Something Wicked This Way Comes in Classics Without All the Class

Sep 08, 2010 Gaijinmama rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, classics, fantasy

Ray Bradbury was a brilliant writer whose gift with the language goes beyond genre. This book is generally classified as a dark fantasy but his style is definitely Literary. I would not call this a page-turner. I had to keep going back to really savor the words and let them sink in.
There are a lot of Big Issues here: good vs. evil, nostalgia for childhood, fear of death and the unknown. The main characters are Will and Jim, two 13 year old boys in a small town, but I would say the real focus is ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Oct 27, 2021 rachel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021, spooky-season

My friend Zach mentioned American Horror Story in conversation about this book, and I realized that both worked for me for the same reason: there's often a blend of nostalgia and campiness/humor working on the surface, but its underbelly is dark and has teeth.

I had thought of Something Wicked This Way Comes as more of a Halloween or autumn classic than a horror classic. I was not expecting it to be as genuinely frightening as it was at times. There are countless horror productions now that owe ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 04, 2019 Beth rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2019-read, horror, fiction, 52-book-challenge

I went into this novel with high hopes; I expected something tense, creepy and with an undercurrent of malevolence. I was disappointed. Whilst it did have some vestiges of creepiness, and I enjoyed the atmosphere of the carnival that Bradbury invoked, I couldn't lose myself in the story, mostly due to the rampant over-use of metaphor and huge paragraphs of unnecessary description which did nothing but pull me out of the story.
For example, this is how he describes a tent coming down:
“Now this g ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 28, 2012 Ben rated it liked it

Summary: Two young boys are forced to grow up fast when a sinister circus comes to town and starts messing with the townsfolk.

Things I liked:

Language was poetic and musical.

The way he used the two boys characters to illustrate two versions of humanity.

The setting underlined the characters and provided a real sense of menace when necessary.

Things I thought could be improved:

I didn't really find the carnival people scary enough. (view spoiler) ...more

Like · see review

Oct 31, 2019 Ebster Davis rated it liked it

Sometimes when I read Ray Bradbury stories I get so seduced by the beauty of his words, and then a little later I'm like 'wait did that even make sense or did it just sound nice?'

I don't think this book is the worst offender. If it has some really neat imagery and strongly conveyed thenes. The characters are likable and easy to root for, and the villain is terrifying. But sometimes I wished I could just talk to Mr Bradbury and ask him: "What is going on in your head, man?" Like, clearly he care ...more

Like · see review