I don't do horror, I just don't. I used to love Stephen King novels, until I read Misery and had to give him up for peace of mind. At this point in my life, I know there's enough real horror in the world as it is, without me going down that particular rabbit hole. Trying to stay positive here. I don't even like Halloween.

BUT, and this is a big but, I do love Ray Bradbury. This particular book has called to me for years, so I decided to read this in honor of Halloween. Which I don't like, did I mention that already?

Simple plot. Two 12 year old boys, Will and Jim, stumble upon a carnival of evil bent on destroying the souls of people not satisfied with their lives by luring them with promises of what they think they want. They end up running for their own lives, helped by Will's father, who has a few regrets of his own. In the end, good prevails, but does it really?

"Dad, will they ever come back?"
"No, and yes, No, not them, But yes, other people like them. Not in a carnival. God knows what shape they'll come in next. But sunrise, noon, or at the latest, sunset tomorrow they'll show. They're on the road."
"Oh no", said Will.
"Oh yes", said Dad. "We got to watch out the rest of our lives. The fight's just begun."
"What will they look like, how will we know them?"
"Why," said Dad quietly, "maybe they're already here".

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what makes this a great book.

Though I read this many, many years ago, it strikes with metaphor and poignancy into today's times.

2'5 / 5

Bradbury tiene dos estilos de novela; la primera es la novela de ciencia ficción que explora al ser humano, y la segunda, la novela más fantasiosa y poética.
Este libro entraría dentro del segundo estilo, y personalmente no me termina de gustar. Admito que me encanta leer a este autor, porque tiene un magnetismo que no tienen otros, pero no termino de entender el estilo poético de sus libros.

La idea de esta novela me gusta, los personajes también me gustan, pero el estilo no. Además pensaba que iba a ser una novela más adulta, pero más bien es para niños entrando en la adolescencia; que no quiero decir que ese tipo de libros sean malos, pero en este caso la novela hubiese ganado siendo más adulta (es solo mi opinión).

Lo que más me ha gustado es esa atmosfera que te va envolviendo, muy turbia, oscura, decadente, triste... hasta el final. El final... No me ha gustado. Demasiado flojo, blando... No pega con el resto de la trama.

Ray Bradbury has never sat comfortably in the world of literature, nor with me; considered a "genre writer" by some and meant as an insult, a "serious writer" by others and meant as a compliment, it seems that I am always going back and forth about his merits in my head too, especially the farther away we get from many of the books' original publication dates. That said, how can you not love Something Wicked This Way Comes, which the older it gets the more can actually be appreciated as a historical document, instead of as a fantastical tale? A pastiche of horror story and childhood recollection of traveling county fairs, Bradbury paints such a vivid picture of a now-lost bucolic rural life here as to be almost heartbreaking to contemporary readers; oh yeah, and there's a horror story too, old enough now that its main twists have become well-worn cliches. This is always the problem with reading Bradbury in modern times, after all; he's been so influential, almost none of his story elements hold any surprise anymore, not to mention being written in a sometimes clunky way. A story that holds up better than, for example, "The Martian Chronicles," because of the historical small-town elements, or at least in my opinion.

By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes--MacBeth Act 4, Scene 1

When you are young, a carnival is all breathless effervescence and light. It’s fantasy, and music and endless dizzying motion. Cotton candy and screaming rides and three chances to win a stuffed bear! As you get older, though, in your teens, your parents warn you of the dangers of the carnival, the lures of the carnies, the dark shadows. The hall of mirrors, once a place of hilarious images, becomes a surreal cosmic nightmare.

In Scotland, PA, a parody based on Macbeth, the three witches, stoned, entice Macbeth to ride on a carousel, and a merry-go-round, to help enhance his confusion. The carousel figures in Bradbury’s tale, too, where evil characters lead children into darkness. Specifically, Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery.

“One year Halloween came on October 24, three hours after midnight. At that time, James Nightshade of 97 Oak Street was thirteen years, eleven months, twenty-three days old. Next door, William Halloway was thirteen years, eleven months, and twenty-four days old. Both touched toward fourteen; it almost trembled in their hands. And that was the October week when they grew up overnight, and were never so young any more. . . ”

James and William in this 1962 tale of Bradbury’s 1920s upbringing in Waukegan (Illinois) say “gosh,” and “darn” and “boy Howdy,” and play baseball in sandlots. They’re living in a fifties American apple pie bubble that will get popped soon by the sixties. Or, within the context of the book’s timescape, has already been popped by the Holocaust and Hiroshima, Hitler and Stalin. Ever-present evil.

In one sense, this is just a scary book about Mr. Dark, the allegorical embodiment of that evil; in another sense it is a typically character-driven story by Bradbury of moral reflection turned on ourselves, on our own propensity for wrong-doing:

“Now, look, since when did you think being good meant being happy? . . . And men do love sin, Will, oh how they love it, never doubt, in all shapes, sizes, colors, and smells. Times come when troughs, not tables, suit our appetites. . . For being good is a fearful occupation; men strain at it and sometimes break in two. I’ve known a few.”

I didn’t like this as much as did when I first read it in my teens; it creaks a little bit. But the speeches by Dad and Mr. Dark, Good and Evil, still sing persuasively in places. Bradbury is ever the poet-philosopher of Waukegan, whether in science fiction or this teen horror tale.

"Oh, yes,” said Dad. "We got to watch out the rest of our lives. The fight's just begun."
They moved around the carousel slowly.
"What will they look like? How will we know them?"
"Why," said Dad, quietly, "maybe they're already here."

Wow, just WOW! This was just as spectacular the second time around as the first, if not more so. This was my first Bradbury and actually my first thought upon finishing this was the first time was that I needed to get my hands on every book Bradbury has ever written IMMEDIATELY. Which then led to a love affair with his work that I’m still mixed up in. This book is BEYOND stunning, it absolutely blew my socks off. It’s dark and terrifying and the whole carnival atmosphere is just on POINT and I adored every single second I spent between the pages of this book. I already find myself wanting to read it and immerse myself in its delightful creepiness again despite having JUST reread it and that is a true sign of an excellent story. Read this one, you absolutely won’t regret it!

Shadows in the night, the mists may lift yet things remain in never ending darkness for evil is always around the next corner, hidden but there. Green Town (Waukegan, Illinois) the writer's birthplace a small unimportant, quiet burg outside of Chicago. Dull, in perpetual slumber, townspeople walk slowly as nothing ever happens to excite, life just goes on and on until it doesn't...October weather, Halloween nears, a strange, sinister, touring carnival sneaks in the gloom to a nearby vacant field, why? The wrong season, the summer sunshine long gone and the cold Fall isn't a proper time for festivities...Two boys Will (William) Halloway and Jim (James) Nightshade 13, born a few hours apart living next door to each other, close as twins. Well not a surprise Will and Jim creep from home at night visiting the lonely sideshow areas of the carnival, curious brave lads indeed nevertheless unwise. Alone watching figures, things aren't human, vague, vile, menacing, drifting freaks entering and leaving the eerie tents with the panicky kids lying down on the dirt lot nearby. Shakespeare's words fit perfectly here "Something Wicked this Way Comes" from the three witches of Macbeth, very appropriate certainly though. Mysterious Mr. Dark owner of the show even joins the other freaks in exhibits as the weird "Illustrated Man", his tattooed skin covered him from head to toe in chilling images, but the crowds come. Charles Halloway Will's father a lowly janitor in the local library, feels old at 54, unsure if he could be a good parent to his only child. They aren't cozy anyway, no communications for an unseen barrier blocks the two, truth be told Will is not happy, secretly ashamed of him. However, underneath the surface, the quiet dad had strength he didn't realize, which will be required to survive future troubles. A magic carousel has unique powers unknown, the merry -go- round causes good and bad either going clockwise or the contrary fashion, counterclockwise the top fatal attraction. The petrifying Mirror Maze brings terror to all and dazzles the brain too. This classic horror fantasy can be fun though with a plethora of words, the smorgasbord hiding some of the narrative. The nostalgia is thick the atmosphere even thicker, a story of what was but is no more, some of the author's childhood's memories needed to be reveal to the public, though gone but never forgotten. An ultimate mix of the bitter and the sweet, yet a pleasure for everyone.

Unlike most Americans, who read him in high school I believe, I’m a latecomer to Ray Bradbury, possibly because he is usually associated with sci-fi, a genre I don’t generally favour. This is the second book of his I’ve read, the first was Fahrenheit 451, and I wouldn’t classify either as sci-fi! Just goes to show that putting things that seem to belong together in boxes isn’t always a good idea.

This book just happened to be perfect for the time of year I read it, i.e. around Halloween. Bradbury excels at conjuring up the spooky and freakish world that unfolds when an unusual carnival comes to town. There are many imaginative and disturbing characters (the lightning-rod salesman, the illustrated man, Mr Electrico et al.) and devices (the dragonfly darning needle, the barber’s pole, and of course the calliope that plays music forwards and backwards). In fact there are so many symbolisms and metaphors here it is almost too much to handle.

I liked the complicated juxtaposition of the weird with the solidity of the ‘normal’ protagonists, especially Will’s father, the janitor of the town library, Miss Foley the teacher, and of course the boys Will and Jim themselves. I didn’t like the excess stream-of-consciousness style writing, which often left me high and dry and -frankly- gasping!

In summary: what a great writer Ray Bradbury is, I’m glad I ‘discovered’ him. Bring on his next book…

3.5 Stars
This was a sweet, yet creepy coming of age story. I enjoy Bradbury's prose, but I think I prefer his science fiction. While I appreciated this one, it failed to trigger the nostalgic emotions I expect from a coming of age story. Very glad I finally read this iconic classic.

Note, Jan. 12, 2021: I just edited this to insert an accidentally omitted letter in one word.

Published in 1962, this remains one of Bradbury's better-known works, and was adapted as a movie in 1983, starring Jason Robards (but although Bradbury himself wrote the screenplay, he wasn't happy with the special effects and felt that much of his vision had been destroyed by the filmmakers). Like Dandelion Wine, the novel is set (presumably in the 1920s) in Green Town, Illinois, the fictional locality Bradbury modeled on his own hometown of Waukegan, north of Chicago. Despite Goodreads designation of the book as #2 in the "Green Town series," however, none of the books and stories Bradbury wrote with that setting are part of any true series, as such; each work is a stand-alone, related only by the common setting, and sometimes by Bradbury alter ego Douglas Spaulding as protagonist. (Douglas doesn't appear here, however.)

The cover copy (which the Goodreads description copies) describes the basic premise. We're dealing here with a traveling carnival behind which dark magic operates, ensnaring foolish humans with a deceptive promise to manipulate time to confer unearned maturity or restore vanished youth. And two 13-year old boys on the cusp of 14 stumble onto its sinister secrets. But despite these young characters, I wouldn't characterize this as juvenile or YA fiction. Young Will Holloway's father, a 54-year-old library janitor, is as much a protagonist as the boys are, and we see through his eyes and get inside his head as much as theirs. It's one of a number of novels for adults with young characters (though some teens could appreciate it). One reviewer has compared this novel to Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus. IMO, though, the similarity is only on the surface, in terms of some of the formal elements (the mysterious traveling carnival/circus is which sub rosa magic operates, and the kid characters playing key roles in both). But the tone, plotting, messages, and the whole ethos of the magic is quite different.

There are certainly positives here. Few writers capture the sense of life's excitement and wonder as a boy experiences it as fully and authentically as Bradbury does (probably because few adults, writers or not, actually retain it throughout their lives to the degree that Bradbury did!). The message that life is something to savor and appreciate right now, rather than living in the past or the future, comes through strongly, and it's worth appropriating. Bradbury can be a dab hand at symbolism, and he writes with a unique style, brimming with sensory detail and metaphor. (It's not an exaggeration to say that his prose here communicates with a poetic quality, using metaphor and indirection in much the same way that a poet does.) For many older readers, this book evokes a strong nostalgia for the younger, more innocent America that preceded the cultural unraveling of the 60s and the later economic upheavals. And the author, who (like me) fell in love with libraries as a small child, evokes their magic in a way that hopefully can't fail to rub off on the reader.

But for all that, I didn't like this book as much as I'd hoped to (though I'm in a minority among my friend circle in that respect). There are some loose ends in the plotting; and the poetic quality of the author's writing, experienced cumulatively at novel length (Bradbury was primarily a short story writer, and I suspect was always more comfortable in that format) can be as much drawback as asset; it can have a strenuous quality to it that slows the reading. The main problem here, though, for me, is what I perceive as a lack of solid substance at the core. It's a very atmospheric book, with a lot of trappings that make it a good read for the Halloween season. But under the seasonal and the atmospheric, good and evil here have kind of a generic quality; they're not really explored with genuine spiritual and psychological insight. Related to this, the denouement, for me, came across as too easy. Most readers liked it better; but I have to go by my honest reaction!

This edition is enhanced by a short Afterword, in which Bradbury briefly explains how the book came to be written. There are also literary connections between this novel and the Bradbury story collections Dark Carnival and The Illustrated Man (heavily-tattooed Mr. Dark here is a.k.a. "The illustrated Man"). But we won't take time to explore these in detail here.

I really didn't expect to get me to finish this book. But nevertheless my determination won. Good for me!

A little over 10 years ago I read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and it wasn't exactly what I expected. I'm not a fan of this book. But I decided to give the author one more chance. After reading Something Wicked This Way Comes, I have no doubt that his works are not for me.

Very rarely am I able to admire someone's writing style so much that I pay no attention to anything else. And Bradbury's work is just for such people. As for me, his lyrical style irritated me a bit. I found it overstuffed and exaggerated. As if everything just had to have some deeply hidden symbolism and a second meaning.

I wasn't really into the plot either. But I don't like horror stuff. However, I'm not sure if this book can be considered a typical horror. I don't think I have read enough books in this genre to be able to compare and decide. Also, I am far from genderizing the books, but in this case I felt that it is more of a story for boys. As a woman, I felt a bit excluded from this mystical boyish world.

I do not plan to read any more books by this author. They are not for me.

I did not like this science fiction novel. I liked his short story ‘The Martian Chronicles’ a lot and liked half of the stories in ‘The Illustrated Man’.

I assume The Illustrated Man in this novel is the one and the same as in his short story collection. Although this person is also referred to in this novel as Mr. Dark.

It was simply too long a novel for me for the plot. Most of the chapters were short enough. That wasn’t the problem. I will have a hard time articulating the problem. For one, I liked the idea of the calliope running backwards and Miss Foley turning from a middle-aged teacher to a little girl. That concept was spooky and that element of the plot was interesting, but there was not enough of that. His descriptions went on and on. Just about everything in this novel went on and on except the ending didn’t come soon enough. Maybe I should just stick with his short stories, because as I said I really liked one of his collections a whole bunch. And I don’t like to be complaining about Ray Bradbury!