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Aug 10, 2010

Paul rated it:

I read this when I was an insanely romantic teenager and since then the cruel world has beaten all that nonsense out of my brain with bars of iron and wires of barb, and left me bleeding and barfing in a vile ditch, so I should probably not have plucked my old Corgi paperback of Something Wicked out from my most cobwebbed shelf and thought to wander nostalgically recapturing the wonder and enrapturement I once perceived herein. In those faroff days I wanted to be the smile on the bullet, I wante More...

48 comments like (76 people liked it)

Feb 13, 2011

notgettingenough rated it:

Update, 13 February 2011:

By the pricking of my thumbs
Something wicked this way comes.

He is the ghost of goodreads, stalking authors, turning their books into false memories, making ordinary folk on goodreads afeared of their memories, not trusting them. He is a gummity ghost, large of girth, which he claims is his love of food, but his food isn’t ordinary folks’ food, he feeds on the fears he creates in others. Boys aren’t like that. Boys weren’t like that. I though More...

62 comments like (30 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

Shan rated it:

I don’t own this copy, but it’s been my dream edition for a while now. The dust jacket, done by Joseph Mugnaini (a longtime collaborator of Ray Bradbury), is perfect artwork for this poetic tale of myth, magic, and friendship; a sort of picture book cover for somber autumnal children. I feel Mugnaini’s works of darkly tinged fantasy (at least for its time) are thematically similar to pieces by artists like Camille Rose Garcia, or even Mark Ryden (though, like Bradbury’s vision, Mugnaini has a s More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Sep 16, 2011

Mike (the Paladin) rated it:

One of my favorite "semi-horror" reads. I suppose it could be called "horror" but it doesn't fit neatly into the mold. Like a lot of Bradbury's work the smell of late summer and early fall permeates this volume. The point of view is that of a boy an the brink of manhood as he gets to know more about certain concepts of "good and evil" than he ever really wanted to. I grew up on a farm within walking distance of a small (very small) town and this work hits home with More...

9 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 30, 2011

Lou rated it:

The Dark carnival is coming to town and one boy and his dad are the towns only hope. If only out of fear you could stay home and don't go down to the fair ground tonight for the dark man awaits. Bradbury has a way with words and writes a good thriller. This one keeps you turning the pages with the fate of two friends in mind.

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jul 09, 2007

Jason rated it:

Ray Bradbury has never sat comfortably in the world of literature, nor with me; considered a "genre writer" by some and meant as an insult, a "serious writer" by others and meant as a compliment, it seems that I am always going back and forth about his merits in my head too, especially the farther away we get from many of the books' original publication dates. That said, how can you not love Something Wicked This Way Comes, which the older it gets the more can actually be app More...

0 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Brooke rated it:

Leveling any complaints against Bradbury seems like a literary crime, but I'm afraid I didn't enjoy Something Wicked as much I feel like I should have. The plot was really interesting, and right up my alley - evil carnival comes to town and preys on the unsuspecting citizens. The execution, however, left me wanting more.

The first problem is that the prose is a bit outdated. It's like I ran into with The Haunting of Hill House, it just didn't age well over the last 40-50 years. It's n More...

3 comments like (9 people liked it)

Nov 04, 2010

Regine rated it:

---EDIT---

I realized how completely incomprehensive my first review was, so this is a complete rewrite.

*Ahem*

I'm the kind of person that gets into the "spirit" of things. So for October, I decided to read three horror stories: Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde (a classic), The Strain (a complete flop for me) and Something Wicked This Way Comes. This book wasn't easy to find. I had to scour around in at least 6 bookstores in the city to find this book. When I finall More...

8 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 17, 2008

J rated it:

Authors like Salman Rushdie, I’ve written, are unable to write authentically in the vein of good wholesome simple answer philosophy because they write about complicated moral issues, complicated worlds, complicated resolutions. They deal with a very real world with very real difficulties.

Ray Bradbury is a different kettle of fish entirely. For the most part, Bradbury writes of a simpler moral universe, one in which there is starkly defined good and evil and there are people swayed in More...

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Jun 05, 2008

Daniel rated it:

If only I had read "Something Wicked This Way Comes" when I was 12 or 13 years old, I probably would have loved it and been able to reread it nostalgically. Sadly, I came to Ray Bradbury's book for the first time two decades too late.

"Something Wicked"'s main failing, especially to a reader who prefers his writing on the lean side, is its overly purple prose. (A long monologue by one of the book's main characters about "winter people" and "summer pe More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Sep 21, 2007

R. rated it:

I read this in the mid-80s, after half-watching the movie version. What caught my ear was Jason Robards saying, "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes."

It's Shakespeare, I now know. But I thought it was just plain ol' folk wisdom when I heard it. Calling evil on the carpet with a bit of rhyme. The old, "I know you're here..." routine.

Evil...hates it when you can front like that.

Still, had to inter-library loan More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 23, 2008

Sandi rated it:

This book is every bit as creepy as I remember. Bradbury's prose is exquisite. It mirrors the action in the novel perfectly. I loved the one sentence chapter. I don't think I ever really noticed the character of Charles Holloway when I was a kid, but he really is pretty amazing. He experiences more growth and change than the two boys. While this is supposed to be a coming of age story, the one who really becomes a man is Charlie.

I'm definitely passing this on to my son.
More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 28, 2007

Tara rated it:

Favorite Quotes

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?

A stranger is shot in the street, you hardly move to help. But if, half an hour before, you spent just ten minutes with the fellow and knew a little about him and More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 09, 2008

Doug rated it:

...his skin stealing the paleness from his bones... old... older... oldest...

This book deserves a review. I read a couple reviews from some yahoo's on goodread. How can you say anything derogatory about bradbury? One critic asked why can't he just write "he walked down the street" without taking 3 paragraghs to say it? My response is: backhand, fronthand, backhand, fronthand. WHAT!!!??? why didn't Page just strum an A, then D, A and D instead of giving us a minute thirty of More...

3 comments like (10 people liked it)

Oct 31, 2011

Erin rated it:

Simultaneous the creepiest and the best creepy book I've ever read. It's like horror without the vampires or blood or violence, just purely, psychologically scary. It felt like it should have been YA, but maybe that was because it was superficially about two thirteen-year-old boys. Upon retrospection, however, one wonders if the book was not actually about one of the boys' fifty-year-old father, or perhaps just about the nature of evil. Also, while this book is about a carnival, fear not, becaus More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 04, 2011

Richard rated it:

You know when you're reading a book and an unexpected turn of phrase, something resonant and powerful that lifts your imagination, jumps out at you. You might usually remember such a phrase, and recount it while trying to get your friends to pick up the book. Unfortunately, you have no hope of being able to do this with Bradbury's masterpiece, because every paragraph has one. Almost every sentence is one. The greatest, most disturbing, most uplifting novel ever to wheel out the freakshow for you More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 16, 2010

Lindsay rated it:

Horror, suspense, what have you, has generally not been my thing since I read Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark in grade school. The scariest thing I'll allow myself to read is awful writing, but that's usually unintentional and often cut short as soon as possible. I am a reader because I have an hyperactive imagination, books provide a great balance for that, and I have discovered over the years that I cannot allow myself to read spooky work, no matter how hokey it is, because I will let it c More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 09, 2008

Gail rated it:

I'm going to draw an odd comparison for this one: reading it, I felt much like I did while watching "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead". And by that I mean the experience left me admiring of the author (his talent, power of expression) more than the work itself. I could feel that Bradbury had these very powerful images and characters in him, and sometimes the narrative brought them to life, but at other points I had a hard time grasping them. My other gripe is that he doesn't re More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 29, 2007

Jeff rated it:

This was my second reading of this book, the first being, apparently, before I started my list way back in 1974, because there is no record of my reading of it. This book is a classic, a must read for anyone who likes Bradbury or the genre in which he writes.

The story is set in a small town in October (Bradbury loves to write in October), upon the advent of a carnival in town, much too late for carnival season. I love stories about carnivals. There is always something mysterious More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2011

Mansoor rated it:

Austin Powers said only two things scare him: nuclear war and carnies, or circus folk. I don't know what it is about the circus that blends so well with dark fantasy and the macabre, but I completely understand Austin's fear of circus folk. That's what makes this such a creepy book.

Something Wicked. . . is about a circus that glides into town silently, in the middle of the night. The ringmaster has the ability to grant people's wishes, but at a terrible price. Two boys discover t More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Oct 18, 2007

jeff rated it:

So i am on my something-like-7th time reading this book, and every time i read it it gets better and richer. It is a heartbreaker, poking all the soft spots involved in growing up and trying to understand what it is to be a decent man in the world. If there is a problem with this book, it is that it IS a book about men and boys, and the women are very much relegated to the sidelines, little more than archetypes of good people. That being said, so much happens in the week over which the story tak More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Aug 11, 2011

Leslie rated it:

There are a ton of magic realist, gothic-y novels out there about circuses, carnivals, magic shows, and the like. I presume every one of those writers has read this book. If they haven't, they should.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 12, 2008

Amanda rated it:

Read this on the recommendation of David S. and enjoyed it very much. While I have never been a 12 year old boy (nor have I ever played one on tv) I enjoyed the viewpoint of these boys as they stand on the edge of manhood, facing it with quite a bit of fear and wonder. The older father's fears for his son and sadness for his own lost youth are written about in such a lovely way. And honestly, the scary bits are pretty scary in a quietly menacing way. No splashing gore, but a steadily building s More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 19, 2009

Amy rated it:

one of my all time favorites. i love ray bradbury and the small town atmosphere of the story. the feel of the crisp autumn, and the arrival of the october people. i love the names of "the october people" "jim nightshade" and "cooger & dark's pandemonium shadow show". two young boys investigate and disrupt the strange carnival and its spooky owner mr. dark. they discover unusual goings on and the townspeople find a dark road to their deepest desires. i like stor More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Cendri rated it:

The fall/winter/horror companion piece, in my view, to Dandelion Wine, one of my all-time favorite books ever. Most people, I'm sure would see it the other way round, as SWtWC is certainly the more famous, and probably, in the end, better</> book, but I first read DW, taught by a fabulous English teacher who loved it, so my world view is colored. I suppose I should actually try to review Something Wicked instead of making this an indirect homage to DW. Oh well. Bradbury is such an eloq More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 11, 2011

Juushika rated it:

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 scien More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 14, 2009

Jason rated it:

SOMETHING WICKED is an intriguing book that I read with scrunched eyebrows. The plot is basic, but the language is beyond unusual. Bradbury stacks layer upon layer of odd but necessary metaphorical and mixed imagery to construct this phantasmagorical carnival of fulfilled yet unfulfilled dreams and desires. The October wind takes the form of ice cream as the protagonists, Will and Jim, stand in awe as the black train carrying Dark and Cooger’s Pandemonium Shadow Show chills the air of an unsuspe More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 20, 2012

Sofia rated it:

“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes….”

This is considered a dark-fantasy classic due to its cautionary message and interesting style. It is also a coming-of age tale featuring two brave boys and a travelling carnival like no other…

What drew me to this book in the first place was my fondness for Ray Bradbury’s short stories. This book has short, punchy chapters of no more than a few pages, yet the plot is by no means simplistic. It is similar to S More...

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Dec 12, 2011

Brown.carolyn rated it:

This book opens up with the weather dipping into fall in the beginning of October and takes place over the month- what a great coincidence to have picked it up during that time of year. Bradbury's writing is often poetic stage-setting and deeply, yet simply philosophical. He's great because he can blend awe of nature, curiosity of man, and ethical debates in his books without being overly preachy. I would recommend reading Bradbury's The Illustrated Man first. I happened to do just that, and it More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 04, 2011

Heidi rated it:

Will and Jim are 13 years old and best friends in a small Indiana town. An innocuous-seeming carnival comes to town in October, but Will and Jim know there's something wrong with the carnival--something very dark and evil. And that knowledge makes them targets.

I remembered this as a spooky Halloween novel, much like the Disney movie based on the book. And it IS spooky and dark and twisted: a calliope plays itself, a magic mirror maze drives people insane, a carousel makes people o More...

1 comment like