Something Wicked This Way Comes
1962
- boys
- fiction
- male friendship
- fathers and sons
- carnival
- fiction in english
- sci-fi
- social life and customs
- fantasy
- fantasy fiction
The story
Few American novels written this century have endured in the heart and memory as has Ray Bradbury's unparalleled literary classic SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES. For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic power of its dark poetry, step inside. The show is about to begin. The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. The shrill siren song of a calliope beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. In this season of dying, Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. And two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors; two friends who will soon know all too well the heavy cost of wishes. . .and the stuff of nightmare.
What it’s like
Autumn dread and lantern-lit nostalgia: this is a book to read with the night air cooling outside, in the hour after dusk when a small town feels like it is holding its breath. Bradbury's prose is lush and incantatory, long sentences heavy with smoke, mirrors, rust and October leaves, the calliope's wheezing tune drifting through every page like a rumor. The palette is rich and autumnal, dusky ambers and tarnished silver, with a carnival's garish colors gone sinister after midnight. Its vibe is eerie, bittersweet and wistful, a dark fable about boyhood, fathers and the price of wanting to be young again. The pacing is unhurried and atmospheric, building through dread and rhythmic description rather than sharp action, and the emotional arc follows two close friends, one restless and one steadier, as their bond is tested by fear and temptation. Intensity is moderate: frightening and uncanny, with menace and some grim, unsettling imagery, but no gore and little explicit violence. It suits a late-October reading, a long autumn evening, or a reread for those who love fantasy that feels like an old carnival at the edge of town. It is for readers who want spooky literary atmosphere, tender father-son and friendship themes, and language that lingers like woodsmoke.
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