Why are some of Roald Dahl's books so dark?

Roald Dahl was an unpleasant man who wrote macabre books – and yet children around the world adore them. ... The dark side of Roald Dahl .... read more

Their songs provide particularly dark little horror stories within the main narrative. If you took the Oompa-Loompas’ song about Augustus Gloop out of the novel and included it instead in Revolting Rhymes as an independent poem, it would become a straightforward story of a human being getting cut up and turned into food. read more

While Dahl is famous for his children’s books, adults often find that the children’s stories are quite creepy. For example, James in James and the Giant Peach is abused by adults and is constantly in danger of drowning, and Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory kills multiple children. read more

So, in honor of Roald Dahl's 100th birthday, here are the most disturbing moments in Roald Dahl's books (and possibly in any books, anywhere). Nowadays, we mostly think of Dahl's work as whimsical, and maybe a little dark, but back in the day his books were straight up controversial. read more