Books › Over to You - Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying
Over to You - Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying
253 pages
A haunting, unsentimental exploration of the surreal and isolating psychological landscape of wartime pilots.
What it feels like
Reading this collection feels like sitting in a dimly lit officers' mess, listening to stories told by men who have seen too much but refuse to be sentimental about it. The pace is steady and deliberate, drawing you into the claustrophobic cockpits and sterile hospital wards of the Second World War. The prose is crisp and chillingly matter-of-fact, capturing the surreal, disorienting reality of combat and the quiet, lingering trauma that follows. The mood shifts seamlessly from the visceral tension of dogfights to a haunting, melancholic stillness. It is a deeply atmospheric experience that will captivate readers who appreciate psychologically astute war fiction and those curious to experience the darker, sharply observant adult writing of a legendary storyteller.
- Mood
- tense
- surreal
- melancholic
- claustrophobic
- Tone
- unsentimental
- matter-of-fact
- wry
- haunting
- detached
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- psychological toll of war · isolation of combat · mortality and survival · surrealism of trauma · camaraderie and loss
- The writing
- Crisp, unadorned, and sharply observant, delivering moments of profound trauma with a chillingly casual precision.
- The arc
- Begins with the visceral adrenaline of flight and descends into the lingering, surreal psychological aftermath of combat and loss.
- Who it's for
- Readers who appreciate psychologically astute, unsentimental war fiction and want to explore the darker, adult roots of a master storyteller.
Content notes
- war violence
- death and grief
- severe injury
- psychological trauma
About the book
Over to You brings together 10 of Roald Dahl's earliest stories, many of them set during the Second World War and drawing on his own experiences as a fighter pilot. It includes his first paid piece of writing, the short story A Piece of Cake, which was originally published in 1942 in American magazine The Saturday Evening Post under the title Shot Down Over Libya.
The 10 stories featured are:
Death of an Old, Old Man - An African Story - A Piece of Cake - Madame Rosette - Katina - Yesterday Was Beautiful - They Shall Not Grow Old - Beware of the Dog - Only This - Someone Like You
Description from Open Library.
Books like Over to You - Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying
See why they match
The Roald Dahl OmnibusRoald DahlA collection of sharp, peculiar tales that peel back the polite veneer of social customs to reveal the strange realities beneath.![Cover of Collected Short Stories [51 stories]](https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/13152052-M.jpg)
Collected Short Stories [51 stories]Roald DahlA masterclass in the macabre where polite society masks wicked intentions and every tale ends with a deliciously sharp sting.
To Cut a Long Story ShortJeffrey ArcherA brisk, entertaining collection of clever vignettes that rely on sharp observations and satisfyingly unpredictable twists.
Cat O' Nine Tales and Other StoriesJeffrey ArcherA clever, wryly observed collection of capers and cons that delights in the gray areas of morality and the satisfying sting of a twist ending.
The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other StoriesErnest HemingwayA stark, unsentimental meditation on the ghosts of the past and the quiet tragedy of unfulfilled lives.
For Your Eyes OnlyIan FlemingA crisp, shadowy descent into the glamorous and gritty world of mid-century espionage, where danger is served as cold as a martini.