Something Wicked This Way Comes

Short Review: I got through about a quarter of it and gave up. Just didn't get into any of the characters. I may try again later, but I was bored.

While this could be considered Horror literature, to me Bradbury uses the horror device, through the demonic personages of a carnival from hell, to unfold a coming-0f-age story. Bradbury points out that the decisions a young person makes in that time of transition to adulthood can help or haunt them the rest of their lives. And, the decisions made are also very dependent upon the adult role models around them who are also carrying baggage from their own pasts. It is also possible that responsible adults may help slay their own demons by successfully guiding the young through their problems during their time of transition to adulthood.

DNF @50%. Beautiful language. But you really need to take your time to take it in. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to pull me along. I needed something more enticing in the story or characters to continue.

There is a depth and artistry to the writing here with what can only be described as ‘beautiful' prose. At times, the hyperbole, metaphors, or similes even have a poetic nature to them that gives an entirely unexpected dimension to a genre piece. The story itself also offers a quick-pace that, while incorporating a few bits of mystery/intrigue and surprise along the way.

This was absolutely wild. In parts more poetry than prose, honestly. It felt like a trip and so well encompassed the fears of childhood. That said m, it was realllllly weird.

This started as a Halloween read that took too long to get off the ground. The prose is at times unintelligible as it takes up to an entire page to describe a carousel and using metaphors that are quite odd on the regular. It didn't really get exciting until I was 60% of the way through the book, but it did hit a good clip until about 90% when it slowed down again. All in all, it was not worth the read and I'm not sure what the hype is about. Perhaps people found different things scary in the 40s? But the scariest part of this book was that one of the men had tattoos, which was mentioned approximately 400 times.

“I'd know,” said Jim, in the night. “I'd know.”“Sure. You'd just go away and leave me here, Jim.”

the themes of aging and mortality were so poignant and i just think this book is brilliant. so looking forward to reading the rest of the “series”

If you and I sat down to talk about what this book meant or what we got out of it, I bet our reasoning would be fairly different. Sometimes a book speaks to you, makes you understand yourself better, or puts things into perspective. Stumbling across these treasures and feeling that jolt, no matter how long it lasts, is kind of why we read.

Bradbury weaves beautiful allegory into a book that could be considered scary, but not for the reasons you might suspect after reading the synopsis.The story is set in a small town that gets a visit from a carnival. It uses a vast array of sights and sounds to invite the locals to come and see some of its unique attractions. Our main characters are swept up in the moment and make their way to the scene in the dead of night. Little do they know, the rides and those who run them might be up to something sinister.

I marked this book up a lot. I mean, it's going to be hard to read over. The margins are packed! The actual story was fine, but the family dynamic is what really captured my attention. I felt that some passages were written for me, or at least explained certain feelings I would never be able to express myself. I.e., the father and son converse on the porch.

In terms of writing, it might be a bit too whimsical for some, but I loved the lyrical prose. It was touching too. I found myself with a slight mist under the eyes in some parts and gleeful joy in many others.

I think I'll be more like Will, Jim, and Charles and not dwell on regrets or how the future might shape me. Give this book a shot and see how it affects you.

Frost said it best: “In three words, I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on.”

I picked this book for our October book club and oh boy did it not disappoint. It was a delight. Can I call it delicious? Can a book be delicious? His language, his wording is something to behold. I loved reading this book and I savored it. This paragraph is an example of Bradbury's beautiful writing. “She is immortal. She has a son. Your son, too! But what father ever really believes it? He carries no burden, he feels no pain. What man, like woman, lies down in darkness, and gets up with child? Oh, what strange wonderful clocks women are. They nest in Time. They make the flesh that holds fast and binds eternity. They live inside the gift, know power, accept, and need not mention it. Why speak of time when you are Time, and shape the universal moments, as they pass, into warmth and action? How men envy and often hate these warm clocks, these wives, who know they will live forever.“
It's a short book, if you've never read it, treat yourself to this classic this spooky season.

Great story but the prose was so tedious it was hard to finish.

A classic horror book that stands the test of time. Will, Jim and Will's father are characters that will stay with you long after you've closed the book. As will the characters and freaks that inhabit the carnival and continue to lure unsuspecting carnival goers to a somewhat unexpected end...

It took me a while to get into this one, but once I did it was a terrific read. The last half had a ton of suspense and I had no idea how it was going to end.

I found the way Bradbury writes in this book to be truly beautiful and at times. I just loved the vividness of his descriptions. Unfortunately at times. The narrative and story get lost in the mix and it comes across confusing and clunky at times. But I do feel like I was transported to this whimsical/haunting time. I just wish the structure was a bit better and I didn't struggle to understand what was happening at times in the actual story.

2.5 stars. Oh how I wanted to love this book. While the writing was good and the carnival atmosphere creepy, the plot read like a children's book with a weird ass Disney ending?!? Granted, I may not be in the particularly best mood for a book like this. So it probably a case of “it's not you, it's me”.

DNF

Fear is powerful, belief more so, but none more so than Love. Slow and too wordy, but with characters reminiscent of some of my favorite Stephen King characters (influenced maybe) ie. Rose the Hat and her crew, I ended up kinda enjoying this. I'm as surpised as you are Jen.

What the hell did I just read?

I liked the way this story was written, almost poetically. My husband and I read it aloud to one another before Halloween since this was classified as “horror.” I would say it is more a coming-of-age story with some morality-tale undertones. I didn't find it scary at all, which I was fine with. It did have many horror themes so I can't really say it wasn't horror.

My main reason for giving it three stars was I found it hard to focus during much of it. Maybe that was from listening to it as well as reading it. But there are also a lot of rambling sentences that have unclear, though deep and poetic, meaning, so paying close attention was difficult. I also felt that there was a disconnect between the reader and the characters that may have been purposeful, though again it made it hard to invest.

Overall, I enjoyed it. If I read it again the future I would maybe enjoy it better the second time.

Oh dear, it was scary! Perfect Halloween story!

I love it that it was the father who was the hero of the story. I love fathers.

I love the circle story structure - the race returned everything back to normal, safe, kind and warm...

I love Ray Bradbury's books :-)

Many decades ago, when I was in Junior high ( middle school these days), an English teacher recommended this book to me. It's the only time a humanities instructor suggested I read some Science Fiction or Fantasy book.
Anyway, recall that I liked it but at 14 I think I was easily impressed.

My daughter was recently reading it so I thought I'd see how it held up.
This time I found it to be tedious. There were scenes that were creepy (the library scene and the merry-go-round).
But for each of those there would be a long lecture on what evil was or something.
She summed it up by a quote from the book,
“You”, said Jim.”talk a lot”
So, I suggest you take Bradbury in small doses, like his short stories.

Una cl??sica lucha entre el bien y el mal. Si bien pone sus temas sobre la mesa expl??citamente (a trav??s del mon??logo de un personaje), no deja de ser una novela con im??genes fant??sticas y una prosa deliciosa.

Bastante recomendada para los fans del horror o la fantas??a.

I didn't see the movie version of this until I was an adult, and I really disliked it. After reading the book, I have more sympathy for the filmmakers, since it sure SEEMS like there's enough imagery in it to make for a great movie. But in reality, everything that makes the book great is unfilmable — it's all the passages where Bradbury rhapsodizes about youth in small town America; or explains the sense of indescribable loss that comes from being reminded of your age; or sets the stakes for a tense scene not just as the fate of a young boy or his middle-aged father, but a battle between good and evil that goes back for millennia.

I was surprised to see in Bradbury's afterword that the story spent so much of its life in the form of various screenplays, since most of its essence seems to be in Bradbury's flowery descriptions (which were at some times overwrought, which along with some period-appropriate but still unfortunate sexist mentality, are my only complaints about the book).

If there is one take away from this book, it's that Ray Bradbury has turned a fictional novel into decadent, rich poetry. At times too rich, like a dessert you should stop eating after a couple of bites but don't, this book reels you in back for more. This book doesn't pretend to be anything than what it is, a beautifully told, thrill-seeking tale surrounding the ordinary friendship of two boys teetering into adulthood and the lives of a sleepy small town on the verge of something extraordinary and peculiar. After a slew of non-fiction and other appropriate adult nonsense, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES was a welcome, pleasant, and devouring read. My first exposure to Bradbury, I must say it was fantastically enjoyable.

This feels so American to me. I wish I had read this in my childhood, it feels like it belongs in childhood, as if that is its primary setting.

Delicious. More flavor than substance, but in a satisfying way. I suppose that's a round about way of saying: cheesy, but I liked it.

Always a pleasure to see a true master at work.