Something Wicked This Way Comes

Rating:
Summary: Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show
Review: Published in 1962, Something Wicked This Way Comes would prove to be a major influence on the horror/dark fantasy genre. And for good reason: Ray Bradbury masterfully communicates the fears of our childhood.....and the regrets and longing's of adulthood. This powerful allegory tells the story of two teenage boys - Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade and what happens to them when a strange carnival comes to their town in the middle of one strange October night. The carnival is run by Mr Cooger and Mr Dark, two forbidding gentlemen who slowly weave a web of evil over everyone. Bradbury uses a poetic style of prose that reinforces the darkness of the book. I found it wonderfully effective in setting the tone. The idea's in this book have gone to manifest themselves in the work's of others: Stephen King's IT owes debt to this Bradbury classic. Ray Bradbury wrote many gems, but none ever captured the sinister power of Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Rating:
Summary: Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great
Review: Great.

Something Wicked This Way Comes is a little gothic masterpiece by Ray Bradbury. The story concerns Will Holloway, his best friend Jim Nightshade, and his father Charles Holloway. One October a carnival comes to town. The carnival is run by a group of freaks who are intent on evil. The entire town, and particularly the two boys, and put in terrible danger. That all leads to a tremendous climax as Will, Jim, and Charles have to try to learn the true nature of good and evil to save themselves and the town.

I can't believe that some people have written that this book is dated. I don't think that anyone will be saying that after the events of September 11. As long as fathers and sons still love one another and as long as there is evil to strive againgst, this novel will still be extremely valid. Something Wicked This Way Comes is fairly symbolic, and comments greatly on the nature of good and of evil. The story is fascinating and enlightening. Absolutely any reader can read this wonderful novel, be moved by it, and come away with a better understanding of human nature. I don't think that Ray Bradbury gets the credit he deserves, but any read of one of his novels will prove to the reader that he is a GREAT novelist.

Rating:
Summary: dark carnival
Review: For someone in search of a dark read, this is it. The poetic prose of Ray Bradbury swept me off of my feet and into the small town in Illinois country where the midnight carnival arrived with it's empty promises and tantalizing shows. Bradbury shows us how people can be good or evil, and that the choice remains in every person; he also provides beautiful examples of how joy and imagination triumph over fear and doubt. He uses the carnival as a symbolic representatation of what happens to people who allow themselves to drift in the past and not make progress towards future happiness. Bradbury alludes to several of his earlier writings, tying together many of his other works into this chilling novel. Even if you have never read Bradbury's work before, this book holds great insite into the world and the individual within it.

Rating:
Summary: Something divine this way came...almost.
Review: Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury

I am grateful to Stephen King for having brought this novel to notice in his horror fiction chronicle-critique 'Danse Macabre' (which I will recommend to anybody who is even remotely interested in horror/fantasy media).
The main protagonists of this supernatural adventure are the sunny Will Halloway and his companion and counterpart, the wild Jim Nightshade. The plot centers on how their lives are turned upside-down with the arrival of that very unusual sideshow carnival, Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show (God, this has such a Heavy Metal feel to it).
If it were to be judged by its start-up this would undoubtedly be one of the best books ever. Bradbury in his element comes up with the literary equivalent of a Rick Wakeman solo. The words fly fast and furious, magically arranging themselves into such dizzyingly ornate and mellifluous phrases, sentences, paragraphs that almost threaten to drown the reader in their exuberance and beauty. This major portion of this book contains some of Bradbury's finest literary moments and as anyone who has read his work will till you, that is an achievement of no mean order. Characters like the Dust Witch and Mr. Dark aka The Illustrated Man are described in such vivid and astonishing detail as to strongly etch themselves onto readers' minds. You do not merely read, you see, hear, smell, taste, feel whatever the pen of Bradbury commands you to. This book bristles with parts that I will be happily re-reading for many months on.
Wherein lies the catch? The plot after one of the best build-ups ever constructed grows somewhat loose with several potentially interesting supporting characters (Mr. Electrico, the Dwarf) given marginal footage. Although lavish description is used to paint what Stephen King describes as the 'Apollonian-Dionysian' divide between Will and Jim, once the action heats up, this is pretty much left by the wayside, the boys rendered almost interchangeable in their personalities. The story, after a point moves IMO almost into the realms of the straight-ahead thriller format, although Bradbury's writing alleviates a lot of the conventionality and it is perhaps only the cynical bastard in me that finds it difficult to swallow the 'Love Conquers All' driven denouement.

Rating:
Summary: A fantastic piece of work
Review: I have to start by saying that I am an avid reader, but it usually takes me about a week to read a novel. On rare occasions, though, a book hooks me so thoroughly that I drop everything and read it constantly. This is what happened with Something Wicked... I am not one for heavy, thick, flowering language in my fiction, but I tolerate it fully with Bradbury. He never just says plain in simple terms what something is or what something is doing. He uses metaphors constantly and they work so well. Yeah, I know that's what good writing should be, but I've read lots of books that use lots of metaphors and it just doesn't work for me. I choke on it and can't see it and can't keep up with it. Bradbury does it masterfully in my opinion. As for the story, it is creepy and it is scary and it is wonderful! No, it won't freak you out or give you nightmares, but it will give you a chill if you let it. Let yourself visualize the characters and hear the calliope and you will be immersed and I bet you'll love it!

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Something Wicked This Way Comes, is one of the most amazing books ever written ever! "By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes." Every time I hear that saying I think of this book written by Ray Bradbury. Also I think that it was kind of odd how Mr. Dark used the diguise of being the lightning rod salesman, and how Jim and Will found out all the secrets of the mirors and the mazes and the fariswheel. All that Mr. Dark and Mr. Cooger were trying to do were to take the peoples souls and trade them for what they (the people) wished for the most as in their sins. To all that haven't read this book should really read it because it will make you interested in it more and more...page after page. This book is one of the best ever written and it will make you more interested in it because of all what happens it makes you wander whats going to happen to Jim and Will next, so it keeps you gessing, and it makes you wander if Will and Jim will make it out alive or dead!! Who know till you read it, so go out and read it for my sake and for yours.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Something Wicked This Way Comes, is one of the most amazing books ever written ever! "By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes." Every time I hear that saying I think of this book written by Ray Bradbury. Also I think that it was kind of odd how Mr. Dark used the diguise of being the lightning rod salesman, and how Jim and Will found out all the secrets of the mirors and the mazes and the fariswheel. All that Mr. Dark and Mr. Cooger were trying to do were to take the peoples souls and trade them for what they (the people) wished for the most as in their sins. To all that haven't read this book should really read it because it will make you interested in it more and more...page after page. This book is one of the best ever written and it will make you more interested in it because of all what happens it makes you wander whats going to happen to Jim and Will next, so it keeps you gessing, and it makes you wander if Will and Jim will make it out alive or dead!! Who know till you read it, so go out and read it for my sake and for yours.

Rating:
Summary: Dark
Review: There is a dark veil hanging over this book and it absolutely scary. Scarier than some horror movies.

Ray Bradbury is of course one of the greatest sf/fantasy writers of the 20th century and if you have never read any of his books, read this one or Fahrenheit 451.

It has many dark and mysterious themes, a traveling show with many strange characters. It is about how people can play with time and how that may affect the souls of people. It could be, and I mean this positive, a Star Trek or X-Files episode. I wonder what the movie is like...

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps one of my favorite books
Review: I admit i thought this book seemed strange and somewhat corny from first reading the synopsis. But after begining to read i was imediately swept into Bradbury's vision. I could clearly see every detail and believe in the fantastic events. This book also provides a wonderful discourse on good and evil and the nature of each. As all good literature should it does not provide answers but asks deep questions.

Rating:
Summary: Review of unabridged audio book version...
Review: Rating System:
1 star = abysmal; some books deserve to be forgotten
2 star = poor; a total waste of time
3 star = good; worth the effort
4 star = very good; what writing should be
5 star = fantastic; must own it and share it with others

STORY: Best friends Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade are two pre-teens who get caught up in mystery and nightmares when the sinister carnival comes to town.

MY FEEDBACK:
1) Wonderful prose. Very poetic and full of great similes, metaphors, verbs full of action and adjectives that help the reader to easily envision the world the author creates.

2) This is a story that boys/men will relate to a lot more than girls/women. The pre-teen protagonists are exactly like the boys many of us use to be. I was taken down a grand road of nostalgia through these well chosen and created characters.

3) Nice story pacing and plot twists. I was so wrapped into the "present" story that I didn't even try and guess what was going to happen next (not that I could if I had tried).

4) Paul Hecht is a very pleasant narrator of this unabridged audio book. His near bass voice adds a depth to the suspense and action. Nicely acted and conveyed.

OVERALL: Very enjoyable story. I'm tracking down the movie version, though I'll probably be disappointed in comparison to the book. Wonderfully written. Nice messages that are clearly conveyed without feeling like the author was preachy. Great adventure and excitement. I REALLY enjoyed this.