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11th out of 29 books
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Dandelion Wine (Grand Master)
by
Ray Bradbury
The summer of '28 was a vintage season for a growing boy. A summer of green apple trees, mowed lawns, and new sneakers. Of half-burnt firecrackers, of gathering dandelions, of Grandma's belly-busting dinner. It was a summer of sorrows and marvels and gold-fuzzed bees. A magical, timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding—remembered forever...more
Mass Market Paperback, 239 pages
Published
March 1st 1985
by Bantam
(first published January 1st 1957)
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The only reason I gave this book five stars was because I couldn't give it five thousand.
I can't express how beautiful this book is. I've never cried so hard (no, not even when Mrs. Johnson read us "Where the Red Fern Grows" in the third grade), nor have I felt so much love from a bunch of grouped together, sixty-year-old, courier-fonted words. I've never been more scared than I was by the possibility of the Lonely One being just around the corner, hiding in the shadows. ...more
I can't express how beautiful this book is. I've never cried so hard (no, not even when Mrs. Johnson read us "Where the Red Fern Grows" in the third grade), nor have I felt so much love from a bunch of grouped together, sixty-year-old, courier-fonted words. I've never been more scared than I was by the possibility of the Lonely One being just around the corner, hiding in the shadows. ...more
Recently while moving bookcases, books and furniture around, I came across my copy of Dandelion Wine.
I had read it once, years ago, during my own personal Golden Age of Science Fiction, ages 8 to 16. Now was a good time as any to revisit this novel. Bradbury had been marked, incorrectly, in my mind as a sci-fi writer on the same level as Heinlein or Asimov.
He's not a hard core, I, Robot type of sci-fi writer, really. More like a fantasy writer who touched on sci-fi theme...more
I had read it once, years ago, during my own personal Golden Age of Science Fiction, ages 8 to 16. Now was a good time as any to revisit this novel. Bradbury had been marked, incorrectly, in my mind as a sci-fi writer on the same level as Heinlein or Asimov.
He's not a hard core, I, Robot type of sci-fi writer, really. More like a fantasy writer who touched on sci-fi theme...more
Sure, it's overly sentimental and largely ignores the social problems of the time depicted, but when you're 12 years old in small-town America, there are no social problems. There are only problems regarding the new pair of tennis shoes you want, the creepy guy who hangs out in the ravine, the desire to live forever, to be young forever, to build the perfect happiness machine. Besides, Bradbury's writing is so rich it practically drips, much like biting into a perfectly ripe peach in August.
Um....ok so I totally hated this book. I hope someone out there can tell me why this is a good book. It's unique, sure, but it's just a mess of words. In reading the introduction, I felt like I got a sense of why that is. The author said he forced himself to word-dump every single morning - just writing as creatively etc as he could. Well, I think he just put those "creative" word-dumps together and called it a story. It has no story line, no voice, no character development, no point. ...more
I enjoyed reading this book when I was in my early 20s, but only re-reading it in my 50s have I realized what a wonderful novel "Dandelion Wine" is, what an amazing evocation of summer in a small town. The summer evoked is 1928, but it could almost as easily be 1948 or 1968 as well. The book paints a picture of a time when one walked or took a trolley around town, talked with friends and family on a large front porch, had a soda or ice cream at a drugstore fountain, and listened to gra...more
If you get caught up in Ray Bradbury's usual eerie subject matter, it's easy to forget that he's a master prose stylist and one of the greatest writers of our time. For my money, Dandelion Wine is by far his most beautiful work. It's hard to peg: I guess you could call it a coming-of-age story, but that's much too simplistic for this timeless, complex, and layered book - it transcends the genre. The series of kaleidoscopic, ever-shifting vignettes of one summer in a small Midwestern town - told ...more
Amazing storytelling. What a gift for weaving such vivid images and emotions from mere words! The description of the pantry and of the Grandmother's cooking is an explosion of sensations. Also memorable is the Grandfather's feelings about the lawnmower. And the Grandmother's death is another stand-out part of this story. Who cares if the story is interesting (to me it was ok but not great), the writing is what makes this book a great read.
Illustrates life in a way that leaves you rethinking your relationships to your past. This book has an air of nostalgia that carries throughout the book. It takes you back to a place where summers meant running through the grass barefoot and where five somersaults, six push-ups and climbing a tree made everything all better. I loved the relationships between the neighbors. Beautiful, poetic and magical.
So I've assigned this book for summer reading for my honors sophomores, so I guess it's time I read it :). I've read many "bits" over the years and have appreciated it. The timing of this book is perfect--I love his depiction of summer and it's smells and traditions. I am positive my 15 year-old students will not appreciate its lyrical language, but I'm loving it.
Here are some of those "bits" I love.
"It was a quiet morning, the town covered ove...more
Here are some of those "bits" I love.
"It was a quiet morning, the town covered ove...more
3.5. The writing is very poetic and from a different, formal era. Centered around brothers Doug and Tom, 12 and 10 yrs old, in the summer of 1928. They go through the same summer rituals as always: first time running barefoot in the grass of the year, first swim in the lake of the year, first dandelion harvest of the year for Grandfathers dandelion wine—but they have new realizations about these things, and they record it all in their nickel tablet. (I guess that's like an old-fashioned jour...more
Charlotte
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone who wants to savor the taste of summer!
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury is a wonderful, easy read about the summer of 1928 in Greentown, IL – a fictional small town loosely based upon Ray Bradbury’s own hometown and childhood experiences.
Dandelion Wine is a collection of fascinating and uplifting short stories with timeless appeal to both adults and children. Each chapter stands alone brilliantly while simultaneously weaving together the intimate secrets of the Midwestern town with great care. Twelve year old Douglas Spaul...more
Dandelion Wine is a collection of fascinating and uplifting short stories with timeless appeal to both adults and children. Each chapter stands alone brilliantly while simultaneously weaving together the intimate secrets of the Midwestern town with great care. Twelve year old Douglas Spaul...more
In reading Dandelion Wine, I've come to the conclusion that it is the perfect book for Miyazaki to make a film of. It's so full of nostalgia, and Bradbury deftly captures the milieu of summer; never in my life have I wanted more to be a boy during a hot summer again than right now.
This book reveals Bradbury's uncanny skill and style in brilliant light. He simply creates at a higher level than most of his peers. Each page reads like a poem, an ode to the summer months, like a maste...more
This book reveals Bradbury's uncanny skill and style in brilliant light. He simply creates at a higher level than most of his peers. Each page reads like a poem, an ode to the summer months, like a maste...more
This was one of my first Bradbury reads (great place to start eh?). I'm a romantic at heart so this work was designed with my heart in mind. It soars with beautiful prose and it speaks to any young child out there but particularly young boys growing up in the midwest of the U.S. like myself. Classic sci-fi/fantasy.
I've now read this book a second time and it reveals even more layers as I age. It's a book that was written by a young Bradbury who was wise beyond his years. So many wond...more
I've now read this book a second time and it reveals even more layers as I age. It's a book that was written by a young Bradbury who was wise beyond his years. So many wond...more
Just reviewed Something Wicked This Way Comes, and felt like I should add this, too. First read it in English class as a junior in high school, taught by Mrs. Simmons, a wonderful English teacher who adored it. I share her opinion. Some might say this book is short on plot, and they'd be right. There isn't really any to speak of - the book is mostly a collection of short summer-archetypal vignettes. But the moments Bradbury describes manage to capture that innocent, sparkly, nostalgic quali...more
As a kid, I read science fiction voraciously, and I always tried to like Bradbury. I never could. His books didn't read like sci-fi to me. This particular book has everything I don't like about Bradbury's "style" such as predictability, an almost Norman Rockwellesque dose of sacherine-sweet Americana and such a high level of repetition that one wonders whether he hates his readers, or merely considers them to be morons. All this, and no robots or far away planets yields his penultimate...more
Transcendent. Luminous. Heartbreakingly nostalgic. A re-read, of course, spurred on by the discovery of a brand new sequel. I've always loved this book, but never so much as now when my own boy is 12. This warm and loving novel-cum-memoir is nothing at all like Bradbury's other books. It's a love letter to that moment when one is hanging suspended in the dream space between childhood and manhood. It's the magic of new tennis shoes and the realization that you too must die. Bradbury inhabits Doug...more
Favorite book of all time. I have read it once a year for at least a decade now. It combines the best of two worlds: short stories and novels, as it is a hybrid of the two. Ray Bradbury's language is beautifully vivid and descriptive. I love the chapter about the grandmother, the chapter about the great-grandmother, the chapter about the smell of grass... It combines themes of summertime, childhood, and traditions. Many call it a "coming of age" novel but it is more than that. Even if ...more
If you appreciate poetry. If you were ever a 10-year-old boy in the midwest. This is the best book ever written in the English language.[return][return][return]As long ago as I can remember having a favorite book, it's been Dandelion Wine. Martian Chronicles was good sci-fi and Farenheit 451 was a very important book in my life. But Dandelion Wine walks many paths. It's first appeal to me was through the youth of it's hero - the Dennis-the-Menace-like Douglas Spaulding and his well-described chi...more
Like my favorite author Peter Beagle, Ray Bradbury is a modern day wizard. The way he weaves words, every sentence is an incantation, perfectly spoken, conjuring up some wonderful new way of seeing something old and familiar. I think most people, if they've heard of Bradbury at all, are familiar with his science fiction work: Farenheit 451 probably the most followed by his short stories, particularly Kaleidoscope and A Sound of Thunder. While I do like his science fiction work, my favorite stor...more
Dandelion Wine is summer days stored up in bottles to be enjoyed during the cold January afternoons. Somehow Ray Bradbury used this book to store up an entire summer so it can be taken out and enjoyed years later. This isn't just any summer. He has stored up that one summer when everything changed. I remember that summer for me. All of a sudden childhood wasn't quite what it was and in a very short time I knew it would be over. Yet despite that it was an amazing summer with wonderful adventures ...more
Sometimes you just need to get smacked on the head. What I mean is there is a reason that writers get a reputation and sometimes you look at those old writers and you think there are probably better works out there, or perhaps you think that dude's stuff is dated. Well here I am having read another Ray Bradbury novel and I'm thinking to myself, “Self, you should've read this one a long time ago.”
Dandelion Wine is an amazing story. But what's amazing is hidden inside what's mundane. Dou...more
Dandelion Wine is an amazing story. But what's amazing is hidden inside what's mundane. Dou...more
The cover is really eye catching. that was why i picked it up. It has lots of nice pictures on it and very mysterious. This book is about Douglas Spaulding living in Illinois and making dandelion wine with his brother. Summer is here. But Douglas realize he is missing some new shoes. he wants to run. Douglas tells the man of his passion fro the shoes. The salesman is convinced and he decides to give Douglas errands to do in exchange for the shoes. Douglas decides to record traditions that happen...more
Many years ago an acquaintance mentioned that this was a book she read every year, which comment drove the book up to the top of my "to read" list. The remark also predisposed me to absolutely LOVE the book. I too launched a "yearly read" of the book and when my oldest child was about twelve I read it aloud to the family once a year. When we would go on walks we would talk about the book and enjoyed many stimulating conversations. We listed what we might include in a "...more
This has to be one of the most delightful books I've ever read, and I've read it too many times to count. I love the delicious sensory feast—the smell of the fresh mown grass, the feel of brand-new sneakers, the sound of Grandma's wonderful cooking in progress, as well as the tantalizing odors, and the list goes on and on—as well as those amazing childhood memories, fleeting as they are, caught for just a moment to savor once again. The irony of the young man and the very old woman finding love ...more
I was a member of the Grand Junction High School Debate Team. I didn’t participate in the debate though. I was completely there for the Original Oratory and the Drama Interpretation. The summer after my 9th grade year, I read Dandelion Wine. It changed my life. I even used one of the chapters for my Drama Interp for my sophomore year’s competition. I still get chills when I read:
“Crossing the lawn that morning, Douglas Spalding broke a spider web
with hi...more
“Crossing the lawn that morning, Douglas Spalding broke a spider web
with hi...more
Dandelion Wine was a good book. Some of the book were really slow but some parts were very interesting which made up for the boring pages. This book for me, took a while to get used to. Bradbury writes using imagery, which is very difficult to read at first, but you get used to it once you get into the third chapter.
Dandelion Wine has many different characters the pop in and out throughout the book. This element is what caught my attention. It was like a new surprise in every chapter ...more
Dandelion Wine has many different characters the pop in and out throughout the book. This element is what caught my attention. It was like a new surprise in every chapter ...more
Every time I start a book by Ray Bradbury, I groan and fume, then get bored and irritable. His sentences are so bad. I want to get out my red pen and act like a high school teacher. The characters are drawn in such an odd way that as a reader I get self conscious. I don't care about these everyday people, but then they start voicing those slightly skewed Bradbury thoughts and I recognize those ideas as ones I've had myself.
Eventually I arrive in the world he has created, whe...more
What an amazing book. I started it on nearly the first day of summer, and have finished it on what amounts to the last day (my kids return to school today.) For this book, which spans a summer as well, this is about perfect!
What can I add about a classic like this? With hardly a false note, it turns easily from simple prose to glittering descriptions packed tight with metaphors and similes. Packed like raisins in a box, or a glistening jar of pie filling crammed full of cherries, bu...more
What can I add about a classic like this? With hardly a false note, it turns easily from simple prose to glittering descriptions packed tight with metaphors and similes. Packed like raisins in a box, or a glistening jar of pie filling crammed full of cherries, bu...more
Happiness
It is not surprising that a book about a child's summer should have happiness as a major theme. However, given that the story involves coming to terms with death it is significant that there is not a single episode in the novel that does not have some manner of happy ending. Everything in life is happy. Douglas and Tom are almost always happy. Happiness is not so much opposed to sadness in Dandelion Wine as it is a default state. Life is enjoyable, so people should be happy....more
It is not surprising that a book about a child's summer should have happiness as a major theme. However, given that the story involves coming to terms with death it is significant that there is not a single episode in the novel that does not have some manner of happy ending. Everything in life is happy. Douglas and Tom are almost always happy. Happiness is not so much opposed to sadness in Dandelion Wine as it is a default state. Life is enjoyable, so people should be happy....more
A brilliant tiny step away from the fantastic.
I feel that if I were a legitimate writer, and by that I mean capable of producing works worth reading, that Ray Bradbury would be one of my biggest inspirations. He has truly managed to place himself in a literary category that I can only describe as "Bradburian". Is he an SF writer? A suspense writer? General fiction? Perhaps one could even place him amongst the Theatre of the Absurd. It is difficult to place him on one certai...more
I feel that if I were a legitimate writer, and by that I mean capable of producing works worth reading, that Ray Bradbury would be one of my biggest inspirations. He has truly managed to place himself in a literary category that I can only describe as "Bradburian". Is he an SF writer? A suspense writer? General fiction? Perhaps one could even place him amongst the Theatre of the Absurd. It is difficult to place him on one certai...more
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Ray Bradbury, American novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and poet, was born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. He graduated from a Los Angeles high school in 1938. Although his formal education ended there, he became a "student of life," selling newspapers on L.A. street corners from 1938 to 1942, spending his nights in the public library and his days a...more
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“Some people turn sad awfully young. No special reason, it seems, but they seem almost to be born that way. They bruise easier, tire faster, cry quicker, remember longer and, as I say, get sadder younger than anyone else in the world. I know, for I'm one of them.”
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“A good night sleep, or a ten minute bawl, or a pint of chocolate ice cream, or all three together, is good medicine.”
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