My Uncle Oswald

by Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl's first-ever novel presents the scurrilous memoirs of that delightful old reprobate from switch bitch, Oswald Hendryks Cornelius - connoisseur, bon vivant, collector of spiders, scorpions, odd walking sticks, lover of opera, expert on Chinese porcelain, and without doubt the greatest fornicator of all time. In this delightful picaresque story, it is revealed how Uncle Oswald first achieved great wealth - all thanks to the Sundance blister beetle, which when ground to powder has the most electrifying aphrodisiac qualities. It is 1919 - armed with the powder and aided by the beautiful amoral Yasmin how comely, Oswald begins an audacious commercial enterprise which involves seducing the most famous men in Europe - from crowded heads to Bernard Shaw and Marcel Proust.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Short Stories, Comedy, Classics, Book Club, Novels

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 1979

About the author

Roald Dahl was a beloved British author, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter pilot, best known for his enchanting and often darkly humorous children's books that have captivated generations of readers around the world. Born in Llandaff, Wales, to Norwegian parents, Dahl led a life marked by adventure, tragedy, creativity, and enduring literary success. His vivid imagination and distinctive storytelling style have made him one of the most celebrated children's authors in modern literature.
Before becoming a writer, Dahl lived a life filled with excitement and hardship. He served as a Royal Air Force pilot during World War II, surviving a near-fatal crash in the Libyan desert. His wartime experiences and travels deeply influenced his storytelling, often infusing his works with a sense of danger, resilience, and the triumph of the underdog. After the war, he began writing for both adults and children, showing a rare versatility that spanned genres and age groups.
Dahl's children's books are known for their playful use of language, unforgettable characters, and a deep sense of justice, often pitting clever children against cruel or foolish adults. Some of his most iconic titles include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The BFG, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr Fox, and The Witches. These works are filled with fantastical elements and moral undertones, empowering young readers to challenge authority, think independently, and believe in the impossible.
Equally acclaimed for his work for adults, Dahl wrote numerous short stories characterized by their macabre twists and dark humor. His stories were frequently published in magazines such as The New Yorker and later compiled into bestselling collections like Someone Like You and Kiss Kiss. He also wrote screenplays, including the James Bond film You Only Live Twice and the adaptation of Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Despite his literary success, Dahl was a complex and sometimes controversial figure, known for his strong opinions and difficult personality. Nonetheless, his books continue to be treasured for their wit, originality, and the sense of wonder they inspire. Many of his stories have been adapted into successful films, stage plays, and television specials, further cementing his legacy.
Dahl's impact on children's literature is immeasurable. His ability to connect with young readers through a mix of irreverence, heart, and imagination has made his stories timeless. Even after his death, his books remain in print and continue to be read by millions of children worldwide. His writing not only entertains but also encourages curiosity, courage, and compassion.
Roald Dahl's work lives on as a testament to the power of storytelling and the magic of a truly original voice. He remains a towering figure in literature whose creations continue to spark joy, mischief, and inspiration across generations.

Reviews

[Steve Saroff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh wow... if you want to read the most politically incorrect of all of Dahl's writings....
I found this book for the first time in the kid's section at the public library, where it was nestled between The BFG and James and the Giant Peach. Clearly, that cataloging librarian had not cracked the cover to discover Uncle Oswald's perverted and X-rated predilections. This book is truly twisted and, and a fantastic view into a sandy and salty time akin to Hunter's Fear and Loathing's love of ether and mescaline and all else hedonistic. Loved this book, but would hate the characters in real life.

Update 2/23/23: It is beyond absurd that the publisher and Roald Dahl's estate has been "rewriting" his books. It is clear why: money. Dahl's books are absolute best sellers in the truest sense of that overused phrase. As others have pointed out in various big-media op-eds, it would be best to just forget Roald Dahl rather than to try to sanitize his writing. A phrase that comes to mind is one about trying to polish a ... My self-advise is to risk reading Dahl with awareness of the language and history of the broken times he was a part of. Almost like you have stumbled on a time capsule (or shipping trunk) containing a really twisted journal, and then be glad if you don't have friends, or a relative, like Uncle Oswald.

[Fatin · Rating 1 out of 5]

What bothers me the most about this book isn't even the sexism, although there is plenty of it to go around. By the truckload. What bothers me is the fact that the characters are so blatantly being raped by the means of a drug rape. Dahl makes light of this issue, tries to make us laugh at it, and probably succeeds. Initially, I was very amused by him. But over the course of the first hundred pages, I started to get a little angry, and then I got mad. What, you think that just because you're talking of great MEN they cannot be raped? Ugh disgusting.

If you can overlook these issues, this book is hilarious, but c'mon, do you really want to overlook these issues?

I'm not amused. I am not. I'm sad because Dahl was one of my favourite authors ever, and I don't know how to look beyond this now.

[Deniz Balcı · Rating 4 out of 5]

Askerdeyken okumamış olmayı dilerdim:) Ama okudum, yapacak bir şey yok. Bayıldım vallahi. Keşke daha uzun olsaydı, karakterlerle arsızlık peşinde dolaşıp dursaydım bin sayfa. Aradığım muziplik, edepsizlik, çapkınlık, azgınlık ve saçmalık bu kitapta bolca mevcuttu. Yetişkinler için çocuk kitabı dedikleri şey tam da böyle bir şey olmalı zaten. Konusu ilginizi çekiyorsa mutlaka okumanızı tavsiye ederim. Oldukça eğlenceli bir roman.

İyi okumalar.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Roald Dahl might like us to dismiss the rank male chauvinism, tired stereotypes, and hackneyed writing in this book, on the grounds that his "Uncle Oswald" is a charming old rogue. But there's nothing charming about the implied contempt for women that oozes through the lazy prose of Oswald's creaky tale. There may be men still alive who share his sexist view of the world, but I doubt they read books.

Dahl has written some genuinely funny stories (published in Great Britain under the titles "Kiss Kiss" and "Switch Bitch"; I haven't seen these titles in the U.S.), as well as some well-known children's books (which I didn't particularly enjoy, except for 'Matilda').

Nothing in this book matches the wit and talent evident in those earlier stories. This book is a dud.

[Caitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

My grandmother has this friend, a woman I have known as my "auntie" since I was very young. The woman always told me sweet stories when I was a child, ones suitable for a child. Last year at Christmas she got a little bit tipsy on wine and began to tell sexual jokes- which, coming from an 80 year old woman, was a bit unsettling. And yet hilariously comfortable.
This book is sort of the parallel to that story- the Roald Dahl we knew as children writing a story entirely revolving around sex. I was a bit stunned, not expecting a series of sex romp stories from the writer of my beloved childhood stories, and yet it was one the most clever books I have read. Certainly interesting and definitely a book that one can reread.

[Christina · Rating 1 out of 5]

What started off as a fun, entertaining, well-written frolic ultimately, due to its sexism, homophobia, and glorified rape-culture left a horrendous taste in my mouth.

My Uncle Oswald is a fake memoir of a lecherous millionaire explaining how he made his fortune -- ultimately, by using the dried powder of a kind of Sudanese beetle to make pills with powerful aphrodisiac powers. For a large chunk of the book, Oswald and his business-partner Yasmin travel around Europe tricking famous kings, painters, musicians, writers and the like into taking the aphrodisiac -- once the men are overcome with lust and simply MUST rip off Yasmin's clothes and have sex with her, she puts a "rubbery thing" on them (did they not have the word 'condom' yet??) to collect (read: steal) their sperm to eventually sell in a black market type situation. When the men come to from their fog of lust, they are easily kept quiet about the incident because they're lead to believe they've just spontaneously lost control of themselves and raped this woman.

Just. For as well-written as the book was, I could not get past the rape-culture and obvious consent issues glorified by the storytelling. The book was overtly sexist, and in the scenes dealing with Marcel Proust, it was flat-out homophobic. (Yasmin doesn't want "that bugger" touching her when she finds out that Proust is gay, and is disgusted at the idea of his so-called perversions. I was SO uncomfortable.)

Women are treated as sport in this book, and the idea of consent before sex is laughed out of the window, as the major (repetitive) plot revolves around tricking men into having sex, exploiting them for semen, and then blackmailing them by calling what they did rape, when surely it was the other way around. I don't know, the concept of rape is used for entertainment throughout the novel, and that's just not something I'm okay with.

I can concede that the language in this book was well-used, it's very, very well-written and I was, for the first fifty pages or so, very excited about reading this. Dahl's writing reminded me of a Stephen Fry book. But the glorification of rape culture and the rampant sexism nailed the coffin well shut. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

[Paloma Meir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stop whatever you're doing and read this book right now. You're welcome.

[Frances · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't added a book to my favorites page in FOREVER and I'm so happy that the honored spot is going to this one.

What a lot of fun. Just what a spectacular book. I mean, does this book reveal deep and special feelings within me? No - nor should it have. That would have been inappropriate and uncomfortable for everyone.

Instead, this book is just a savage, salacious jaunt through Europe with a few people who've decided that early 20th century morality wasn't that big of a deal and EVERYONEJUSTNEEDSTOHAVEADRINKOKAY.

Aaaaand maybe some sex.

[Eylül Görmüş · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ya çok seviyorum Roald Dahl seni, aşırı çok. En son bir Roald Dahl romanı okuduğumda 11 yaşında filandım sanırım. 20 küsur sene sonra yine aynı heyecan ve merakla okudum, Dev Şeftali’yi, Çarli’nin Çikolata Fabrikası’nı, Yaman Tilki’yi filan okurken aklı çıkan çocuk oluverdim yine. Dahl yine süper komik, hikaye inanılmaz zekice kurgulanmış ve çok absürt. Geçtiğimiz yıllarda okuduğum öykülerini de çok sevmiştim ama romanlarının lezzeti de bir başka gerçekten. İyi ki.

[Xabi1990 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es una novela corta de carácter erótico-festivo (o sea, humor con toques light de escenas sexuales) ambientada a comienzos del siglo XX y donde relata en primera persona las aventuras que le acontecieron al tío Oswald y sus asociados en su intento exitoso de hacerse rico, muy rico.

Es muy divertida de leer y si queréis pasar un ratito (son sólo 200 pags.) de humor con sonrisa perpetua, coged este libro y preparaos para novela ligera donde olvidaros de los malos rollos y disfrutad de la mano del licencioso y caradura tío Oswald.

No esperéis ni grandes personajes ni profundidad de ningún tipo, claro. Leed y sonreíd, no es más. Para mí de 8/10, muy recomendable por tanto.

P.D: Resulta que el Dahl este ha escrito varios cuentos infantiles de renombre y, curiosamente, el guión de la peli de 007 "Sólo se vive dos veces". Polifacético el chico como escritor, ¿eh? No

[João Reis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Far from being Dahl's best (he's more a short story writer, in my honest opinion), but still a moderately funny book. This novel follows Oswald Cornelius, who the reader might know from the superb "Switch Bitch", and his attempts to get rich by selling sperm from famous artists and kings. Yes, it's racist, homophobic, misogynist, sexist, anthropocentric, shallow, chauvinistic, but it doesn't aim high. If you take it for what it is - a light comedy book -, it's quite enjoyable, though a bit repetitive and boring in the third part. Just don't expect to glimpse the depths of the human soul. 2,5 stars, rounded up to 3 due to the episodes with the assholes Proust and Freud.

[Frieda Vizel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I laughed and cried out loud at the ludicrousness and obscenity of the diary record of “My Uncle Oswald”. This book is obscene, it is not erotic. Do not prepare to climb into bed early one night with this adult fantasy as a sexy treat. Roald Dahl’s adult work is Charlie and the Chocolate factory gone Oswald and the Sex factory. Sex is imagined in every shape and form and nationality and flexibility (heels hooked around the neck, WTF?) till all that candy makes you sick. All centered around a scheme to collect sperm in straws from King Alfonso, Renoir, Monet, Picasso, Stravinsky, Matisse, Proust, Joyce, the Royal Families the world over – and the insane plotline around it. It could even scare you there all alone by the nightlamp, with its gluttonous ideas of insatiable, ravenous and meaningless earthly pleasure. I shudder! And why is it, I wonder, that the male protagonist beds thousands of young aristocratic women while the female protagonist gets her turn with a bunch of wheelchair bound alte kackers who can no longer hold their own paintbrush? I shudder again!

Dahl’s imagination does what only his can do; cook up hilarious hairbrained unattractive and testosterone injected male fantasies of unlimited wealth and women. There is a concoction of pickled humans, beetle potion for arousal, octopus in stomachs, frozen sperm kings, twists to the end, ask not what else. Just be forewarned; it is imaginative and grotesque, and will contribute absolutely nothing of value to your life. But then again, you weren’t looking for value, were you?

So much is the real takeaway: I will never read a Dahl book to my seven year old son the same way again.

[Iloveplacebo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quizás sea un libro de más puntuación, pero es que es machista hasta decir basta. Qué digo machista, es más que eso, no hay palabra para describirlo. Además de ciertos toques de homofobia y hostilidad hacia los animales.
En fin, que la pluma del autor está muy bien, como siempre, pero esta historia no tiene ni pies ni cabeza. No me ha gustado nada, y solo me ha creado malestar mientras lo leía. Una pena porque todo lo que había leído de este autor me había gustado, y no había notado machismo. Espero que sea solo en este libro.

[Milly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious! This is Dahl for adults. I think this is a gem that has yet to be discovered by the general public. Definitely worth your time. Here is the summary from Amazon:

1938 diary of Oswald Hendryks Cornelius - his memories at age 43 of his escapades some 25 years earlier.

English youth Oswald makes his first fortune at 17 by journeying to the Sudan, purchasing a chunk of the world's most potent aphrodisiac (ground-up Blister Beetles), and selling it in pill form to the wealthiest men (and then women too) of Paris. But Oswald returns to England determined to strike it even richer. Enter A. R. Woresley, Oswald's chemistry tutor at Cambridge - who's doing research in sperm preservation, extracting semen from prize bulls - and, after Oswald has helped out with the sticky mechanics of bull-semen-snatching, he naturally gets the idea to transfer the technique to humans. Needed (once reluctant Woresley agrees to cooperate): a resourceful female confederate. They find such a woman in Yasmin Howcomely ("She was absolutely soaked in sex"), and soon the trio has its game plan: Yasmin will slip each famous man the super-aphrodisiac, greet the expected response with a condom, and collect an authenticating signature before hurrying off with the "stuff. . . in the bag."

[Netta · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Roald Dahl dearly, but our relationship is on the rocks.

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this novel long back - and still remember it for being different from all the other Dahl stories. It is one dirty joke stretched across 200+ pages.

The Uncle Oswald of the title and two of his friends, with the help of the aphrodisiac the Spanish Fly (powdered Sudanese Blister Beetle) put a daring scheme into operation: extracting and selling the sperm of famous people. The idea is to get the said famous men to take a small dose of the medicine, in presence of Yasmin, one of the threesome and a drop-dead gorgeous female. Sexually aroused beyond control, they will all fornicate with Yasmin: and their sperm will be collected by an ingenious method and frozen by Arthur Worsley, the other member of the threesome. (Remember this story is set in the early years of the Twentieth Century, when such things were unheard of.)

What follows is sexual encounter after sexual encounter, narrated with Dahl's characteristic flair for telling a funny story. I read it in my early twenties and loved it.

But now? I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. It's sexist and misogynist, and terribly shallow.

I will let the rating stand, however, since it entertained me so much at the time of reading.

[Chiara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I kind of regret not taking the time to review this book when I first finished reading it. Since it was quite some time ago – around two years, if I'm not mistaken – main part of the plot is kind of gone and I'm now left with my overall impression of this book. I remember loving it. I knew Roald Dahl was brilliant when, 8 years old and just finished with Matilda, I decided it was too good a book and promised myself I'd never read a translated book again. So to this day I still owe him a great deal.
Back to the book, it's Dahl for adults. It's the story of uncle Oswald who discovers some viagra–like remedy in one of his adventurous trips around the world and thinks of a genius way to use it – the word 'genius' here refers to more than it looks. Brilliantly witty and sexy it will have you hooked to the very last page.

[Yoana · Rating 1 out of 5]

So this is an ode to ignorance, misogyny, and rape apologism. It also sucks as a novel because the characters are all carton cutouts without any shade of depth or complexity. I couldn't care less about what happened to any of them, and the ending, which I think was supposed to elicit glee, left me cold.

2015 EDIT: Joke's on Dahl though because intelligence is inherited from the mother. Misogynists are idiots.

[Uci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sungguh buku yang liar! Kalau rajin baca Roald Dahl pasti sudah tidak asing dengan keliaran imajinasinya yang membuahkan, antara lain, Matilda dan Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Tapi kali ini dia membawa imajinasinya ke dimensi lain yang jauh lebih dewasa, My Uncle Oswald.

Pernahkah terpikir bisa punya anak dari tokoh-tokoh hebat dunia seperti Monet, Picasso, Einstein, Puccini, Bernard Shaw atau dari raja-raja Eropa yang tak tersentuh? Tidak harus menikah dengan mereka tentu saja, karena peluangmu paling-paling satu banding seribu. Tapi dengan membeli sperma mereka. Sperma asli bersertifikat!

Oswald yang genius dan selalu mendambakan tantangan memilih cara yang tidak biasa untuk meraup uang, yaitu dengan menjual sperma milik tokoh-tokoh terkenal. Tidak sendirian pastinya. Dia dibantu profesornya yang menciptakan wadah penyimpan sperma agar bisa tahan hingga puluhan tahun, dan gadis cantik keturunan Persia, Yasmin, yang menjadi 'pancingan' agar para lelaki hebat itu bisa berejakulasi. Tapi gadis cantik saja tentu tidak cukup. Toh maestro-maestro seni seperti Puccini hampir tiap hari didekati wanita cantik yang mengaguminya. Maka Oswald pun melibatkan bubuk Sudanese Blister Beetle yang dibelinya di Sudan setelah mendengar cerita seorang veteran tentara Inggris. Dengan bubuk ini, dijamin lelaki paling steril pun bakal panas dingin melihat perempuan, apalagi perempuan secantik Yasmin.

Sulit untuk tidak cengar-cengir selama membaca buku ini. Dahl dengan cueknya menggambarkan tokoh-tokoh itu sesuka hati. Ada yang ternyata masih perawan eh perjaka, ada yang selalu 'on' bahkan tanpa bubuk Blister Beetle, ada yang gay, walaupun ada juga yang sangat menyenangkan dan sempurna sebagai laki-laki. Tokoh mana yang seperti apa, sebaiknya sih baca sendiri. Nanti jadi nggak lucu lagi kalau diceritain :D

Pintarnya Dahl, dia memilih setting tahun 1919, sehingga hal-hal yang mustahil terjadi di masa modern bisa saja terjadi di masa itu. Misalnya, hanya dengan sepucuk surat berkop palsu Kerajaan Inggris, Yasmin bisa diterima di ruang pribadi raja-raja Eropa. Alasannya, saat itu Inggris baru menang perang jadi raja-raja lainnya tidak ingin membuat Inggris marah dengan menolak 'utusan' mereka yang hanya punya waktu sebentar untuk mampir. Mau dicek lewat telepon juga tidak mungkin, karena saat itu Alexander Graham Bell pun masih dianggap orang gila dengan penemuannya yang tidak mutu!

Komentar-komentar yang rada rasis juga bertebaran di buku ini, karena Oswald menceritakan pengalamannya tidur dengan banyak perempuan dari berbagai suku dan bangsa. Menambah 'keliaran' buku ini.

Tapi itu bukan masalah besar. Buka pikiran lebar-lebar, dan bacalah buku ini sambil tertawa. Dijamin ampuh mengusir bete :D

[Kenyon Harbison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very funny at first, and then you realize it's very funny largely because this is a famous children's book author writing a book about a lecherous, greedy man who makes money by selling love potions and then by convincing the one woman he feels any connection with to extract semen (in the usual manner) from geniuses and royals, all with a view to selling the precious swimmers to rich, stupid women who want to have the children of the afore-mentioned gents. And then the episodes of semen-collection get repetitive. And then at the end, of course, nobody really changes (though there is a narrative twist!), and nobody learns anything, and then it ends. Unsurprisingly, it was written in the 1970s, when the developed world apparently forgot what good architecture should look like, decided orange and brown were great colors to decorate houses with, and collectively mistook promiscuity for sophistication. On the plus side, the tone of the writing is crisp, catchy, and fun, and the narrator has a certain devil-may-care attitude that's amusing, and even likeable. I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy My Uncle Oswald. ("That's what SHE said!") It's just that the book says nothing deep, and it does not even say anything witty; in fact, is says nothing at all. The book is like a chic-lit novel, but without the character development, and targeted at the kind of men who inhabit the novels of Evelyn Waugh. In fact, I think in some sense that's exactly what My Uncle Oswald is: a bad, shallow version of Evelyn Waugh novel.

[Roxana Chirilă · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just finished re-reading "My Uncle Oswald" and I found it just as entertaining as I did last time. It's dirty, it's porn-y, it's ridiculous from start to finish, with mad metaphors substituting for some of the dirty scenes (Oswald pictures himself as a jousting knight defeating a giant man-eating woman during one of his sexual encounters). Definitely no children's book, this one.

Oswald is an immoral bastard in love with money, sex, wine and food, with a penchant for finding good business everywhere. After finding out about the world's strongest aphrodisiac, he makes a small fortune selling pills for men and women in need. Later on, he decides to multiply that small fortune into a huge one by using the extra-strong aphrodisiac to seduce them and enlisting the aid of the amazingly beautiful Yasmin for, er, sperm collection. And some of that leads to fantastic and very unlikely things appearing (a king who has a couch which moves to do the fornicating for him, for example).

I see some other reviewers complaining this book is misogynistic, which I didn't feel at all. Oswald looks down on anyone, male or female, and Yasmin is nicer, better, deeper and cleverer than him all the way, if you pay attention to the subtler details. And she, unlike him, actually grows very wary with the whole thing once she realizes just how horrible it is on the victims.

Aside from unfortunate implications, the book is hilariously funny, especially if taken not at all seriously.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I learned from this book is that Roald Dahl has some serious issues with women. I loved all his children's books and I had heard that he was a lot more scandalous in his adult fiction but damn! This book is based on the fake memoirs of Uncle Oswald, the "greatest fornicator of all time". I thought it would be a fun and funny read (which it was in some sense), but it was also glorifying the sexual abuse and use of women for men's pleasure. The main redeeming quality is that Oswald, the main character, gets swindled in the end. I think that is part of what kept me reading it. I wanted him to get screwed, pardon the pun.

Aside from the obvious issues, there was a funny story buried in there. Oswald gets rich from selling "potency pills" made from a rare beetle that is found only in Sudan. He then uses these pills to arouse famous men so that he can steal their sperm and sell to lonely women. Interesting plot if it didn't revolve around his female assistant getting raped each time to collect the sperm. Hmm. Overall, a large disappointment.

[Eva Escobar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro políticamente incorrecto, sexista, escandaloso, insultante y extremadamente gracioso, me encantó, pero definitivamente no es para personas sensibles o que se ofenden con facilidad.

[Silvana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roald Dahl is a genious! His imagination scope is unbelievable, from the fun-loving and colorful Charlie and The Chocolate Factory to this wicked "My Uncle Oswald"...

Anyone who read this must laughing his/her @ss off and that's a guarantee. The story is about a guy named Oswald who's in his 17 made quite a stir among the ambassadors of several countries who became his customers for a certain product that comes from a Blister Beetle that can produce the most powerful aphrosidiac in the world. Only takes 9 minutes and a 80 year old grandpa can shag any woman (or women) he like for app. 6 hours straight, hahaha...Anyway, his greatest "adventure" as a wannabe-billionaire is when he and his accomplices found ways to preserve sperms for a very very long time. He immediately gather a list including the names of famous people still live at his time (the setting is around post World War I), such as Picasso, Einstein, Freud, Renoir, as well as European kings, in order to collect their sperms, to be sold later for women who want to have offsprings from royalties/famous figures. You can imagine the craziness on his efforts to accomplish their goal. It is terribly hilarious!

Tsk tsk tsk....I can hardly wait to read Mr. Dahl's other grown-up novels.

[Berrak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dahl'dan müthiş komik, zekice yazılmış bir başyapıt. Neden daha fazla okunup konuşulmadığını asla anlayamayacağız.

[Stan Georgiana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nu e ceea ce ne-am fi așteptat de la Roald Dahl. Parțial amuzant, parțial problematic.

[Venus Maneater · Rating 2 out of 5]

So much rape! All the men are stupid. All the women are whores. Such a horrible fantasy translated to Dutch in the most cringe way ever.

[Felipe Arango Betancourt · Rating 3 out of 5]

El sensacional tío Oswald. El único, el irrepetible; el hombre que desde temprana edad destacó de todos los demás hombres en cuestiones de seducción.
El amante incansable, que hace ver a Casanova como un simple amateur. Todos los demás hombres a su sombra son un juego de niños.
Pero, ¿Cómo describir la personalidad de Oswald Cornelius? Egoísta y mezquino, un hombre de negocios sin escrúpulos, que va a lo que va. Un sibarita y hedonista en el sentido amplio de la palabra, el mismo lo reconoce.

[Dorin Lazăr · Rating 3 out of 5]

„Unchiul Oswald” e un fragment dintr-un pseudo-jurnal erotic al personajului titular. Aceasta conține cartea a XX-a din jurnal (pe alocuri face referințe către jurnale mai vechi) în care Oswald povestește originea averii sale. Pe scurt e vorba de un praf făcut dintr-un gândac sudanez care e un extraordinar afrodiziac - cu efect puternic și brusc. Oricine ingerează un vârf de ac de astfel de praf devine în 9 minute (pe ceas) un animal sexual sălbatic, care va face absolut orice să-și satisfacă nevoile.

Inițial, Oswald pornește o mică afacere pornind de la acel praf, dar în momentul în care un profesor inventează o metodă de a colecta și conserva sperma umană, Oswald vine cu un plan parșiv și lipsit de scrupule de a se îmbogăți.

E o proză cuminte și pe alocuri repetitivă, motiv pentru care spre final pare lipsită de imaginație. Dar e un text ușurel, numai bun pentru o după-amiază de weekend, iar ediția de la editura Art este de calitate: traducerea bună, textul mare și ușor de citit.

[Milan Mendez Rosa · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only good bit is the part where his balls get stuck in the sucking force of the draining bath tub. Just half a page is allotted to this semi-funny find, and it happens on the fifth to last page, so really don’t bother. Probably the worst book I’ve read.