Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life

This is a collection of stories Dahl wrote in the late 1940s to early 1950s, and all but the title story were previously issued in his early collections "Someone Like You" (1953) and "Kiss Kiss" (1959). The seven stories here all deal with the same group of characters: Gordon (the narrator) who runs a filling station, his partner Claud, their bizarre neighbor Rummins, and a few others. The action takes place in rural England, not too far from the London area. Many of the tales deal with the characters' attempts to "pull a fast one" or get away with some dishonest (but usually relatively harmless) behavior. They are often quite ingenious in their efforts, Dahl's dry and dark sense of humor is well in evidence, and the stories are all very enjoyable. My favorites are "The Ratcatcher" with its creepy and macabre flavor, and "The Champion of the World" which has an hilarious, almost slapstick ending. This edition is much enhanced by the drawings of John Lawrence, who captures the spirit of the prose and characters well. I have been a fan of Dahl for many years, and I think this book will be great fun for newcomers to the "adult" work of this superb writer. But I really feel that the original publications of "Someone Like You" and "Kiss Kiss" are the best. Republications of these, rather than numerous reshufflings and reprintings of the same stories, is highly desirable. The original cover art on the old Dell paperback editions is very imaginative too.

This is a great book. If you loved Roald Dahl's "marvelous" and "delightful" way of telling stories, this is a must read. The stories in here are more grownup but if you still have an itching for Roald-Dahl-ite irony, then these stories are good. The irony that was present in "The BFG" or "Fantastic Mr. Fox" or "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is still here, but it's mixed with sickening and grotesque stories about ratcatching, maggot breeding, and poaching. If you like this book, I highly recommend buying "The Best of Roald Dahl" because it has, besides the entire book "Ah Sweet Mystery...," 24 extra short stories including "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar," "Lamb to the Slaughter" (one of his more famous pieces which was also made into an Alfred Hitchcock episode), and "The Bookseller" which first appeared in Playboy magazine.

While nowhere near as good as his childrens' books Roald Dahl still shows great wit and his affinity for weirdness in this book.

Preface: I love almost everything by Dahl.This collection is a nice bridge between his stories for children, and his stories for adults. For example, in his story "The Ratcatcher", Dahl's use of language and detail is more similar to his children's stories. However, the story is more grown-up, and told at a pace more similar to the stories in, say, _Switch, Bitch_.It is an enjoyable collection. More consistently strong than his _Tales of the Unexpected_, some of which are quite weak.