Dandelion Wine

Rating:
Summary: Realistically Delightful
Review: Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine can only be described in two words: Literary Triumph.

Dandelion Wine tells the trials and tribulations of Green Town (known in the real world as Waukegan), a small town in Illinois. Set in the 1920's, the action primarily revolves around young Douglas Spaulding...a good friend, a loving brother, and a poet at heart.

Like most Bradbury works, Dandelion Wine is not exactly a complete novel. Rather, many short stories pop up within the action...from a suspected witch that lives down the street, a trip into the country, and the purchase of new sneakers, each is a story within itself. Each of these stories is recorded by Douglas Spaulding and his faithful little brother Tom. They long to hold onto these memories and make the most of them.

Dandelion Wine is more than guaranteed to excite the senses as well. Bradbury has such control over sensory imagery that the reader can easily smell the sweet scent of dandelions on every page, breathe the small town air with every word, and hear the faint jangling of a trolley in the distance. The book is also chock full of meaningful symbolism, witty metaphors, and unforgettable similes.

Although it is in Illinois, Green Town could be any lonely town, and Douglas Spaulding could be any young child who longs to hold onto his memories and treasure them forever in a bottle of Dandelion Wine.

Rating:
Summary: Dandelion Wine a pleasure to read.
Review: Dandelion Wine is a wonderful book for summer reading. Ray Bradbury is very descriptive in his terms, and allows the reader to feel exactly what Douglas Spaulding did in 1928. Young or old there is something for everyone to relate to. For the young, they can witness the changes of time on their world from 1928. For the old, they can relive their past through the magical eyes of a young boy in Green Town, Illinois. I believe the vivid images that occur to you while reading makes this perfect for a summer read because you become more aware of your surroundings, and appreciate summer a little more.

Dandelion Wine is also an excellent choice for winter reading. The short stories help to recall the past by allowing you to feel as if your living the life of Douglas Spaulding. His new tennis shoes, the smell of fresh cut grass, and the first picking of dandelions for the wine. During the cold winter days, you are reminded that summer will soon return.

Even though I wasn't alive in 1928, and I can't speak for girls, I can relate to this classic tale as a boy. Douglas' adventures remind me of chasing the ice cream truck, wondering off till the wee hours of the night, and getting in trouble with my Mom. His adventures also reminded me of the long talks I had with my elderly neighbors, and made me realize how much they appreciated it. The stories shed light and understanding to much of the things I had forgotten as a child.

Overall, this incomparable piece of literature was very good even though there is no plot or story. The book reads like a bunch of short stories, so to read this cover-to-cover in one sitting really provides no advantage. However, for readers like myself who have a limited amount of time, that can be very appealing. The short stories allows the reader to read a chapter or two at a time, and never forget where you left off. Young or old, male or female, busy or unemployed, I would recommend this book to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: A Favorite
Review: This is one of my top 5 favorite books. Bradbury rocks.

Rating:
Summary: moments under the glass
Review: This is my absolute favorite book of all time. Every time Iopen this book, it touches me in a new way. Maybe it's because I grewup near Waukegan, the real life town. Maybe it's because as I was growing up I knew to stop and look at things and freeze them in my memory. And that is what Ray Bradbury has done in Dandelion Wine. The moments of his summer are frozen in a magical, poetic and engaging way. Each story presents a scene --a moment that will be remembered forever for one reason or another. And there is plenty to take from this book. Again each scene touches the heart and gently places something there. I cannot recommend this book to enough people. If you read it in school (perhaps forced upon you as most people in my high school came in contact with Dandelion Wine), return to it later after you have lost the innocence and need a bittersweet reminder of what is really important. Just read the book with patience-- not expecting a thrilling plot, but expecting to be submerged into a world where you have just turned 12 or so... and watch that summer be recreated in your memory.

Rating:
Summary: A series of metaphors about life in an active summer
Review: This is a chronicle of a simpler time in Middle America, often presented in the form of a metaphor. It is the summer of 1928, from opening day until the school supplies are readied for the first day of school in the fall. New sneakers, packed with enormous potential for running, jumping and general activity are one of the opening traditions of the summer. The title comes from the making of dandelion wine, which is considered to be a way to pack the emotions of summer into a bottle. Since the dandelion flower is yellow and round, it bears some resemblance to the sun.
As the story moves through the days of summer, there is the pain of a friend moving away, the fear of a major summer illness of a child, the death of a great grandmother, the concern over a haunted area of the town, and a women's social society. Through it all, there is a note of underlying mysticism, but it is simply humans in a small town doing what people did in small towns in those days. The introduction of the supernatural forces is clearly meant to be a set of metaphors for the usual unusual events over the course of an active summer. The best example of this is the happiness machine. One of the inhabitants builds a machine that mentally takes you to many of the exotic places in the Earth. However, the wife of the man who built it points out that it is a bad thing, because it makes you want to go places you can't. Furthermore, it doesn't make the supper, mend the clothes, clean the house, or do any of the routine, but necessary tasks of daily life.
One of the most moving segments was the death of the great grandmother, who dies contented, considering it just another event in a long life filled with many happy routines. The segment begins with a recapitulation of her life, all of the actions of cleaning, cooking and taking care of children. She makes one last sweep of the house to check on things, and then goes upstairs to her bed to die. She dispenses some last-minute advice about how to carry on, commenting that she will live on in her descendents. With that last act out of the way, she curls up in bed and quietly and peacefully dies.
Reading it took me back to the days when I was twelve and growing up in Iowa. We had our summer rituals, the places we avoided because of the spooks, our favorite fields and swimming places and we also let the doors slam behind us. Bradbury writes very well, but you cannot appreciate these stories if you take them too literally. However, if you are capable of thinking metaphorically, then this is the summers of my youth as well as the youth of millions of other active boys.

Rating:
Summary: Dandelion Wine
Review: This is without a doubt, the absolute worst book i have ever read in my life. Let me tell you i have read some horrible books that are pointless and have no relation whatsoever to life. However this one takes the cake. This isn't just a boring book. I have read books that were well made but are just boring to me such as Rebecca, Kidnap, and Great Expectations, but this book has no plot. Dandelion Wine is 239 pages of description. Some of the chapters include the character Douglass buying a pair of shoes, picking grapes, and brushing his teeth. This, as you can see, is quite "thrilling". I would rather take medicine than read this.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good Book
Review: So far I have enjoyed reading Dandelion Wine. It is an excellent book that keeps you wondering and wanting to find out what happens next, full of magic and mystery. Young Douglas Spalding in the summer of 1928 has discovered that he is alive; he is learning to truly treasure life and to love his childhood as well as anticipate the years to come. Bradbury has a very poetic writing style which makes the book a nice read. Read this book to go on a wonderful summer journey, Bradbury's use of descriptive words will help you to feel like your actually seeing all the excitement going on in little Green Town. You'll learn to think about the small things in life and appreciate nature, You'll notice all kinds of things that you never really took the time to see before.

Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable, but difficult to explain
Review: It's the summer of 1928 in a small town in Illinois and Douglas Spaulding is 12 years old. And for the first time in his life he realizes that he is alive, truly alive. He begins keeping a list of all the "firsts" of the summer - first new pair of sneakers, first batch of dandelion wine bottled for the winter months, putting up the porch swing, etc. But with this new awarness of being alive comes the realization that he also will one day die.

This is a difficult book to explain. The writing style is incredible, almost poetic in some ways, and capable of creating powerful visual images and feelings. The beginning, especially when Douglas becomes aware of everything around him, is very moving. But towards the end, when he begins to recognize his own mortality, it gets a bit dark. The chapters are often very disconnected, as if they're snapshots instead of continuations of the story, and that adds to the sometimes dream-like quality of the writing.

This is a very enjoyable book, one that really causes you to think and perhaps even re-consider priorities. It's just a difficult book to summarize and explain.

Rating:
Summary: Dandelion Wine
Review: I read this book years ago when I was about sixteen. I read it during my summer break and couldn't put it down. It was magical and innocent. A great read for anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Warm sunshine breezes of childhood
Review: This is a lovely little book...childhood summertime capture in so many pages in your hands just like the dandelion wine in the jars on the cellar shelves. Left me with memories of catching fireflies, playing kickball til after dusk, laying in the grass watching the clouds, camping out in the backyard and jumping at every shadow and noise in the dark. I can't imagine not reading this with a smile on your face :-)