My PlayStation is dead.... I know.... I know.... folks would rather not read about the blogger's woes, however, there is a reason why it is included so bear with me.
I take one night a week to chill in front of the old PlayStation and play video games. She has served me well got me through university and many a night watching DVDs. However, with a glitch in the middle of "Skyrim" it's life terminated, out with a flash of the screen and a beep. #Frustration
After an agonising hour of using the hairdryer on and off on a cold setting and aiming it at the internal motherboard I gave up (its now residing in the hallway collecting more dust than usual until I decide whether to A. Throw it from a moving car, B. Sell it for scrap or C. Bury it), I then turned to the kindle and thought about when I was a kid playing the Commodore 64, which took ages to load and how I used to read Roald Dahl books to pass the time (Uber Geek).
I fell in love with Roald Dahl books when I was growing up, my favourite being The wonderful world of Henry Sugar followed closely by The Witches. So I began searching the Amazon archive and found Roald Dahl adult books. Adults books you say? Yes, and they are extremely adult.
I purchased My Uncle Oswald and was immediately transported back to the mindset of that 10 year old kid as Dahl's style of painting a picture with words is truly amazing.
Uncle Oswald is a narrative based book and like many Dahl books it has stories within stories, I personally love that, it appeals to the your inner child, a sense of always wanting to be told a story.
I laughed through the book, actual laugh out louds's and not 'lol's that are put on the end of texts. Uncle Oswald contains tongue in cheek moments and sometimes the tongue is sticking right out at you! I never thought mini-stories about male and female performance problems in the bedroom where so funny! The main character, you guessed it, Uncle Oswald is a love Lothario who in 1912 travels the world in search of an elusive, male stimulant.
I did not know what to expect from this book and was pleasantly surprised by the lack of me putting the kindle down. Really thoroughly enjoyed the 1912 references and scene constructing that Dahl is known for.
To some it may be shocking that their old favourite story teller can be so crude but this is washed away with so much humour, (it's less 'Roy Chubby Brown' and more 'Peter Kay' The first time you heard Peter Kay that is, about 12 years ago and not the Peter Kay of today .... still peddling "Garlic Bread!"..... give it a rest man)
Anywho it was a refreshing discovery and ticked all the boxes of an addictive page turner, helped along the way with no PlayStation to distract me.
Fifa, Skyrim and Call of Duty can wait, as I am now going to investigate some of his other books meant for adults.
Good points: The book tends to wander, but trust me, in a good way, you are being told the story through Uncle Oswald who is recanting his escapade and starts to dote and tends to go off on a tangent but are brought back to the storyline this is quite funny and didn't get old for me. Imagine a crazy old grandparent at a Christmas family party who is not afraid to tell their mind.
Bad points: Some elements are still child-like in nature but this again is one of the only faults I could find. I love Dahl so it is hard to find fault with the man.
Summary: Thoroughly enjoyed uncovering this gem and would fit fine in any ones collection, best not read it out to your kids going to bed though! I give it a 4.5/5
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