Going Solo | 
 enlarge | Author: Roald Dahl
Publisher: Puffin
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
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Rating:  36 reviews
Sales Rank: 117924
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0141303107
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780141303109
ASIN: 0141303107
Publication Date: January 1, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Some wear on book from reading, spine creases, wear on binding and pages, we guarantee all purchases and ship all items via USPS mail.
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Product Description
The fascinating story of Roald Dahl's life continues in Going Solo, a marvelous evocation of the author's wartime exploits. As a pilot in World War II, Roald Dahl had some wonderfully exciting— and frighteningly near-death— experiences including encounters with the enemy, battles with deadly snakes, and incredible dogfights. Told with the same irresistible appeal that has made Dahl one of the world's best-loved writers, Going Solo brings you directly into the action and into the mind of this brilliant man.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 31 more reviews...
 "You're too tall," the flight instructor said. "Are you sure you want to do this?" December 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"I must learn to fly a Hurricane and then I must take it to Greece and rejoin the squadron.
When I got this news I was in Ismailia, a large RAF aerodrome on the Suez Canal. A Flight-Lieutenant said, 'You can have a couple of days to learn how to fly it, then you take it to Greece.'
'Fly that to Greece?' I said.
'Of course.'
'Where do I stop to refuel?'
'You don't.' he said. 'You go non-stop.'
'How long will that take?'
'About four and a half hours,' he said.
Even I knew that a Hurricane had fuel for only one and a half hours' flying, and I pointed that out to the Flight-Lieutenant. 'Don't worry about that,' he said. 'We're fitting extra fuel tanks under the wings.'
'Do they work?'
'Sometimes they work,' he said smirking. 'You press a little button and if you're lucky a pump pumps petrol from the wing-tanks into the main tank.'
'What happens if the pump doesn't work?'
'You bale out into the Med and swim,' he said.
'No,' I said. 'Be serious. Who picks me up?'
Nobody.' he said. 'It's a chance you have to take.'"
- Roald Dahl (GOING SOLO p. 119)
In this marvelous autobiographical sequel to BOY: TALES OF CHILDHOOD, Roald Dahl entertains and delights by recalling his experiences just prior to and during WW2 writing of the many adventures he had: traveling by ship from England to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanganyika (aboard the SS Mantola) and observing the bizarre habits of his fellow-British-passengers while on his way to work for the Shell Oil Company there, avoiding certain death from the venom of the Green Mamba, joining the Royal Air Force at the start of the war, learning to fly at an RAF airbase in Nairobi, Kenya, and crashing a Gladiator bi-plane in the Western Desert of Egypt, finally winning his wings and becoming a fighter pilot with the RAF in Africa and Greece, and then surviving dog-fights in the skies above Greece against German ME 109s. While many of Dahl's adventures were harrowing, others were very humorous.
I won't spoil the fun for anyone in this brief review by writing too much. Pick up a copy of this wonderful little book and enjoy! You'll just have to take my word for it that you won't be bored or disappointed. Several maps and quite a few photos are included.
As another reviewer wrote, it's a shame Mr. Dahl didn't write another autobiographical sketch about his life as a writer of children's books before he died in 1990. That, I'm sure, would have been an absolute pleasure to read.
Terriffic story-telling from a charming guy December 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Another writer once told me that one of the most important elements to be found in a memoir is a "likeable" narrator. Roald Dahl is perhaps one of the MOST likeable of narrators. Modest to a fault and blessed with a very sly and subtle sense of humor, the story Dahl tells in GOING SOLO, his sequel to BOY, is perhaps one of the most readable memoirs of modern times. His story of the quick and almost informal training he received at a flying school in Africa shortly after Great Britain entered WWII, is hair-raising and nearly impossible to believe, except you do believe, because you trust this man. At six foot six inches tall, Dahl was physically quite unsuited to be a fighter pilot, noting that when seated in the various planes he flew, his knees were nearly under his chin and he had to hunch over to fit beneath the plane's canopy. But fly he did, even after surviving one horrific crash in the desert early on in his career as an RAF pilot. He sustained a very bad concussion (which was to come back to haunt him and finally "invalid" him out of service nearly two years later) and had his face bashed in. As he explained to his mother in a letter: "My nose was bashed in ... and the ear nose and throat man pulled my nose out of the back of my head and shaped it and now it looks just as before except that it's a little bent about ..." Dahl went on to fly many combat missions in North Africa and Greece, usually against vastly superior odds, but somehow he managed to survive until the middle of 1941, when the migraine headaches caused by the aforementioned crash made him unfit for further flying. Dahl's nearly laconic and completely unself-conscious manner of writing about the things he did - absolutely heroic things - made me think of Sam Hynes's WWII memoir of his missions in the Pacific theater. Both writers downplay the importance of their roles. They never speak of heroics or derring-do, only about the importance of their comrades, doing the jobs they were trained to do and trying their best to simply stay alive. This was an enormously satisfying, moving and often hilarious tale. After reading these two slim volumes of memoirs by Dahl, I do wish he had written another. I have ordered his slim collection of stories about WWII already. What a wonderful writer - and gentleman - Roald Dahl was. - Tim Bazzett, author of SOLDIER BOY and LOVE, WAR & POLIO
Going Solo November 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Excellent life story, adventure. Bought because of its aviation aspect and personal Greek attraction with the Battle of Athens during the last war. Having served on 84 Sqn RAF in Cyprus it was really interesting to review first hand flying activities during these times of conflict. A really nice short story.
not for young kids May 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you see the classic Roald Dahl cover illustration you might think this is an appropriate book for young children. It's definitely a book for 6th or 7th grade and up. Scroll around and you'll find some excellent reviews written by teenagers. I just gave it to my dad who is a WWII buff--he loved it. Adults, particularly those interested in Africa and WWII, will enjoy it so don't think you're going to read a children's book. It's really a classic memoir. The great British actor, Derek Jacobi, has recorded a fantastic unabridged audio version (and a fine one of Dahl's "Boy")
The adventures of a young Englishman May 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've always enjoyed Dahl's children's books, and so I was curious to see what he might write about his own life. To say that his early adult years were exciting might understate the matter a bit. This book opens with Dahl embarking on a ship for East Africa, to start his first job as a representative of the Shell Oil Company, and follows him through his career as a RAF fighter pilot in the Eastern Mediterranean theater during WWII. Many of his tales are so over the top that it would be tempting to believe that he has embelished the stories. But even if he did, the result is an thoroughly enjoyable read, full of adventure and the excitement of youth. We also get a glimpse of the last hurrah of the British Empire, the epic struggle of the second World War, and just the barest idea of the conditions he found in war torn England upon his return. Very entertaining.
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