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This is my favorite novel. I haven't written a review for it yet because I feel too much pressure to capture in words how I feel about this magical book. So for now let's just say I'll expand this short review at a later date. If I don't say that now, I might never write the review.
So why is this my favorite book?
Here are just a few reasons:
1. It captures the complex and wonderful relationship a child can have with his grandparents. My own grandma and grandpa helped raise me and are still two of the most important people in my life. They're both eighty-eight and both in good health. No words can describe how special a grandparent can be. No words can describe my grandma and grandpa, and I suspect some of you feel similarly about yours. The grandparents in Dandelion Wine are the perfect blend of warmth, intelligence, experience, and deep love. For that alone, I love the book.
2. The novel is amazingly diverse. There are funny vignettes (the stuff with the artificial turf is both hilarious and passionate), heartbreaking moments, scenes of sheer terror, and relationships so realistic that we find ourselves experiencing the characters' emotions as powerfully as though they are our own.
3. Speaking of heartfelt...have you ever had a friend move away? Or moved away from a friend? No writer has more astutely captured that helpless, hollowed-out, heartrending moment of goodbye. When Douglas must say farewell to a friend, I feel every ounce of his sorrow.
4. The book contains the most unlikely and perhaps most beautiful romance in literature. If I told you about it, you'd think me a weirdo. So read the book and learn about a youngish reporter and his relationship with an "older" woman. Their scenes will very likely transport you, move you, and make you choke up--all within about fifteen incredible pages.
So if you've never read Dandelion Wine, I hope you do soon. Simply put, it's love on paper. I love Bradbury and am deeply thankful he left us this and other gifts.
So why is this my favorite book?
Here are just a few reasons:
1. It captures the complex and wonderful relationship a child can have with his grandparents. My own grandma and grandpa helped raise me and are still two of the most important people in my life. They're both eighty-eight and both in good health. No words can describe how special a grandparent can be. No words can describe my grandma and grandpa, and I suspect some of you feel similarly about yours. The grandparents in Dandelion Wine are the perfect blend of warmth, intelligence, experience, and deep love. For that alone, I love the book.
2. The novel is amazingly diverse. There are funny vignettes (the stuff with the artificial turf is both hilarious and passionate), heartbreaking moments, scenes of sheer terror, and relationships so realistic that we find ourselves experiencing the characters' emotions as powerfully as though they are our own.
3. Speaking of heartfelt...have you ever had a friend move away? Or moved away from a friend? No writer has more astutely captured that helpless, hollowed-out, heartrending moment of goodbye. When Douglas must say farewell to a friend, I feel every ounce of his sorrow.
4. The book contains the most unlikely and perhaps most beautiful romance in literature. If I told you about it, you'd think me a weirdo. So read the book and learn about a youngish reporter and his relationship with an "older" woman. Their scenes will very likely transport you, move you, and make you choke up--all within about fifteen incredible pages.
So if you've never read Dandelion Wine, I hope you do soon. Simply put, it's love on paper. I love Bradbury and am deeply thankful he left us this and other gifts.
