Something Wicked This Way Comes in Reading List Completists

Oct 17, 2019 Eileen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, classics, horror, 2019, science-fiction, audiobook, 2019genrechallenge

I've never read nor seen the movie, but I've heard of the Painted Man over the years and always wondered what that was all about. This was my first foray into Bradbury, and it was probably a good one to start with. It's relatively short compared to many of his other works, and he does a great job setting the mood in a short period of time. Although it took me a little while to become invested in the main characters, by the end, I was tense along with them, and cheering them on. As my friend said ...more

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Jul 20, 2021 Jenbebookish rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: everything-counts, carny-shit, classix

Read July 20, 2021

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Jul 06, 2017 Janet rated it really liked it

Highly imaginative, darkly poetic, but(and there is always a but, isn't there) some of the metaphors and adjectives went a little over the top to give this a five star rating. The last chapter, however, was amazing. ...more

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Jul 10, 2013 Nico rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: awesome-protagonist, thumbs-up-audiobook-narrator, a-dry-read, crazy-wtf-moment, witty-dialogue, multiple-awesome-povs, moments-of-excellence, deep-stuff, not-the-most-exciting-plot, audiobook

This is a hard book to read. Harder to read properly. And probably hardest to enjoy.

The first three days, I could only go half an hour without falling asleep on myself. The combination of storytelling and audiobook narration is the stuff lullabies are made of. Lullabies wish they were this effective.

There is such a thing as too much metaphor. It is possible to be overly poetic.

Samples (the mildest offences) of what you can look forward to include:

The balloon swung near! It inhaled, exhaled it

This is a hard book to read. Harder to read properly. And probably hardest to enjoy.

The first three days, I could only go half an hour without falling asleep on myself. The combination of storytelling and audiobook narration is the stuff lullabies are made of. Lullabies wish they were this effective.

There is such a thing as too much metaphor. It is possible to be overly poetic.

Samples (the mildest offences) of what you can look forward to include:

The balloon swung near! It inhaled, exhaled itself along from tree to tree, from cloud to cloud.

Dust came and went in that dark, and a harpstring gesticulation of spiders.

He felt a great river change its bed in the sky.

It's hard to pay attention when it gets weirder. But I burned my hand badly today, got the epub and used a combination of reading, listening and searing pain to help me focus up and finish it. It's just eight hours, all in all.

Nice read. Flashbacks to doing literature in school 10 years ago were traumatic but in a mostly nostalgic way. Like, remember being forced to memorise Shakespeare? Fun times, eh?

Given the way it starts, its title and the reputation it's gotten for being a cult horror classic, and as much as it might remind you of the more fantastic things Stephen King has done or been inspired by, this book shockingly isn't a horror novel. It's all about friendship and family. Will and his dad. Will and Jim. Even Will's concern for Jim's mother... This story is closer to the adventures of Milo and Otis than anything else.

Strumming your heartstrings every five minutes, making you care about 2 boys who clearly are not the most level headed children around... Two thumbs up. Even though I hate the whole circus freak show thing. Freak shows, monkeys and pirates I hate, but love of the Halloways kept me going.

Smh @ Jim. But everyone has that friend who brings cocaine to the slumber party...

It'd be easy to not get this or not enjoy it, but when it clicks you wind up looking forward to the poetry. I had the fleeting thought in the beginning that I should maybe look for a movie version instead, but at the end, this story became a 5 dimension or six dimension stage play. It's gripping and worth reading just for the experience of seeing what a human being can do with words. Maybe the audio added to the total immersion experience, maybe my mind Jedi'd itself into the world of Jim and Will to better deal with the seating pain, however, I'm glad. ...more

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Feb 28, 2010 GracieKat rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle-fantasy

I had a really hard time getting into this book. What was so frustrating about it was that it could have been good but the writing style kept getting in the way. Everytime it would start to get good the writing would get all wordy and purple and totally distract from what was happening in the story.

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