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prosiaczekk's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
ana_lidia's review against another edition
3.5
"June dawns, July noon, August evenings over, finished, done, and gone forever with only the sense of it all left here in his head"
rally_t's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
4.75
jilliang's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
bosswench's review against another edition
5.0
Nobody writes like Bradbury, and nobody is better at writing about childhood from the perspective of children than Bradbury. His books are portals. You could crack this spine open and crawl inside it, live in Green Town, Illinois, summer of '28, sip some dandelion wine. I know I'm being hyperbolic, but this feels like sacred text to me--summer, a child's recognition of his mortality, nostalgia as inheritance, Lynchian shadow (decades before Lynch and "Lynchian" anything--so perhaps actually Bradburian), Rites & Ceremonies, Discoveries & Revelations.
mrsdaliborreads's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
joshknape's review against another edition
3.0
Dandelion Wine is a collection of related vignettes that support and periodically return to one plot thread, or a short novel interrupted by many related vignettes. The entire book, including the vignettes but especially the main plot thread of twelve-year-old Douglas Spalding's coming of age in Green Town (based on Waukegan, Illinois) in summer 1925, is strikingly melancholy.
I can make a strong case that the book is actually a poem or series of poems sung to the memory of childhood.
About the writing style: there may be better examples I haven't read, but among writers I've read, Ray Bradbury uses the technique of writing through word association most extensively; and although Dandelion Wine is only the third Bradbury work I've read, it is the best example of Bradbury's word association technique.
I'm not sure why I really took notice only on the second reading, but I've probably never read a book so saturated in sensual description. If you want to learn how to write description that poetically appeals to the senses, consider Dandelion Wine required reading.
Stylistically, I call Ray Bradbury a free spirit: at least in Dandelion Wine, he plays with words more freely than any writer I've examined other than Shakespeare.
I can make a strong case that the book is actually a poem or series of poems sung to the memory of childhood.
About the writing style: there may be better examples I haven't read, but among writers I've read, Ray Bradbury uses the technique of writing through word association most extensively; and although Dandelion Wine is only the third Bradbury work I've read, it is the best example of Bradbury's word association technique.
I'm not sure why I really took notice only on the second reading, but I've probably never read a book so saturated in sensual description. If you want to learn how to write description that poetically appeals to the senses, consider Dandelion Wine required reading.
Stylistically, I call Ray Bradbury a free spirit: at least in Dandelion Wine, he plays with words more freely than any writer I've examined other than Shakespeare.
rickwren's review against another edition
5.0
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. Douglas Spaulding is having the greatest summer of his life – at least that's his intention. He's a 12-year-old boy living in a small town in Illinois and has a whole summer with his best friend, his brother, and a town full of fun.
But what seems like an autobiographical piece by Ray Bradbury about what it's like to grow up in Illinois in the 1920s turns out to be a question about whether life should be simple or whether life should be interesting. The story brings up questions of happiness. The biggest question is whether you can force yourself to be happy or whether happiness is always something that was better in the past. For no matter what Douglas tries to do it seems that the summer is getting away from the and yet Bradbury carefully shows in the future Douglas is still don't wish for the summer back more than any other in his life. That part of the reason for that wish is a Douglas is going to try to correct mistakes, but the other part is because Douglas realizes that avoids summer is something he can never get back.
Even though everything in this small town seems perfect, Bradbury shows that everyone is in some way dissatisfied with their lives and the happiness is always around the next corner. That's what I love about the idea with childhood that he paid – it's a representation of what he wishes could have been.
I look back at the stories that I've written about my own childhood and realize that the subtleties of in this story are masterful in comparison to the ham-handedness that I've employed.
About why I haven't read the story before? There are probably thousands that have never made it onto my reading list that ought to.
Dandelion Wine is an amazing story. But what's amazing is hidden inside what's mundane. Douglas Spaulding is having the greatest summer of his life – at least that's his intention. He's a 12-year-old boy living in a small town in Illinois and has a whole summer with his best friend, his brother, and a town full of fun.
But what seems like an autobiographical piece by Ray Bradbury about what it's like to grow up in Illinois in the 1920s turns out to be a question about whether life should be simple or whether life should be interesting. The story brings up questions of happiness. The biggest question is whether you can force yourself to be happy or whether happiness is always something that was better in the past. For no matter what Douglas tries to do it seems that the summer is getting away from the and yet Bradbury carefully shows in the future Douglas is still don't wish for the summer back more than any other in his life. That part of the reason for that wish is a Douglas is going to try to correct mistakes, but the other part is because Douglas realizes that avoids summer is something he can never get back.
Even though everything in this small town seems perfect, Bradbury shows that everyone is in some way dissatisfied with their lives and the happiness is always around the next corner. That's what I love about the idea with childhood that he paid – it's a representation of what he wishes could have been.
I look back at the stories that I've written about my own childhood and realize that the subtleties of in this story are masterful in comparison to the ham-handedness that I've employed.
About why I haven't read the story before? There are probably thousands that have never made it onto my reading list that ought to.
arlwithak's review against another edition
1.0
I started it so I finished it. I definitely preferred Fahrenheit 451.
ellysof's review against another edition
3.0
Wrong timing to read this story. Sadly not my cup of tea at the moment, however I would recommend to read this story to teenagers and pre teens