Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Надвигается беда

Beautifully written and wonderfully imaginative, but suffers from some indulgent writing and poorly aged politics. Bradbury was a fantastic writer, but he did once describe Ronald Reagan as "the greatest president we ever had." That conservatism makes his work slightly less pallatable for me, especially in his work which glorifies childhood and "simpler times" but luckily he was also very talented and insightful.

I'm somewhat mixed on the book, but I'm glad I read it. Mr. Dark is now one my favourite literary antagonists. He is so great, especially his last scene.

Content Warnings

rabidteddybear's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense

4.25

Content Warnings

alaskan_bull_worm's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Have you ever heard of the phrase “clear before clever”? I’m not sure Bradbury has. He has very rich descriptions in this book, but they are kind of too much. Sometimes I wasn’t sure what was happening because every other word was some metaphor. He also likes to put a hyphen in between two words to create a new adjective a lot. And he says something “was all adj., adj., adj.” I didn’t really like his writing style much. (I’m sure you can tell by now.) It really made it hard for me to get into the story. Occasionally his poetic style really worked, but the fact that is was nonstop was what really spoiled it for me. And that’s the thing, I think he should write poetry, not prose.
There were a few times his descriptions did impress me, such as #1 (in spoiler).
But mostly they were just too much. The plot itself was okay. (Maybe I only say that because I couldn’t get into it.) In terms of characterization, I particularly liked #2.
But by the end of the book, I was counting down the pages until I was done. I kind of feel like I shouldn’t be saying I don’t like this famous author so much, but my rating is as it stands.
And for a final comment, I watched the Disney movie version of this book before reading it. It wasn’t super good either, but it felt so close to being something really cool. Like they just barely missed their mark. And the ending was very different.

1. When he compared women and men to different clocks.
When Mr. Dark offered more time to Halloway.
In the beginning when he described the different months boys liked.
I feel like I’m missing something?
2. Mr. Dark was also the Illustrated Man. The descriptions of him were effective, and him being one of the “freaks” as well I liked. He wasn’t just some ringmaster far away from it all.

Content Warnings

savvylit's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? No

3.0

Published in 1962, this novel is considered a Halloween classic. It's easy to see why -- Bradbury masterfully blends sci-fi and fantasy to create some very scary forces. At the heart of this book's spookiness is a magical carousel that can age its riders either forward or backward. This carousel, plus the inner monologues of Will's dad Charles Halloway, all point towards the true terror of mortality: aging. This particular theme is incredibly well-executed.

The merits of Something Wicked are evident - Ray Bradbury celebrates both the golden days of youth and father-son bonds. That being said, this book is probably best targeted towards middle grade audiences. I found it to be a little too childish for my taste. On top of that, Charles Halloway's monologues are all a bizarre and distinct brand of mid-20th century sexism. The passages about women being innocent and always sleeping soundly were strange and grating.

Overall, perhaps the best part of this book is Bradbury's talent for poetic prose. Here are a few of my favorite sentences:

"And if it’s around October twentieth and everything smoky-smelling and the sky orange and ash gray at twilight, it seems Halloween will never come in a fall of broomsticks and a soft flap of bed-sheets around corners."

"God, how we get our fingers in each other's clay. That's friendship, each playing the potter to see what shapes we can make of each other."

"The dust was antique spice, burnt maple leaves, a prickling blue that teemed and sifted to earth. Swarming its own shadows, the dust filtered over the tents."

Content Warnings

More...