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Dandelion Wine
(Green Town)
by
A moving recollection of a magical small-town summer…
In the backwaters of Illinois, Douglas Spaulding’s grandfather makes an intoxicating brew from harvested dandelions… In a distillation of all that is eternal about boyhood and summer, Spaulding wistfully ponders over magical tennis shoes, and machines for every purpose from time travel to happiness.
Based on Bradbury’s ...more
In the backwaters of Illinois, Douglas Spaulding’s grandfather makes an intoxicating brew from harvested dandelions… In a distillation of all that is eternal about boyhood and summer, Spaulding wistfully ponders over magical tennis shoes, and machines for every purpose from time travel to happiness.
Based on Bradbury’s ...more
Paperback, 319 pages
Published
2008
by HarperVoyager
(first published September 1957)
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Igor
Absolutely different. They have nothing in common between these two books.
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30
Start your review of Dandelion Wine
Jul 02, 2007
Peter
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
One and all.
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. I've never thought so ...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. I've never thought so ...more
Feb 22, 2017
Matthew
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
audio,
library,
coming-of-age,
favorites,
magical-realism,
tear-jerkers,
supernatural,
2017
Magic Realism - according to Wikipedia
"Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a genre of narrative fiction and, more broadly, art (literature, painting, film, theatre, etc.) that, while encompassing a range of subtly different concepts, expresses a primarily realistic view of the real world while also adding or revealing magical elements. It is sometimes called fabulism, in reference to the conventions of fables, myths, and allegory. "Magical realism", perhaps the most common ...more
"Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a genre of narrative fiction and, more broadly, art (literature, painting, film, theatre, etc.) that, while encompassing a range of subtly different concepts, expresses a primarily realistic view of the real world while also adding or revealing magical elements. It is sometimes called fabulism, in reference to the conventions of fables, myths, and allegory. "Magical realism", perhaps the most common ...more
“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.”
I re-read this after a couple of decades and like most works, I appreciate it better now than then.
“A good night sleep, or a ten minute bawl, or a pint of chocolate ice cream, or all three together, is good medicine.”
It could be that ...more
I re-read this after a couple of decades and like most works, I appreciate it better now than then.
“A good night sleep, or a ten minute bawl, or a pint of chocolate ice cream, or all three together, is good medicine.”
It could be that ...more
"I want to feel all there is to feel, he thought. Let me feel tired, now, let me feel tired. I mustn't forget, I'm alive, I know I'm alive, I mustn't forget it tonight or tomorrow or the day after that."
-Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine
Ingredients
1 quart yellow dandelion blossoms, well rinsed
1 gallon boiling water
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 orange, sliced
1 lemon slice
Directions
Place dandelion blossoms in the boiling water, and allow to stand for 4 minutes. Remove and discard the ...more
-Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine
Ingredients
1 quart yellow dandelion blossoms, well rinsed
1 gallon boiling water
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 orange, sliced
1 lemon slice
Directions
Place dandelion blossoms in the boiling water, and allow to stand for 4 minutes. Remove and discard the ...more
Oct 09, 2018
Joe Valdez
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction-general
My introduction to the fiction of Ray Bradbury is Dandelion Wine, his much-loved ode to small towns, summers and strangeness as only a twelve-year-old boy could discover it. Published in 1957, the book is not a short story collection per se but of the twenty-seven vignettes, ten had been published before: "Season of Disbelief" and "The Window" appeared in Collier's in 1950, "A Story About Love" in McCall's in 1951, "The Lawns of Summer" in Nation’s Business in 1952, "The Swan" in Cosmopolitan
...more
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. The author
...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 themes.
And, he's in his own ...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 themes.
And, he's in his own ...more
¡apparently my 1,000th rating! I should be stoked at the milestone I guess, but I was really digging how that 999 looked under my avatar. maybe I should go back and un-rate something and then just keep doing that as needed.
This book is a beloved classic dear to lots of people. Thus I have to give a warning before I say anything else. This time I am going to be that guy everybody hates. I did not like it. You may call me grumpy old man. I probably read it wrong, quite possible right to left bottom to top (English language edition). If you love the book stop here and proceed no further. Pay no attention to the incoherent ramblings of an old man. This would be me by the way:
Usually I give a brief description of plot, ...more
Usually I give a brief description of plot, ...more
Aug 26, 2007
Matt
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
the young at heart
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.
"You want to see the real Happiness Machine? The one they patented a couple thousand years ago, it still runs, not good, all the time, no! but it runs. It's been here all along."
Ray Bradbury ~~ Dandelion Wine
Uncork and inhale slowly ...
Ray Bradbury's book, Dandelion Wine is nearly perfect. You don't need me prattling on about it. Instead, get a hold of Dandelion Wine, and then read and reread it.
Ray Bradbury ~~ Dandelion Wine
Uncork and inhale slowly ...
Ray Bradbury's book, Dandelion Wine is nearly perfect. You don't need me prattling on about it. Instead, get a hold of Dandelion Wine, and then read and reread it.
“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.”
A magical, timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding.
Forewarning: this review might just be a series of fangirling comments with no real structure or order.
Halfway between being a novel and a series of ...more
A magical, timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding.
Forewarning: this review might just be a series of fangirling comments with no real structure or order.
Halfway between being a novel and a series of ...more
Let’s get one thing clear Dandelion Wine is not science fiction, it is not exactly fantasy either, though there is some element of magic realism to it. So if you are a fan of Ray Bradbury’s sci-fi books like Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, or his fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes, and you are looking for more in that fantastical vein, Dandelion Wine may disappoint you. The best mental preparation is to forget about genre and just let Bradbury tell his story in that uniquely
...more
"Dandelion Wine.... The words were summer on the tongue".
We all love to travel, one way or another. That's why we read! To experience time; To experience new worlds; To experience...
And sometimes, we find those peculiar time machines that take us to somewhere special. Let's say, a reminiscent of nostalgic childhood. That one is always special. My favorite in that category are To Kill a Mockingbird and Malgudi Days
Now I have Dandelion Wine... And It is different from all these books!
In ...more
Once I realized there wasn't going to be a plot, but instead a loosely connected set of vignettes about boys coming of age, I relaxed and enjoyed DANDELION WINE. I marked several pages that I wanted to quote in my review, but now find myself thinking that reviewing it is going to take some of the magic out of it for me.
I absolutely adored the end, (Aunt Rose got sent packing!), and there's no doubt that this book is steeped in nostalgia, but overall, it was a little too wordy for me. I would ...more
I absolutely adored the end, (Aunt Rose got sent packing!), and there's no doubt that this book is steeped in nostalgia, but overall, it was a little too wordy for me. I would ...more
Is it possible to catch magic in a bottle? Sunshine or the stars in the sky like captured fireflies? Maybe not, but Bradbury certainly captured a boys summer in a bottle and it was sweet as Dandelion Wine.
There is something about Bradbury's style that makes me reminisce about my boyhood like no other writer has. Similar to what he did with Something Wicked this way Comes and The Halloween Tree, Bradbury pulls me into his story with his poetic, symbolically descriptive style in a way that does ...more
There is something about Bradbury's style that makes me reminisce about my boyhood like no other writer has. Similar to what he did with Something Wicked this way Comes and The Halloween Tree, Bradbury pulls me into his story with his poetic, symbolically descriptive style in a way that does ...more
Oct 03, 2017
J.K. Grice
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
favorites,
coming-of-age
I doubt if there has been a better book written about summer and boyhood than DANDELION WINE. Dan Simmon's Summer of Night of course comes to mind. But where Simmons gives us the delicious darkness, Bradbury's tale is a bit more full of light and magic. It's all about Green Town, Illinois in the early 20th century. There are no TV's, computers, or cell phones. Just small town citizens interacting as human beings should. It was a time of cigar stores and front porches and soda fountains. Young
...more
If a day ever comes when the patisseries of the world draw back their prized pastries and sweets, and replace them with old and new copies of Dandelion Wine, I would be the first one, surely, to grab hold of the person next to me and aver in my most jubilant voice that Yes, I did see it coming. Nobody else but me in the whole wide world.
Twelve-year-old Douglas Spaulding snaps his finger before a slowly waking Green Town, and thus begins the summer of 1928. A summer of surprises, of mysteries, of ...more
Twelve-year-old Douglas Spaulding snaps his finger before a slowly waking Green Town, and thus begins the summer of 1928. A summer of surprises, of mysteries, of ...more
Oct 03, 2017
Em Lost In Books
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Em Lost In Books by:
Sr3yas
it was the summer of 1928, way before Radio or TV were part of our life. 12 year old Douglas spent that summer exploring his small town and its people. He started jotting down his "discoveries and revelations" in a notepad so that he won't forget about them. We through him met extraordinary people of this small town. A man adamant on making a Happiness Machine, an old woman who thought that she had met her lover from her past life, going away of a dear friend, last ride on the trolley, and
...more
Review originally posted on A Skeptical Reader.
In a serendipitous moment, I discovered this quote on my friend Sookie’s favorited quotes page and instantly began craving the book. I was left pondering over these words for days and weeks ...more
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.
In a serendipitous moment, I discovered this quote on my friend Sookie’s favorited quotes page and instantly began craving the book. I was left pondering over these words for days and weeks ...more
Haven't tasted anything as good as this season's dandelion wine. It is rich, effervescent: it transports you like some Madeline to a time when it was bottled: its sunshine color will redden your cheeks and make you remember...
This coming of age idyll is absolute perfection. This, because idylls are fictional: the remembered anecdotes of childhood is where darkness creeps, and where nature has plans that are cyclical and macabre. Of this Bradbury writes in astonishing prose, of the undertow, of ...more
This coming of age idyll is absolute perfection. This, because idylls are fictional: the remembered anecdotes of childhood is where darkness creeps, and where nature has plans that are cyclical and macabre. Of this Bradbury writes in astonishing prose, of the undertow, of ...more
"Dandelion wine. The words were summer on the tongue. The wine was summer caught and stoppered."
“I want to feel all there is to feel, he thought. Let me feel tired, now, let me feel tired. I mustn't forget, I'm alive, I know I'm alive, I mustn't forget it tonight or tomorrow or the day after that.”
Doug (12) and Tom (10) Spaulding live in Green Town, Illinois. Bradbury published this book in 1957, though you can see why this became popular in the late sixties, celebrating summer and nature as it ...more
“I want to feel all there is to feel, he thought. Let me feel tired, now, let me feel tired. I mustn't forget, I'm alive, I know I'm alive, I mustn't forget it tonight or tomorrow or the day after that.”
Doug (12) and Tom (10) Spaulding live in Green Town, Illinois. Bradbury published this book in 1957, though you can see why this became popular in the late sixties, celebrating summer and nature as it ...more
Reading this book feels like how the beginning of summer feels, with all of the traditions to relive and new experiences to come. Most of the book is seen through the eyes of a 12 year old boy, so it also brings on many feelings of nostalgia, and the glorious freedom of being a kid in the summertime. That being said, I feel like something was missing in order for me to love this book, but as a quick summer read with a few insightful bits, this was pretty decent. Not my favorite Bradbury, but
...more
“Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don't they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.”
I recall reading this book at the start of summer one September, just as the book starts. It was a wonderfully colourful read - one that had a surging presence that sucked me into childhoods past and whet my appetite for the summer to come.
“I want to feel all there is to feel, he thought. Let me feel tired, now, let me feel tired. I mustn't forget, I'm alive, I know I'm ...more
I recall reading this book at the start of summer one September, just as the book starts. It was a wonderfully colourful read - one that had a surging presence that sucked me into childhoods past and whet my appetite for the summer to come.
“I want to feel all there is to feel, he thought. Let me feel tired, now, let me feel tired. I mustn't forget, I'm alive, I know I'm ...more
This is my favorite novel. I haven't written a review for it yet because I feel too much pressure to capture in words how I feel about this magical book. So for now let's just say I'll expand this short review at a later date. If I don't say that now, I might never write the review.
So why is this my favorite book?
Here are just a few reasons:
1. It captures the complex and wonderful relationship a child can have with his grandparents. My own grandma and grandpa helped raise me and are still two ...more
So why is this my favorite book?
Here are just a few reasons:
1. It captures the complex and wonderful relationship a child can have with his grandparents. My own grandma and grandpa helped raise me and are still two ...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 grandfathers
...more
Oct 17, 2018
Dean
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
christian,
ray-bradbury
like good poesy and full of magic..
Enorm in his description power, you can see, hear and even smell the summer!!
I must digest all this beauty and enchanted prose, folks..
Bradbury has blown me away with Dandelion wine!!
But I must continuing my readings, Ray Bradbury has me again on the hook, and he will not let me go until the last page is enjoyed!!
The Storys are superb..
I want much more by Bradbury and his Green Town series!!!
A wonderful and exciting experience!!!
"The Tarot Witch" and other ...more
Enorm in his description power, you can see, hear and even smell the summer!!
I must digest all this beauty and enchanted prose, folks..
Bradbury has blown me away with Dandelion wine!!
But I must continuing my readings, Ray Bradbury has me again on the hook, and he will not let me go until the last page is enjoyed!!
The Storys are superb..
I want much more by Bradbury and his Green Town series!!!
A wonderful and exciting experience!!!
"The Tarot Witch" and other ...more
Sep 03, 2018
Annelies
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
classics,
non-contemporary-american
Sparkling and witty, a remarkable read.
Fantastic book from one of my favourite writers ever. I read it at the perfect time, just as summer is ending. It suited my mood perfectly. For those who loved Boy's Life from McCammon or any other book aimed at adults about childhood memories, this is highly recommended.
It's also a very hard book to review. Somewhere between a set of short stories and a fully fledged book, it tracks summer events for a group of characters. It does lend it a somewhat disjointed feel but it doesn't take away ...more
It's also a very hard book to review. Somewhere between a set of short stories and a fully fledged book, it tracks summer events for a group of characters. It does lend it a somewhat disjointed feel but it doesn't take away ...more
Boom! SO much better than Fahrenheit Thingy-Bobby.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All About Books: September & October 2019 Classic Group Read - Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury | 7 | 37 | Oct 20, 2019 06:09PM | |
| Play Book Tag: Dandelion Wine - Ray Bradbury (3 1/2 stars) | 2 | 14 | May 18, 2019 07:18AM | |
| Play Book Tag: Dandelion Wine/Bradbury - 3 stars | 4 | 14 | Mar 07, 2019 07:48AM |
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Ray Douglas 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 at
...more
Other books in the series
Green Town
(4 books)
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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.”
—
2057 likes
“A good night sleep, or a ten minute bawl, or a pint of chocolate ice cream, or all three together, is good medicine.”
—
717 likes
More quotes…
