Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Dandelion Wine
Book Review: A Kind and Gentle Heart -- Ray Bradbury
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read Dandelion Wine many times since I first picked up a copy over thirty years ago. Even now, I inhale the words of the book, like the air from S. J. Jonas' green bottles and I know that Ray Bradbury lived these stories. He was nurtured by the natural beauty of Green Town (Waukegan, Illinois), lulled to sleep by the sound of the trains heading in and out of Chicago, mesmerized by the Lighthouse in Lake Michigan, and entrapped in the Amazonian jungle of the steamy and mysterious ravine where he penned most of "The Illustrated Man" and many of his earlier works. Ray Bradbury paints with words that sing and teach. His unique and gifted way of owning the moment is illusive and marvelous. He is very much like the songbird that gives away a melody to the wind. One needs only an open eye and loving heart to appreciate the Master Storyteller as he delivers his craft. A "must read" for all ages. Poetry, Magic, and Love -- This is Ray Bradbury (a dear friend and penpal for over 20 years)Book Review: A Wondrous Journey
Summary: 5 Stars
This is just one of many of Ray Bradbury's books that should be put in a time capsule. It captures better than any other the pure joy and wonder of youth. If you have read Bradbury only for the rockets and scares, you may not like this book. If, however, you have read Bradbury because of his unequalled writings, then you will love Dandelion Wine.Book Review: A classic of American literature
Summary: 4 Stars
Bradbury is mostly known as a fantasist who emerged in the golden era of science fiction. He largely explored the areas that would make Stephen King such a huge bestselling author (like supernatural horror in a small town).
'Dandelion Wine' is packaged as a novel about one summer in one boy's life, but it actually reads more like a collection of short stories. There is a diffuse array of characters and a lot of different episodes and incidents (true of many novels), sometimes with very little actually tying it all together as a unified novel.
Still, I think this work ranks up there with 'coming of age' novels like 'A Separate Peace' and 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. It is also interesting to compare how Bradbury handles his fictional small town with Harper Lee's in 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. Sherwood Anderson's collection 'Winesburg, Ohio' also comes to mind.
Many reviewers describe Bradbury's work as 'magical', and one could invoke a term like 'magical realism' with some justification. Also, this work is often described as dealing with childhood, but for all that it is obsessed with the themes of aging and dying. And the older characters take up much of the dramatic space.
Reading this book for the fifth time in my life, one criticism comes to mind: sometimes I wish Bradbury would settle on that one perfect metaphor to describe something, but instead he gives us a list, which sometimes overwhelms the previous sensations.
Perhaps the shame of Bradbury's success is that, coming earlier, he didn't get the sort of fame and recognition that Stephen King did. On the other hand, being associated with science fiction, fantasy and horror genres means he isn't considered a serious writer. Still, I think this should join the ranks of 'American classic literature' of the 20th century.
Book Review: A great book about summer and hapiness
Summary: 5 Stars
"Dandilion Wine" is one of the best books that I have ever read. It combines a childs summer with hapiness. Bradbury did very well in describing summer and hapiness. The story shows how everything in summer is happy, even when things go bad. The novel made me apriciate things a little more. It also can relate to almost every one. The story doesn't really have any good or bad characters, yet it still has conflicts between them. I liked how Bradbury described the average lifestyle of a boy living in the 1920's. I could almost feel like I was living in the time. This novel isn't action filled, but it did keep me reading. I was interested the whole time. I would recomend this to ANYONE, especially those who grew up in the interesting time period of the 20's.Book Review: A nostalgic look at the summer of 1928
Summary: 4 Stars
This book came highly recommended, and I was expecting to fall in love with it. And although the language and images are poetic and beautiful, there isn't any single real storyline here. The book is composed of a series of interrelated short stories which chronicle the experiences of a young boy growing up in a small Illinois town during the summer of 1928. From these stories there emerges a picture of summer, gliding magically by. Some of these mini stories are quite good. They range from the light and humorous (for example, the Green Machine, and the use of black magic to upset election results at the Honeysuckle Ladies' Lodge) to the dark (the Lonely One is on the prowl, and so far this summer he has strangled three women in a ravine). Overall, this book is beautifully written, but I am deducting one star because it lacks a compelling plot and a "what-happens-next?" factor, which unforuntately makes this book easy to put down.