'Roald Dhal: Collected stories'

 The book consists of a compilation of 51 stories written by Roald Dahl. Some of these are settled in Greece during the German invasion in the II world war. Other ones go by on urban stages or rural ones in England.

A strong point of these stories is that they have ironical twists. Some of them present antic whirls, like in “William and Mary”, and end with unexpected outcomes, like in “Genesis and catastrophe”. The work carried out by Dahl is to set a plot that relentlessly evolves towards an unexpected denouement. Another strong point of the book is Dahl’s style. It is precise and economic. No sentence left over. The book has, nevertheless, a weak point. The narration is shallow, so even often remains in the anecdote.
Although Dahl’s books are frequently for children, the stories contained in this one are addressed to an adult audience. They will appeal to those who are keen on popular British Literature.

'Dubliners' by James Joyce

 

The book consists of a compilation of fifteen short stories. The stories are set in the city of Dublin at the beginning of the twentieth century. The thread that ensembles the stories is Dublin. Characters evolve in that stage. Each story develops its own themes. Thus in ‘Two gallants’, a couple of friends walks by Dublin while they consider whether they have had autonomy in their lives or have lived at the expense of other people. ‘The boarding house’ explains the story of an innkeeper's daughter whose honour has been sullied. In ‘The little cloud’, a fellow feels discontent about his life in comparison with a friend’s life who has travelled abroad a lot. The strength of the book is how Joyce draws Dublin. Not only does he draw its landscape, but its geography. Another strong point is the resort to symbolism. The weak point, if there is any, is that the style is a little distant. They say it is boring. I recommend reading this book with the help of an external essay so that you can get through its symbolism. It is for all fans of classics.