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alaskan_bull_worm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Have you ever heard of the phrase “clear before clever”? I’m not sure Bradbury has. He has very rich descriptions in this book, but they are kind of too much. Sometimes I wasn’t sure what was happening because every other word was some metaphor. He also likes to put a hyphen in between two words to create a new adjective a lot. And he says something “was all adj., adj., adj.” I didn’t really like his writing style much. (I’m sure you can tell by now.) It really made it hard for me to get into the story. Occasionally his poetic style really worked, but the fact that is was nonstop was what really spoiled it for me. And that’s the thing, I think he should write poetry, not prose.
There were a few times his descriptions did impress me, such as #1 (in spoiler).
But mostly they were just too much. The plot itself was okay. (Maybe I only say that because I couldn’t get into it.) In terms of characterization, I particularly liked #2.
But by the end of the book, I was counting down the pages until I was done. I kind of feel like I shouldn’t be saying I don’t like this famous author so much, but my rating is as it stands.
And for a final comment, I watched the Disney movie version of this book before reading it. It wasn’t super good either, but it felt so close to being something really cool. Like they just barely missed their mark. And the ending was very different.
1. When he compared women and men to different clocks.
When Mr. Dark offered more time to Halloway.
In the beginning when he described the different months boys liked.
I feel like I’m missing something?
2. Mr. Dark was also the Illustrated Man. The descriptions of him were effective, and him being one of the “freaks” as well I liked. He wasn’t just some ringmaster far away from it all.
There were a few times his descriptions did impress me, such as #1 (in spoiler).
But mostly they were just too much. The plot itself was okay. (Maybe I only say that because I couldn’t get into it.) In terms of characterization, I particularly liked #2.
But by the end of the book, I was counting down the pages until I was done. I kind of feel like I shouldn’t be saying I don’t like this famous author so much, but my rating is as it stands.
And for a final comment, I watched the Disney movie version of this book before reading it. It wasn’t super good either, but it felt so close to being something really cool. Like they just barely missed their mark. And the ending was very different.
1. When he compared women and men to different clocks.
When Mr. Dark offered more time to Halloway.
In the beginning when he described the different months boys liked.
I feel like I’m missing something?
2. Mr. Dark was also the Illustrated Man. The descriptions of him were effective, and him being one of the “freaks” as well I liked. He wasn’t just some ringmaster far away from it all.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, and Kidnapping
Minor: Misogyny, Child abuse, and Death
rory_john14's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, Racism, Ableism, Child death, Misogyny, Murder, Grief, and Sexism
Minor: Body horror
nikexistiertnik's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
i'm glad i read this book, as it did inspire lots of people's works, but it very much shows that it was written by a man more than half a century ago.
and i gotta say that i didn't particularly enjoy the writing style - although ray bradbury can craft beautiful sentences, they distract a lot from the actual plot and it was hard for me to stay interested at times.
and i gotta say that i didn't particularly enjoy the writing style - although ray bradbury can craft beautiful sentences, they distract a lot from the actual plot and it was hard for me to stay interested at times.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Misogyny
budge's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This novel is wildly imaginative and deliciously spooky in parts. The story seemed to be about both coming of age and coming to terms with our own mortality. <<Spoilers>> I also liked the final reveal of the metaphor for life and simple message of how to cope with the nightmare of existence and resist the temptation to be manipulated by people who like to prey on human weaknesses. I'm glad I didn't read the introduction in this 2015 edition because it reveals that message before you've even started the story, so you wouldn't get that satisfying feeling when everything falls into place. The message is slightly disappointing though in the same way as the resolution of most of Dr Who's cliffhangers are, ie it's a bit too easy and doesn't quite ring true. I also found the style so richly bejewelled with hyphenated meta-adjectives that it was a bit difficult at times to follow the thread of what was going on, although I did enjoy them individually and often went back to savour them a bit, which is meant it took me an awfully long time to read the book.
The other problem I had with it was that I felt a bit excluded as a woman. I had no problem identifying with the two boys who were the main characters in the book and to a lesser extent their Dad, but then they start saying that women don't have trouble sleeping because they can have children and are therefore immortal in a way, so don't have to worry about dying, and they cry a lot. The female characters in the book are a sad spinster who wants to be young again, a crying girly, a terribly sensible mother who doesn't understand things like wanting to escape into the moonlight by climbing down from the bedroom window at night, and a wicked ugly witch who tries to control the main characters and and gets shot by the hero man. At least there isn't a beautiful sexy mysteriously knowing fantasy woman to complete the set.
The sideshow "freak" characters seem to be either possessed or evil as in so many books/ films etc and, as with the women, they are not given any sort of personality that you can relate to. It also has the main characters combatting that evil by singing part of an extremely racist song. Oh dear. <<Spoilers>>
Having read the whole Ray Bradbury section of my local library (they didn't have this one) when I was quite young I fell in love with him and don't remember them being at all problematic in that way, but I have a strong suspicion that it's because it was the seventies and we were so steeped in discriminatory attitudes then that I just didn't notice, so I'm thinking maybe best not to re-read the others now.
The other problem I had with it was that I felt a bit excluded as a woman. I had no problem identifying with the two boys who were the main characters in the book and to a lesser extent their Dad, but then they start saying that women don't have trouble sleeping because they can have children and are therefore immortal in a way, so don't have to worry about dying, and they cry a lot. The female characters in the book are a sad spinster who wants to be young again, a crying girly, a terribly sensible mother who doesn't understand things like wanting to escape into the moonlight by climbing down from the bedroom window at night, and a wicked ugly witch who tries to control the main characters and and gets shot by the hero man. At least there isn't a beautiful sexy mysteriously knowing fantasy woman to complete the set.
The sideshow "freak" characters seem to be either possessed or evil as in so many books/ films etc and, as with the women, they are not given any sort of personality that you can relate to. It also has the main characters combatting that evil by singing part of an extremely racist song. Oh dear. <<Spoilers>>
Having read the whole Ray Bradbury section of my local library (they didn't have this one) when I was quite young I fell in love with him and don't remember them being at all problematic in that way, but I have a strong suspicion that it's because it was the seventies and we were so steeped in discriminatory attitudes then that I just didn't notice, so I'm thinking maybe best not to re-read the others now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Misogyny and Racism
Minor: Death and Violence
louisegraveyard's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Racism
brynn_books's review against another edition
3.0
This is not something I would normally pick up. I had to read it for school. This book was pretty creepy. I don’t know. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great. Maybe it just wasn’t my kind of book?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Ableism, and Body horror
Moderate: Child death, Racism, and Misogyny
Minor: Alcohol, Racial slurs, and Body shaming
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