Just as Adrian Mole defined me aged 13¾, Dylan Thomas’ ‘Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog’ did so at 18. After receiving this as a gift from my parents at age 13, I’m glad I waited to read this when I was a little older. In 10 short stories, Thomas takes you through his childhood starting as a youngster and finishing as a young man. Rife with his signature poetic style; his prose are full of youthful misadventure, naturalistic description and genuine feeling.The key thing that stood out to m...

Dylan Thomas has one of the most distinctive writing styles ever, doesn't he? I feel like, if I came across any of his writing without knowing who it was by I'd be able to work it out from a single sentence.

remarkable , singular beauty

These "short stories" are more tellings of thomas's childhood, the people he knew and his memories of certain times. Some of them are beautifully written but not much to bring you back to re-read them. Highlights ~ "The Peaches" "Where Tawe Flows" "Who Do You Wish Was With Us" and "One Warm Saturday".

The ten short glimpses into Dylan Thomas’s youth in Wales are a joy to read. I particularly liked “The Peaches”, “Extraordinary Little Cough”, “Just Like Little Dogs”, and “Where Tawe Flows”, but Thomas’s writing is lyrical and poignant throughout. Quotes:On walking at night, feeling both solitude and a oneness with the world at the same time:“I liked to walk through the wet town after midnight, when the streets were deserted and the window lights out, alone and alive on the glistening tram-line...

Thomas is better known as a poet (ex. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night") but here he uses prose, or, more accurately, prose-poetry. Thomas parodies the title and the structure, but not the content, of Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", and "Dubliners". Whereas Joyce gave us windows into his youth in Ireland of the late-19th to early 20th century, Thomas writes of Wales circa the 1920s. Most of the stories are straightforward, but one or two are highly symbolic and make no sen...

It was a kinda slow at times, and sometimes it didn't really keep my attention. The end is really good, but I'm not sure if it is sufficiently good to make up for the slow rest of the book. It's definitely well written, many of the descriptions are really quite beautiful, but overall it was just okay. The style was nice, and if I spent more time thinking about the book and what it was saying I probably would have liked it more.

I started telling my friend this story from my childhood when I realized I had no memory of the event. It wasn't my childhood at all but Three Peaches. Dylan's stories are so natural and absorbing that they settle in with you.

I found the Welsh laureate’s prose not of enormous interest to mine palate: a couple of the stories concerning the canine artist’s earlier childhood, such as ‘The Peaches’, painting a vivid scene of class disparity, and ‘A Visit to Grandpa’s’, a slow, black, discombobulating tale of a disturbed relative, were captivating. As the collection progressed, I found the stories less riveting and harder to particularly hurl myself at with readerly gusto, regardless of the frequent passages of tremendous...

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog is a short volume of ten stories, all somewhat autobiographical, by Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas. This is a pick for for Paula’s #Dewithon22, and my almost-last-minute substitute for my original pick, a volume of fairy tales, which shall have to be read another time. (This review does contain some spoilers)Portrait’s stories take us to different places—from visits to relations (an uncle and aunt, and his grandfather), his friend’s home, a day-trip/trek...

There were always a few Dylan Thomas poems in our English lit books in high school - "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" was the most prominent - but I don't think I really got it until I heard a recording of him reading "A Child's Christmas In Wales" in his incredibly rich, expressive and tender baritone. The stories in this little volume are in that vein - quaint and loving reminiscences of his boyhood Wales, but unsparing, and richly evocative. Here is a short sentence about drinking beer...

Disappointing.Intermittent brilliance,Uneven. Punctuated with memorable phrases, but adding up to nothing.review of Dylan Thomas --p. 11 conducted the wind with his whipp. 14 I climbed the stairs, each had a different voicep. 29 The floorboards had squeaked like mice s I climbed into bed, and the ice between the walls had creaked like wood... I had pulled the sheets over my head, and soon was roaring and riding in a book.p. 39 uncles from America, where he had no uncles, might arrive with revolv...

There was a time when Dylan Thomas's poetry was a necessary obsession for literary adolescents. But then we grew up. These days most of the poems don't seem convincing, but the prose and 'Under Milkwood' still hold their own.If the title is a not so sly dig at Joyce the collection of stories invites and is haunted by a damaging comparison with 'Dubliners'.Thomas's prose sings and the stories of growing up in Wales are memorable. 'One Warm Saturday' , the last story, has been a favorite for decad...

I especially liked: The Fight and One Warm Saturday. I haven't read any Dylan Thomas before, but I really enjoyed the atmospheric feeling of his prose. I think the predominant themes of isolation, loneliness, and longing were captured beautifully in the exploration of coming of age in the city. Seems to me he has a pretty vast and deep understanding of the human condition.

"Now you confess," said Gwilym."What have I got to confess?" "The worst thing you've done."I let Edgar Reynolds be whipped because I had taken his homework: I stole from my mother's bag; I stole from Gwyneth's bag; I stole twelve books in three visits to the library, and threw them away in the park; I drunk a cup of my water to see what it tasted like; I beat a dog with a stick so that it would roll over and lick my hand afterwards; I looked with Dan Jones through the keyhole while his maid had

I don't like Dylan Thomas' short stories nearly as much as his poetry and Under Milk Wood, but he certainly has a way with words, with descriptions that are fresh and different. For that it gets an extra star than I would normally give it.A couple of these stories -- 'A Visit to Grandpa's' and 'One Warm Saturday' -- are really going to stick in my mind.As with Under Milk Wood, likely to reward rereading: I'd read 'The Peaches' and 'Extraordinary Little Cough' before, and I liked them more this t...

The man truly knows how to spin out a meandering, beautiful sentence. You can bet he read his stories aloud, in the editing stage at least. Autobiographical stories, set in and around Thomas' native Swansea, Wales, ranging from young boyhood to early adulthood. Conflicts are subtle--eg, in the outstanding opening story, the rich visitor sticks her nose up at the tin of peaches, failing to understand or care that it's a rare treat for young Dylan's family, a luxury saved for special occasions. Gr...

10 short autobiographical pieces with many a singular poetic image. As in: 'I climbed the stairs; each had a different voice.'

There's a great deal of interesting characters to these stories and though they don't really knock you over the head, they tend to stick with you for awhile in all their small subtleties. What I really enjoyed about this book is, and excuse me for being very Holden Caufield-y but none of the characters are fake or phony even the guy who convinces two women he loves them both. There's a sense of innocence to these Welsh human beings even when their intentions are not so good and there's also a hu...

This was such a good read. He has such a way of describing people and situations. It's really worth reading - actually made me laugh out loud which doesn't happen a lot with books =) It's a collection of short chapters about his childhood and his days as a newbie journalist in Swansea. With lots of eccentric Welsh characters all over the place. I especially loved the chapter when he was little and was staying with his uncle and aunt and his mad cousin who had built a church in the farmyard barn;...