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juushikaTitle: Something Wicked This Way Comes
Author: Ray Bradbury
Published: New York: Avon Books, 1998 (1962)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 293
Total Page Count: 111,624
Text Number: 322
Read Because: personal enjoyment, from my library
Review: When a late carnival comes to town on the heels of a storm, two boys find themselves pitted against the ominous Mr. Dark in an ancient battle against the night. Bradbury is one of my favorite authors, but I don't have much fondness for his nostalgia literature—like Something Wicked This Way Comes, or Dandelion Wine. My memories aren't made up of those landscapes or experiences, and so there's no personal fondness. I also begrudge that branch of his work its stylistic redundancy. Bradbury's science fiction has incredible atmosphere, but it's driven by a demanding premise and/or constrained to short form, and so there's less opportunity for the prose to run away with itself—instead, his emotional focus and quietude are atmospheric blessings. Something Wicked has fantastic elements, but they're powered by nostalgia—and so while it offers up some beautiful turns of phrase, those are lost within a mountain road of prose. I've read the book before, some years back, and find I remember some parts well: there's aspects of the book that I love, and Bradbury creates a veritable carnival of horrors which delight me; I see how they could make for a successful book. Bradbury portrays an intensely idealized but vibrant representation of youth and youth's confrontation with age (and with life)—and his themes, despite their lack of personal appeal, are carried through with conviction. But no matter my best intentions and my love of the author, Something Wicked isn't the book for me. I appreciate and can recommend it for what it tries to be, but I don't enjoy it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: Ray Bradbury
Published: New York: Avon Books, 1998 (1962)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 293
Total Page Count: 111,624
Text Number: 322
Read Because: personal enjoyment, from my library
Review: When a late carnival comes to town on the heels of a storm, two boys find themselves pitted against the ominous Mr. Dark in an ancient battle against the night. Bradbury is one of my favorite authors, but I don't have much fondness for his nostalgia literature—like Something Wicked This Way Comes, or Dandelion Wine. My memories aren't made up of those landscapes or experiences, and so there's no personal fondness. I also begrudge that branch of his work its stylistic redundancy. Bradbury's science fiction has incredible atmosphere, but it's driven by a demanding premise and/or constrained to short form, and so there's less opportunity for the prose to run away with itself—instead, his emotional focus and quietude are atmospheric blessings. Something Wicked has fantastic elements, but they're powered by nostalgia—and so while it offers up some beautiful turns of phrase, those are lost within a mountain road of prose. I've read the book before, some years back, and find I remember some parts well: there's aspects of the book that I love, and Bradbury creates a veritable carnival of horrors which delight me; I see how they could make for a successful book. Bradbury portrays an intensely idealized but vibrant representation of youth and youth's confrontation with age (and with life)—and his themes, despite their lack of personal appeal, are carried through with conviction. But no matter my best intentions and my love of the author, Something Wicked isn't the book for me. I appreciate and can recommend it for what it tries to be, but I don't enjoy it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
