Rating: Not for me

I am rating the short stories in this collection separately because they are all so different, some of which are not for me.

(SPOILER ALERT!) The Swan is a rather grim account of two hooligan youth being given a gun and using it in horrible ways to bull a bookworm-ish boy they find. The bullying is absolutely horrid, terrifying, and heartbreaking. For example, the bullies tie the booksworm to railroad tracks, feet next to one rail and head near the other, and leave him there when a train to comes over the rails. When he realizes his fate, the bookworm boy keeps his wits about him and uses his head to wiggle back and forth to sort of dig a hole in the gravel so that his face is not crushed by the train. He leans his feet to the side for the same reason. After the train passes over the poor boy, this is just the beginning of the torture.

The tone and is much different than other books in Roald Dahl’s repertoire. The humor is not there (and I have heard this is based on a true story), and the triumph is fleeting and lasts for but a few vague sentences at the end. There wasn’t a clever plot or a twist of fate that gave the bullies what they deserved. I found myself a bit disappointed, if not depressed.

I suppose this could be used by teachers to discuss bullying with young adults, but this is certainly not for the typical Road Dahl audience.

Readers encounter (SPOILER ALERTS!):

  • A father who beats his son
  • A father who treats his wife like rubbish
  • In appropriate use of guns; boys shooting at boys who won’t do their silly games
  • Aforementioned bullying
  • Animal cruelty, killing animals on a game reserve
  • The bullies cut the wings off a swan and tie them with string to the arms of the boy being bullied.

It is a heart-wrenching tale with a glimmer of hope at the end which for me was unsatisfying but that is perhaps appropriate for the sadness that comes with bullying and other sins for which we don’t see justice on this side of heaven.

Important note: I don’t rate all the stories in this collection equally; please beware of others with different ratings.