I have a soft spot for stories about early aviation (fact or fiction) and another one for the memoirs from Slightly Foxed, so when they recently published Going Solo, Roald Dahl’s memoir about his time working for Shell in East Africa in the 1930s and flying for RAF during WWII, I was a very early customer.
As a memoir it is a bit of a failure as it is hard to know which parts that are true and which that are not. Roald Dahl clearly doesn’t let pesky things such as accuracy get in the way of a good story and I am thus not sure how much I really learned about his life. However, I’ don’t really mind because even if he tells tall stories, they are great tall stories told by a fabulous story teller and that is an art form I admire.
I had promised myself to savour it for a bit and not finish it in one evening, as I did with his childhood memoir Boy, but it is a page-turner. I liked it even better than Boy.
I read that in a book 
Boy had a sense of being true however (well, as true as anything we remember happening in childhood) whereas this sounds like something you’d have to take with a huge pinch of salt. Still, I’ve always thought if it ever crossed my path I would certainly give it a go.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s true, and certainly an advantage for Boy, but on the other hand I’d rather read about air fights, than about horrible boarding schools.
I got the feeling that it mostly was the African part he embellished, he seemed to stay closer to the truth when he described his time in the RAF, and I guess he should have enough good stories from that time not to have to make much up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I absolutely loved this and Boy. I don’t re read many books (as you know!) but when I saw Slightly Foxed had bought out their own editions, I knew it was time for some smart new copies and a read. I agree with you that I don’t care how much is made up, they’re such good stories. . .
LikeLiked by 1 person
Definitely! And every memoir is improved by being a Slightly foxed edition…
LikeLiked by 1 person