Started: 16/10/19
Finished: 21/10/19
Spoilers: No.
As Fahrenheit 451 quickly became one of my favourite books ever whilst reading it (it's a marvellous piece of work), I figured the only polite thing to do would be to try more of Bradbury's books.
This one's been sitting on my shelf for a few years, but as it's almost Halloween, it made sense that I read it now.
Characters
Jim Nightshade and Will Halloway, thirteen years old, neighbours, and best friends. They're chalk and cheese, Jim being the rowdy, reckless one, and Will being the sensible, bookish one, they couldn't be more different in personality, but Will is undyingly loyal to Jim and I found him a little unworthy of that loyalty. I got the impression that Will liked Jim a lot more than Jim liked Will.
The Illustrated Man was fucking creepy.
My favourite character was actually Charles, Will's father. The whole time he was concerned about being too old to be a father. He wrote himself off early on but proved to everyone, and more importantly to himself, that there was still an opportunity to be brave and heroic and young. This was his story in which to shine, more so than the boys.
Plot
This book very clearly carries a be careful what you wish for moral. When a mysterious carnivl rolls into town one night with promise of a thousand wonders, reclaimed youth and dreams fullfilled, naturally everyone is curious. But everything comes at a price. Wishes aren't given freely.
The adults, drawn by nostalgia and the postect of regaining some youth - literally - are fooled by the carnivals ruse. It seems the only ones who can see through the carnival's facade is Will and Jim, and Charles, who learnt at just the right moment how to regain his youth without the making a supernatural bargain with the carnival.
I struggle to be scared by horror books, so I don't go in expecting to be scared, just entertained, and I found this book very entertaining. And though I wasn't scared, there were moments when I was definitely creeped out and disturbed, which is probably the closest I've ever come to being scared by a book.
So job well done.
Setting
Although several different places are explored in this book, I feel like the main two of import are the carnival and the libraby. One is the domain of the Illustrated Man, the other the domain of Charles. I loved how the libraby was where Charles made his stand and discovered his strength after it being his sanctuary of solitude and hiding for so many years. It just felt like there was something significant in that.
These were the two settings that have the most atmosphere and depth.
Writing Style
Bradbury has such a wonderful prosaic way of telling a story. His work is very metaphor-heavy, but in such a way that only adds to the story, rather than distracting from what's being told.
His words create such beautiful and unexpected imagery far beyond the context of what's happening in the moment, painting his scenes with descriptions of a dream-like quality.
With Bradbury, I always have the distinct feeling every single word he chooses to write has a purpose. There are no redunt words in Bradbury. Every word offers something to the story.
I'm a big fan of his writing. Sure, to some it may come off as pretentious, but I kind of love it for this very reason.
Pretentious? Maybe.
Consistent? Absolutly.
Bradbury isn't trying too hard. He's not trying to be pretentious. He's not trying to be profound. This is just how he writes, and he's damn good at it.
Give the man some credit, his prose is fucking stunning.
There's the odd sentence that's not totally politically correct, like suggesting all men are interested in women and all women are interested in is gossip, but as it's said by a character, nothing ever comes across as a sexist opinion of the author, or even one of the character. But I know this book was written in the early 60s so I'm not salty about anything, I know times were different then and I'm not about to judge a book today based on the societal norms of 60 years ago. That would be unfair.
In short. I have zero issue with the writing in this book, but a SJW might.
Final Impression I'd very much like to try more Bradbury in the future. Two out of two so far isnt bad, and considering the draw of Bradbury for me is his very writing, I'll think I'll get on just fine with just about anything of his.
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