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A review by mediaevalmuse
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
4.0
I’ve always loved Bradbury’s writing, whether it has been his science fiction or something more along the lines of dark fantasy/horror. There’s something about the way he writes that gives me chills - perhaps its the poetic prose, which makes the images he presents us more gripping than books that simply describe what’s happening. If you’re a lover of poetry or dark fantasy/horror, I would highly recommend giving this book a go.
Things I Liked
1. Prose: Bradbury knows how to write a damn book. Reading his novel feels like reading a poem: words that wouldn’t normally be grouped together work to create intense reading experiences. He avoids common cliches and invents his own ways of relating what everything looks like in his world. His prose is also very oral - he groups sounds together so that you can’t help but want to hear the story being read aloud.
2. Charles Halloway: Even though this story is largely about two adolescent boys, one of the boys’ fathers, Charles Halloway, is phenomenally written. He is a bit of an older father and works as a janitor in the local library. I loved how Bradbury used this character to explore finding happiness and purpose later in life - for most of the book, it seemed like Halloway wished he was younger, but by the end, his mind is totally changed and his relationship with his son has grown.
3. Carousel: I found the carousel to be one of the most unexpectedly threatening and chilling aspects of the book. The carousel is able to alter someone’s age - forward for making them older, backward to make someone younger. It always seemed like a threat. Dark would use it to disguise people but also punish them. It’s spooky because the thought is very appealing - what young boy wouldn’t mind being a little older or an adult being a little younger? Bradbury pushes this to the extreme so that I always saw the carousel as a weapon rather than a mystical object.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Lack of Clarity: One of the pitfalls with pose this poetic is that sometimes, readers can miss things. There were more than a few instances where I wasn’t quite sure what was happening because the prose was so indirect.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in poetry, poetic prose, oral poetry, carnivals, freak shows, and 19th century rural life.
Things I Liked
1. Prose: Bradbury knows how to write a damn book. Reading his novel feels like reading a poem: words that wouldn’t normally be grouped together work to create intense reading experiences. He avoids common cliches and invents his own ways of relating what everything looks like in his world. His prose is also very oral - he groups sounds together so that you can’t help but want to hear the story being read aloud.
2. Charles Halloway: Even though this story is largely about two adolescent boys, one of the boys’ fathers, Charles Halloway, is phenomenally written. He is a bit of an older father and works as a janitor in the local library. I loved how Bradbury used this character to explore finding happiness and purpose later in life - for most of the book, it seemed like Halloway wished he was younger, but by the end, his mind is totally changed and his relationship with his son has grown.
3. Carousel: I found the carousel to be one of the most unexpectedly threatening and chilling aspects of the book. The carousel is able to alter someone’s age - forward for making them older, backward to make someone younger. It always seemed like a threat. Dark would use it to disguise people but also punish them. It’s spooky because the thought is very appealing - what young boy wouldn’t mind being a little older or an adult being a little younger? Bradbury pushes this to the extreme so that I always saw the carousel as a weapon rather than a mystical object.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Lack of Clarity: One of the pitfalls with pose this poetic is that sometimes, readers can miss things. There were more than a few instances where I wasn’t quite sure what was happening because the prose was so indirect.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in poetry, poetic prose, oral poetry, carnivals, freak shows, and 19th century rural life.