's hard to stay engaged in a suspenseful short story when you can predict the ending from page two. Luckily, I like to see execution, so I did read the book as a sort of self-exercise.

I'd recommend this book to creative writing teachers, but not too many other people. The verbiage is lovely--I'd use the words "quaint" or "old-fashioned" to describe the style. It makes me think of those work by Beatrix Potter mixed with Hemingway. The irony is well executed, but other than thinking, "wow, that was well set up!" I did not have much of a reaction to the stories.

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