'Something Wicked This Way Comes' good book
"By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes."
- Shakespeare's "Macbeth," Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 44-45
I really enjoyed reading Ray Bradbury's book, "Something Wicked This Way Comes," and I recommend it to anyone out there in the reading audience with a taste for a spine-tingling adventure.
The book, No. 3 on the Horror Writers Association's Recommended Reading List, was recommended to me by a friend, and I'm glad that I took the time to read it.
First appearing in 1962, "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (304 pages) is a masterpiece of modern gothic literature. It's the memorable story of two boys, Jim Nightshade and Will Halloway and the evil that grips Green Town, Ill. when Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show arrives in town one week before Halloween. How these two innocents, both age 13, save the souls of their town, as well as their own, from this "dark carnival" makes for a compelling and entertaining story.
Most of the story, which reminded me a lot of Stephen King's "Needful Things," centers on how Jim and Will want to be older and how the story's aging men and women long for a return to their youth. Bradbury evokes all of our desires to be younger, older, prettier or more famous. Ultimately, there is always a cost for these things and there's a cost to recover them from our past. It's exactly these innermost desires that feed the strange carnival's operators - Mr. Dark and Mr. Cooger.
We all know a Jim Nightshade (our darker sides) and a Will Halloway (our brighter sides). In this story, the two best friends are only one day apart in age, but quite different in what they will do to attain their aspirations. They are anxious to grow older and when the carnival comes to town during an electrical storm, they find the means to their desires. The question is whether the cost is worth it.
Maybe the greatest accomplishment in the book is how Bradbury excels in revealing the surrealistic dark side that exists in us all, teaching us ultimately to celebrate the shadows rather than fear them. He deftly explores the fearsome delights of a perfectly terrifying, unforgettable autumn.
As others have observed, the book isn't a horror novel. It's more of a dark fantasy with a positive underlying theme. Throughout the entire book, Bradbury maintains an element of suspense, more by suggestion than by clearly describing anything, and the conclusion is very satisfying. More than once, I was also amazed at Bradbury's ability as a wordsmith. Some paragraphs read like poetry, allowing you to not only see, but almost smell and feel the story.
In the end, I have no doubt that the book is a classic, and will remain popular for as long as men and women look forward or back over their lives and reflect on what could be. On a scale of 10, I give the book a 6.5. Go out and pick up a copy today. I think you’ll agree.
Something wicked this way comes."
- Shakespeare's "Macbeth," Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 44-45
I really enjoyed reading Ray Bradbury's book, "Something Wicked This Way Comes," and I recommend it to anyone out there in the reading audience with a taste for a spine-tingling adventure.
The book, No. 3 on the Horror Writers Association's Recommended Reading List, was recommended to me by a friend, and I'm glad that I took the time to read it.
First appearing in 1962, "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (304 pages) is a masterpiece of modern gothic literature. It's the memorable story of two boys, Jim Nightshade and Will Halloway and the evil that grips Green Town, Ill. when Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show arrives in town one week before Halloween. How these two innocents, both age 13, save the souls of their town, as well as their own, from this "dark carnival" makes for a compelling and entertaining story.
Most of the story, which reminded me a lot of Stephen King's "Needful Things," centers on how Jim and Will want to be older and how the story's aging men and women long for a return to their youth. Bradbury evokes all of our desires to be younger, older, prettier or more famous. Ultimately, there is always a cost for these things and there's a cost to recover them from our past. It's exactly these innermost desires that feed the strange carnival's operators - Mr. Dark and Mr. Cooger.
We all know a Jim Nightshade (our darker sides) and a Will Halloway (our brighter sides). In this story, the two best friends are only one day apart in age, but quite different in what they will do to attain their aspirations. They are anxious to grow older and when the carnival comes to town during an electrical storm, they find the means to their desires. The question is whether the cost is worth it.
Maybe the greatest accomplishment in the book is how Bradbury excels in revealing the surrealistic dark side that exists in us all, teaching us ultimately to celebrate the shadows rather than fear them. He deftly explores the fearsome delights of a perfectly terrifying, unforgettable autumn.
As others have observed, the book isn't a horror novel. It's more of a dark fantasy with a positive underlying theme. Throughout the entire book, Bradbury maintains an element of suspense, more by suggestion than by clearly describing anything, and the conclusion is very satisfying. More than once, I was also amazed at Bradbury's ability as a wordsmith. Some paragraphs read like poetry, allowing you to not only see, but almost smell and feel the story.
In the end, I have no doubt that the book is a classic, and will remain popular for as long as men and women look forward or back over their lives and reflect on what could be. On a scale of 10, I give the book a 6.5. Go out and pick up a copy today. I think you’ll agree.
posted by Lee Peacock at 10:57 AM
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