Reviews come and go around here, and lately it’s been novels, some old, some pretty new, and others that are instant classics from today or your ancestor’s day. I’ve recently read a novel that is keen on being one of the most unique experiences I’ve ever had, by updating constantly, if not insanely with post after post of some amazing works that one should read.
If any authorship were a contest, then hands-down, Ray Bradbury would be the surprising winner every year. Ray Bradbury is one of America’s most known writers, and perhaps the most important hand dealt in the literary pot. A writer that spans a whole century of literature from as early as the 1920s to the 00s and beyond, titles as important as: Fahrenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The October Country, and From the Dust Returned, he is truly one of the most spectacular authors to ever go the distance of the perfect career. Any young writer today would dream to have half of the unique fame as this man that I now write about, and I surely will not be the last to write about.
Ray Bradbury is one man that will have thesis papers, essays, and many more written about him, and will keep college students awake long nights finishing up those final paragraphs in hopes of an A paper. Scholars will be obliged to read about his works, pay homage to his life, and always anticipate the next great novel.
Every story told by the master brings feelings of excitement, reminiscent childhood days basking without a care in the summer sun, and the fearful excitement of All Hallows Eve when Dark Carnivals come to town to steal away youth, in a marvelous, horrific spectacle. Such intensity is not easily found in novels, and over the years, Bradbury has not been disappointing.
Although a Fantasy/Science Fiction writer, the very beginnings of Bradbury’s art has never succumbed to selling out to the clichés found in your classic case of Sci-Fi /Fantasy. Despite the change of the genre, the demand of more zombies! More Aliens! And the ever-crying demand for technology so intelligent it ceases to help mankind, and rather destroy its creators, Bradbury dared to stay original, never straying from his authenticity.
Bradbury is such an amazing talent, that even a description of a home cooked meal is written to such a high caliber that a term paper on any subject pales in comparison. Ray Bradbury’s talent comes from a lifetime of experience, and a self education that puts the public school systems of today to shame. Bradbury will make any everyday situation sound better than describing the most beautiful creatures on earth. Whatever has been written in the course of history, Bradbury could write it in a way that makes it not only original, but beautiful.
None has ever been more shown of true authentic Bradbury than his great work Dandelion Wine. Dandelion Wine is not-so-much of a Sci-Fi epic seen by much of his other works, but it never ceases to amaze the reader with its cooling emotional auras. Taking place in 1928 Green Town Illinois, Summertime, the rare tastes and colors of the season blend into such a magnificent creation, it is God-like in its telling. This novel is not just another book that will be found on your professor’s list, or your high school English Teacher’s shelf in tearing paperbacks, no, this is a life lesson in a book.
To read Dandelion Wine in the very season it demands, is to feel something no video, book, or even virtual reality experience could have ever beheld. The most Science Fiction aspect to this book is that it comes off more than a book, it is an experience that few could feel with any story: sheer brisk emotional responses to the characters and settings. I could feel and smell the crisp warm air, I could envision myself stepping bravely to the ravines banks and placing my hand in the dark-tar waters that flowed like cold bones down stream. The taste of Dandelion wine itself on my mouth keeps me somber still in a glaze of sheer delight while writing this review.
When one is asked, or chooses to write a review of a novel in the current time, few find any novel that is truly meant for them, for that particular psyche that capture their youth imagination, or their ferocity of happiness. Few novels beg the reader to demand more of the life they have in such a way that a century old man could run the seven meter dash and roll willy-nilly down a wildflower knoll. Stories written about life never taste so bittersweet, what else could you demand of a novel?
The story revolves around one full summer in the life of young Douglas Spaulding, a 12-year-old young man, learning about life, and learning that he himself is alive. Douglas Spaulding’s life is affected over the 239 pages with such a tenacity, that it’s the perfect up-and-down rollercoaster that becomes the daily life of all 26,000+ members of the small town. The year of the machines sums up a great deal of the novel, as well as the terrorizing of the Lonely One. Machines included are: the Happiness Machine, which is a machine that goes through several transitions, and displays pictures of “happy thoughts” including Paris, Egypt, bright colors, particular smells like perfume, and sunsets. The Green Machine is like a cheesy knock-off of what is the cross between a car and a lawnmower. The Green Machine is presented by a door-to-door salesman that entices the “simple” townsfolk into paying for his invention, which is obviously a gimmick, sells it. The final machine is more a symbol in an old Colonel that recalls all the memories from his earliest childhood, up to his 80+ years of life in Green Town Illinois. Traveling back to the Civil War, a magician’s tragic death in a freak accident, and hunting the Bison on the thunderous plains. Perhaps the most important machine of all was lying in the heart and mind of an old military officer.
A love of the season, a depth-defying amount of triumph, betrayal, and growth, this is a text-book example of how lives. Dandelion Wine is one novel that demands three readings, it requires only one thing: a love of reading. Bradbury shows you that it doesn’t matter what the season is, the exaggeration of the truth, but grand character development that entices the reader’s interest.
Dandelion Wine Is one of the best Bradbury books I have ever read, and is still a great classic today as it ever was in its first inception. The great American novel has been written a million times over, but lest we forget one of the first modern novels, Dandelion Wine is a case of books to read in a lifetime. I want to shake the hand of Mr. Bradbury in hopes to thank him for this creation he has made by ly living young and thinking wise.
If ever you have the chance to read this novel, be it from your local bookstore, a bargain bin at a hospital, or even at your local bookstore, do not hesitate to read this book! Dandelion Wine has become the novel of childhood summer dreams, If anyone on any blog, newspaper site, or even television or radio suggest a brand-new late summer read, take heed of my suggestion: Dandelion Wine. Even if it would be your first reading, or your one-hundredth reading no novel comes closer than Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine for the end of summer, and the welcoming of Fall. If this book has inspired you for what’s next in classics for the season, The October Country is your ticket for a great opening fall novel.
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