Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Dandelion Wine
Book Review: It gives a nostalgic feeling of a childhood long gone.
Summary: 5 Stars
Dandelion Wine is a moving collection of stories of a memoriable, magical small town summer in 1928. It gives a nostalgic feeling of a childhood long gone. This is not a typical work for Ray Bradbury. There are no supernatural or futuristic happenings. If that is what you want to read disappointment awaits you. It is a semi-autobiographical recollection. It is fun to read for ages twelve and older.
Dandelion Wine tells the story of twelve-year-old Douglas Spaulding spending the summer in Green Town, Illinois. It is about Douglas Spaulding realizing that he is alive. It is very heavy on figurative writing. I think it would be challenging for younger people under high school age to read.
I was particularly touched by the story of the best friend moving away. Growing up in a military family, best friends moving away happened to often. It was always a sad time.
I highly recommend Ray Bradbury's stories of boyhood and summer.
Read several times and reviewed by Jimmie A. Kepler.
Book Review: Meandering Magic
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm always surprised when I read Ray Bradbury. With a few exceptions, such as "Fahrenheit 451," his books are actually short-story collections sewn together with loose threads. This worked to great effect in "The Illustrated Man," and to a lesser degree in "The Martian Chronicles." When I heard that "Dandelion Wine" was set in small-town Illinois, in the summer of 1928, I wondered how a sci-fi writer of Bradbury's caliber would pull of this down-home story.
The answer: with great style, poetry, and panache. And also with a bit of trickery. In truth, this is yet another collection of short stories given some cohesiveness by Douglas and Tom, the two brothers who are often participants in the action, or eavesdroppers after the fact. Through them, we meet a traveling junk-man, a time machine in the form of an old storyteller, a Tarot Witch, and much more. We experience the heart-pounding fear of a woman hurrying home through a ravine, even as the murderous Lonely Man lurks about, and we see the tenderness of a family reacting to Grandma's half-blind, experimental, and wondrous cooking.
Although I wished for some overriding plot or goal in this story, it has a meandering magic to it. It offers humor, nostalgia, suspense, and wonder, and Bradbury's sci-fi style provides an otherworldly backdrop to this boyhood tale.
Book Review: Most Excellent Piece of English Literature Ever Penned
Summary: 5 Stars
If there is a more beautiful, awesome, totally cool book ever written, someone please let me know! I consider this the most excellent piece of literature in the entire English language. I have over 3,000 books in my personal library and if I could only keep one, this would be the book. I have read it countless times over the past twenty years and only enjoy it more with each reading. I love this book!Book Review: My #1 all-time favorite book.
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read many novels, short stories, adventures, non-fiction, classics, etc. and I have yet to find a book that lingers in my memory as much as this. It makes me long for a place that never existed and a time that never was. It is not for everyone. Some may find the pace to slow. Others will not like how the chapters are all different stories about different people in a small, seemingly normal town. It almost reminds me of my child hood home, where every neighbor knew one-another and most people were happy to see you. Sad that it no longer exists.Book Review: My Favorite Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
I first read Dandelion Wine when I was in high school. I've read it again and again over the years. It's my favorite novel by my favorite writer. The book is pure magic.