When I was a child, there was a Disney movie called "Something Wicked this Way Comes". My mom let us watch it and we were scarred for life. When I say "scarred" I really mean that it made us think twice about things, introduced the scarab beetle into our northern Minnesota home, and made me never want to visit a traveling carnival.
As soon as I started reading this book, I fell in love with Bradbury's writing style. His use of analogy is nothing short of genius. Ask my husband about this, I was raving for days about how much I loved his writing style. I was so inspired that I started writing an email to Bradbury to ask him about his particular writing styles and inspiration. I had written half of the email over the course of a week, and then Ray Bradbury died. He will always be remembered.
Anyway, back to the book. The book is about two boys that are as different as ketchup and mustard, but they complement each other just as well. It's October, and they hear a carnival train in the distance. That's just when the fun begins. This is no ordinary carnival. It is the Carnival of Dark and Cooger. Mr. Dark (if you know Ray Bradbury's other stories) is referred to as the Illustrated Man. In the short story of the same title, it is not the same person, but carnivals and crazy creepy tattoos make an appearance. Mr. Dark in "Something Wicked this Way Comes" is fully covered in tattoos and makes it his personal mission to have the two boys as freaks in his carnival. Maybe they would ride on the carousel and age forward or backward with the spinning of the machine. Maybe they would get lost in the hall of mirrors never to be found. Maybe they would be turned to wax, but still be real.
The book gets pretty creepy. I started reading it and I immediately thought that I wouldn't let someone under the age of 13 read this book. It is written from an old point of view. I don't quite have the nostalgic view that the narrator does, so I don't know that I can fully grasp it. I know that it would be difficult for younger people to grasp the enormity and age of the narrator's scope.
My overall review is that the book is really winning. I mean the style captures you from the beginning, the imagery definitely gets your imagination working, and the analogies make me wish I was more creative than I am. There are parts where it was just slow and I would skip large paragraphs (usually when the dad is talking near the end). It's like the story is fast paced and scary and then the dad starts talking about summer and winter and days long past and it kinda gets a little old. I'm sure there are people out there who absolutely love that kind of writing, but it kinda wore down the excitement.
All in all, I would give it a 4 out of 5. I love Ray Bradbury's style, and I will continue to read more of his stuff.
As soon as I started reading this book, I fell in love with Bradbury's writing style. His use of analogy is nothing short of genius. Ask my husband about this, I was raving for days about how much I loved his writing style. I was so inspired that I started writing an email to Bradbury to ask him about his particular writing styles and inspiration. I had written half of the email over the course of a week, and then Ray Bradbury died. He will always be remembered.
Anyway, back to the book. The book is about two boys that are as different as ketchup and mustard, but they complement each other just as well. It's October, and they hear a carnival train in the distance. That's just when the fun begins. This is no ordinary carnival. It is the Carnival of Dark and Cooger. Mr. Dark (if you know Ray Bradbury's other stories) is referred to as the Illustrated Man. In the short story of the same title, it is not the same person, but carnivals and crazy creepy tattoos make an appearance. Mr. Dark in "Something Wicked this Way Comes" is fully covered in tattoos and makes it his personal mission to have the two boys as freaks in his carnival. Maybe they would ride on the carousel and age forward or backward with the spinning of the machine. Maybe they would get lost in the hall of mirrors never to be found. Maybe they would be turned to wax, but still be real.
The book gets pretty creepy. I started reading it and I immediately thought that I wouldn't let someone under the age of 13 read this book. It is written from an old point of view. I don't quite have the nostalgic view that the narrator does, so I don't know that I can fully grasp it. I know that it would be difficult for younger people to grasp the enormity and age of the narrator's scope.
My overall review is that the book is really winning. I mean the style captures you from the beginning, the imagery definitely gets your imagination working, and the analogies make me wish I was more creative than I am. There are parts where it was just slow and I would skip large paragraphs (usually when the dad is talking near the end). It's like the story is fast paced and scary and then the dad starts talking about summer and winter and days long past and it kinda gets a little old. I'm sure there are people out there who absolutely love that kind of writing, but it kinda wore down the excitement.
All in all, I would give it a 4 out of 5. I love Ray Bradbury's style, and I will continue to read more of his stuff.
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