I’d never read this short story before, but was intrigued by Dave McKean’s dark illustrations. His style is well suited to the strangeness of this tale, flowing with such evocative descriptions:

“I see a wolflike thing crossing a dark river —at the shallows— just above a waterfall, the starlight burning his pelt. I see maple leaves blowing high. I see a small bat flying. I see many creature beasts, running under the forest trees and slipping through the highest branches; and they’re all heading here!”

The style and story may not appeal to everyone, as it leaps from living to dead, from real to surreal, like a fitful breeze. I think this is an interesting and fast read for All Hallows’ Eve or All Souls’ Night.

McKean's illustrations could have been MUCH more appropriate to the story and were poor none-the-less even though I am a BIG fan of his art in general. He did design the book very stylishly with the words going in all kinds of directions and positions.

My gripe with Bradbury in general, who I'm also a big fan of, is that he would write something confusing then clear it up later instead of making it clear in the first forcing me to spend time in vain trying to decipher that then becomes a total waste. He did this about four times in this story and its angered me in many others of his.

One of my favorite Ray Bradury short stories in a sweet little edition with beautiful illustrations by Dave McKean. ❤

Honestly, I picked this up for the amazing artwork.

The story itself was okay; nothing amazing, though it does feature some lovely descriptions. The illustrations are really very good and are almost enough to single-handedly make worthwhile checking out this edition.

I don’t like scary books (at all!) but I do love Ray Bradbury. It was that love for Bradbury that carried me through reading this very scary book. The plot is thin: a young boy’s family gather together on All Hallows Eve and the family, all except the boy, are ghouls. The boy is deeply saddened by being different, completely human, in a family where everyone has special, albeit creepy, abilities. The story is rich in sensory details, Bradbury-ish in every way. The appeal of the story for me was greatly increased by the format of the book, a small volume with just the right pictures and script. I could barely make it through this scary story, but even I, a big ole scaredy cat, I could not miss the beautiful writing and the rich characters.

Not many frights or surprises, but a charming and evocatively written story nonetheless. Dave McKean's illustrations are beautiful if somewhat distracting.

I was really hoping THE HOMECOMING would be more of a creepy-type read, but there is nothing frightening here.

While this is a story about a young (human) lad who comes from a family of vampires, (no spoiler here) there is not much substance beyond the final message of love.

I am a big fan of Ray Bradbury and his other Halloween tales, but not so much this one or the modern-type artwork illustrated throughout this All Hallows Eve reunion story for children.

My review is completely subjective, and my rating is based on how the story made me feel. The illustrations were amazing, but the story in itself made me very sad and touched on a piece of my childhood. I gave it 1 star because of how poorly I believe they dealt with the subject presented, and how unfinished the ending was. Again, this is just my feelings on my interpretation of the story.

Kitap bir yandan tuhaftı ama galiba bu tuhaflık onu güzelleştiren şeydi. Çok fazla bir şey söylemek istemiyorum çünkü büyüsünü kendiniz görseniz eminim daha çok zevk alırsınız.

2. Okuma: Bu sefer okuduğumda puanımı yükseltme ihtiyacı hissettim. Çok farklı yerlere dokundu, çok sevdirdi kendini.

Öncelikle şunu söylemem lazım resimden çok anlamayan biri olmama rağmen çizimler beni etkiledi, kapağa baktığımda biraz abartı diyordum ama kısa hikaye ilerledikçe daha çok hoşuma gitti, tarz olarak hoşuma gitmese de yine de şansımı denemek istedim, ama çok da olmadı. Yine de en azından Timothy'nin hisleri kitabın sonunda askıda kalmıyor, tamamlanarak okuyucu mutlu ediliyor.

Having read the full version of the Homecoming I was surprised that the condensed version worked so well. It had a different tone though, and seemed much more melancholy. Maybe I'm remembering the original incorrectly, but I don't recall Timothy being this depressed about his humanity by the end of the story, since his off family was obviously very accepting of his mortality.

That being said, the illustrations and page design by McKean are a perfect match to Bradbury's prose. Both are just slightly creepy, but not overly horrifying, so the reader is fully engaged and interested by this uniquely entertaining story.

Touching, somewhat sad story about a boy helping his family prepare for a family reunion (the homecoming). As the narrative poem progresses, you realize there's something a bit odd about this boy and his family.