Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected is a delightfully dark collection of sixteen stories, each with a startling end. Among the unforgettable characters lurk the homicidal wife and her deadly leg of lamb, a conniving and lecherous wine connoisseur and the one-eyed brain at the mercy of his vengeful spouse. Tales of the Unexpected is an astonishing assortment of twisted treats from the master storyteller.
When he was at school Roald Dahl received terrible reports for his writing - with one teacher actually writing in his report, 'I have never met a boy who so persistently writes the exact opposite of what he means. He seems incapable of marshalling his thoughts on paper!'
After finishing school Roald Dahl, in search of adventure, travelled to East Africa to work for a company called Shell. In Africa he learnt to speak Swahili, drove from diamond mines to gold mines, and survived a bout of malaria where his temperature reached 105.5 degrees (that's very high!).
With the outbreak of the Second World War Roald Dahl joined the RAF. But being nearly two metres tall he found himself squashed into his fighter plane, knees around his ears and head jutting forward. Tragically of the 20 men in his squadron, Roald Dahl was one of only three to survive. Roald wrote about these experiences in his books Boy and Going Solo.
Later in the war Roald Dahl was sent to America. It was there that he met famous author C.S. Forester (author of the Captain Hornblower series) who asked the young pilot to write down his war experiences for a story he was writing. Forester was amazed by the result, telling Roald 'I'm bowled over. Your piece is marvellous. It is the work of a gifted writer. I didn't touch a word of it.' (an opinion which would have been news to Roald's early teachers!). Forester sent Roald Dahl's work straight to the Saturday Evening Post. Roald Dahl's growing success as an author led him to meet many famous people including Walt Disney, Franklin Roosevelt, and the movie star Patricia Neal. Patricia and Roald were married only one year after they met!
The couple bought a house in Great Missenden called Gipsy House. It was here that Roald Dahl began to tell his five children made-up bedtime stories and from those that he began to consider writing stories for children.
An old wooden shed in the back garden, with a wingbacked armchair, a sleeping bag to keep out the cold, an old suitcase to prop his feet on and always, always six yellow pencils at his hand, was where Roald created the worlds of The BFG, The Witches, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and many, many more.
评分
评分
评分
评分
这本精选集真是让人爱不释手,我得承认,最初翻开它的时候,我并没有抱太高的期望,毕竟“流行企鹅”这个系列名听起来总有点大众化的味道,担心内容会流于表面或过于陈旧。然而,事实证明我的担忧是多余的。首先,从装帧设计上,它就透露出一种低调的品味,那种经典的企鹅黑白风格,握在手里沉甸甸的,充满了怀旧感,但内页的排版却异常清晰现代,阅读体验极佳。我特别欣赏编辑团队在选篇上的大胆与精准。它不像某些短篇小说合集那样东拼西凑,而是像一幅精心构思的拼图,每一篇故事都仿佛在邀请你进入一个全新的、充满张力的微观宇宙。那些叙事技巧的运用,那种微妙的、不动声色的转折,真是高超的艺术。读完某几篇后,我常常需要停下来,合上书本,在脑海中回味那个故事是如何从一个看似寻常的日常场景,一步步滑向那个令人猝不及防的结局的。那种被故事巧妙地“愚弄”后的惊喜感,正是优秀的短篇小说所能给予读者的最大馈赠。它不是那种需要耗费巨大精力去啃读的深奥作品,而是那种能让你在通勤路上、睡前十分钟,轻松获得巨大精神满足感的良伴。
评分我必须得提一下这本书的整体“调性”。它有一种非常独特的、带着一丝英式冷幽默的疏离感。即便是描述最恐怖或最悲伤的场景,文字的笔触也保持着一种冷静的距离,仿佛作者只是一个站在高处观察人类荒诞剧的智者,偶尔嘴角会泛起一丝不易察觉的笑意。这种叙事风格对于我这种不喜欢过于煽情或直白表达的读者来说,简直是福音。它迫使你必须主动参与到文本的解读中,去填补那些留白之处的情感真空。我发现,那些我自认为“看透”了的故事,在事后回想时,总能挖掘出新的层次。它不是一碗白水,而是精心冲泡的清茶,初饮平淡,回味悠长。而且,不同作者之间的文风差异控制得非常好,虽然风格迥异,但统一在“令人不安的日常”这个大伞下,过渡得丝滑自然,丝毫没有拼盘杂烩的感觉。这说明选编者的眼光是极其老辣的,他们挑选的不是最出名的,而是最契合“出乎意料”这个核心精神的作品。
评分如果用一个词来形容阅读完这本《Tales of the Unexpected》的感受,那应该是“精神上的拉伸”。我不是指它晦涩难懂,而是它强迫我的思维进行了一次次的极限延展。这些短篇小说,大多篇幅适中,但其信息密度和情感张力却远超许多长篇巨著。我最欣赏的是,它挑战了我们对“逻辑”的固有认知。我们习惯于世界是线性的,因果是明确的,但这些故事里,作者们巧妙地将非逻辑的、梦境般的、甚至略带荒诞的元素,无缝地嫁接到现实的骨架上。读起来就像走在一条熟悉的街道上,却发现下一秒你可能会踩空,或者墙壁会突然向你眨眼睛。这种持续的、低强度的认知失调,反而让人兴奋不已。它不是廉价的感官刺激,而是一种智力上的挑战和享受。我甚至开始在现实生活中寻找那些微小的、被我忽略的“不寻常”之处,这本书有效地重置了我观察世界的方式。
评分这本书的价值,我认为在于它对“叙事范式”的解构与重塑。在当代文学中,我们太常见到各种固定的叙事套路,读者很容易产生阅读疲劳。但这本选集就像一股清新的山风,吹散了那些陈腐的约定俗成。有些故事的视角极其独特,比如一篇竟然是用一个家具的视角来讲述一场家庭伦理剧的崩溃,这种“去人性化”的叙述反而将人性中的黑暗面衬托得更加清晰和令人不寒而栗。它展现了一种极高的叙事自由度——只要你能抓住那个核心的“意料之外”,那么载体是什么,读者都会接受。从结构上来说,它没有一本正经的起承转合,更像是一系列闪光灯的瞬间捕捉,每个故事都是一个完整的、自洽的微型电影。我推荐给所有觉得文学创作已经陷入僵局,渴望被新鲜感和创造力冲击的读者。它会让你重新相信,讲故事这件事,永远有新的、更迷人的方式等待被发掘。
评分老实说,我是一个对“意外”这个概念有着近乎病态执念的读者,所以当我在书店看到这本合集时,几乎是立刻就被吸引了。我期待的是那种传统意义上的“惊悚”或“反转”,但这个集子的“意外”更加微妙,更贴近我们生活的肌理。有些故事的“意外”并非来自情节的剧烈爆炸,而是源自人物内心深处被压抑的欲望或恐惧,它们如同地壳深处缓慢累积的压力,最终以一种令人心悸的平静方式爆发出来。比如其中有一篇关于一个古董钟表匠的故事,铺陈了整整三分之一的篇幅去描写他对待时间、对待精密的迷恋,我一度以为这会是一个关于职业精神赞歌的平淡故事,结果呢?那个结尾的设计,简直是把“时间”这个主题玩出了新的维度,让人脊背发凉,久久不能忘怀。作者们似乎都明白一个道理:最深刻的震撼,往往来自于对既有秩序的温柔颠覆,而非粗暴的摧毁。这本书成功地让我重新审视了那些我习以为常的,看似坚不可摧的逻辑链条。
评分不可否認Dahl是講故事高手,喜歡製造shocking的效果。賭博,是他喜歡的素材,能夠增添緊張氣氛。描寫活潑,例如將上流社會的女人social稱為winter kill。但他的風格太牢固,所以難以自我突破,每個故事的框架和模式大體相似。他的成人故事比童書更讓人心寒和咋舌。
评分不可否認Dahl是講故事高手,喜歡製造shocking的效果。賭博,是他喜歡的素材,能夠增添緊張氣氛。描寫活潑,例如將上流社會的女人social稱為winter kill。但他的風格太牢固,所以難以自我突破,每個故事的框架和模式大體相似。他的成人故事比童書更讓人心寒和咋舌。
评分不可否認Dahl是講故事高手,喜歡製造shocking的效果。賭博,是他喜歡的素材,能夠增添緊張氣氛。描寫活潑,例如將上流社會的女人social稱為winter kill。但他的風格太牢固,所以難以自我突破,每個故事的框架和模式大體相似。他的成人故事比童書更讓人心寒和咋舌。
评分不可否認Dahl是講故事高手,喜歡製造shocking的效果。賭博,是他喜歡的素材,能夠增添緊張氣氛。描寫活潑,例如將上流社會的女人social稱為winter kill。但他的風格太牢固,所以難以自我突破,每個故事的框架和模式大體相似。他的成人故事比童書更讓人心寒和咋舌。
评分不可否認Dahl是講故事高手,喜歡製造shocking的效果。賭博,是他喜歡的素材,能夠增添緊張氣氛。描寫活潑,例如將上流社會的女人social稱為winter kill。但他的風格太牢固,所以難以自我突破,每個故事的框架和模式大體相似。他的成人故事比童書更讓人心寒和咋舌。
本站所有内容均为互联网搜索引擎提供的公开搜索信息,本站不存储任何数据与内容,任何内容与数据均与本站无关,如有需要请联系相关搜索引擎包括但不限于百度,google,bing,sogou 等
© 2026 qciss.net All Rights Reserved. 小哈图书下载中心 版权所有