Roald Dahl Author Study

Roald Dahl has been one of my favorite authors since I read several of his books as a child. I knew he wrote books and stories for adults, but never read any of them until a couple of years ago, when I first read "Man from the South" after seeing Four Rooms.

I've always wanted to do an author study on Dahl, so I finally made time for it! I started reading Collected Stories over winter break. In true booknerd fashion, I also borrowed the DVDs of Tales of the Unexpected - a British TV show that Dahl used to write for.

I will be posting recaps of the short stories from Collected Stories and short films from Tales of the Unexpected every Friday, starting this week and running until my photography show wraps up... and maybe a bit beyond.

Oh, I forgot to mention that, didn't I? Last year, I had a photography show, Full Power of Magic, up during the run of James and the Giant Peach at the Circuit Playhouse. My exhibit was inspired by the book. This year, I'll have a photography exhibit up while Matilda runs at Playhouse on the Square. My exhibit this year is inspired by titles of Dahl's short stories. So I guess the start of this author study could also count as photography research...

Articles of interest:
New Zealand McDonald's are giving away Roald Dahl books in Happy Meals

My other posts relating to Dahl:
Banned Books: The Witches
Dahl
The Many Matildas

You: Books to Shows

You and Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes

I've wanted to talk to everyone about You after I binge-watched it on Netflix, but it's hard to find people who have watched it, read it, or both. A friend loaned me the book in October with the disclaimer that she, a fan of psychological thrillers, bought it based on the back cover blurb alone. I'm always excited to have books recommended to me, and I don't judge reading tastes, so I was looking forward to it... and read it in about a day.

As soon as I started reading, I realized the language is pretty brutal and it’s VERY creepy. Overall I couldn't put it down and sought out the follow-up, so what does that say about me?

It was very twisted but I think a lot of the language was over-the-top, and while it didn’t seem out of character for Joe, it could have been taken out and he would come off just as creepy and horrible. Some of the situations in the book seemed like they were there for shock value - or at least the language used to describe them was for shock value. It made me like the story a little less.

But the show polished up the story and took out a lot of the language and scenarios that seemed to be too much. They added some characters, like the little boy, and added some scenes that weren't necessary, but I won't pretend to understand what makes good TV. I'm sure they had reasons for adding in the kid and the abused neighbor and all the drama that brought in.

I think this has been one of my favorite book-to-movie adaptations, because even though I didn't like the book much, I thought the story was interesting, and that was really given room to shine on screen. The writing was what brought down the book, in my opinion, so having a chance to revise the story really made it better.

As I mentioned, I read the sequel and have heard that it will be "season two" of the show, so I'll definitely be tuning in for that!

Did you watch You? Did you read the book before, or after, or not at all? What did you think of the book compared to the show? I love dissecting things like this, so leave your thoughts in the comments!