[.ca] Dandelion Wine (ISBN 0786165820)

From Amazon.com:
World-renowned fantasist Ray Bradbury has on several occasions stepped outside the arenas of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. An unabashed romantic, his first novel in 1957 was basically a love letter to his childhood. (For those who want to undertake an even more evocative look at the dark side of youth, five years later the author would write the chilling classic Something Wicked This Way Comes.) Dandelion Wine takes us into the summer of 1928, and to all the wondrous and magical events in the life of a 12-year-old Midwestern boy named Douglas Spaulding. This tender, openly affectionate story of a young man's voyage of discovery is certainly more mainstream than exotic. No walking dead or spaceships to Mars here. Yet those who wish to experience the unique magic of early Bradbury as a prose stylist should find Dandelion Wine most refreshing. --Stanley Wiater

a true book of poetry:
This book lies within the top three books of all time. Bradbury is like Jekyl and Hyde in his writings and this one is 'pure poetry'. It grabs the souls of anyone who lived through and fully experienced an adolescent summer. While there was never anything spectacular that ever happened to any of us, each moment of our day-to-day lives led us to be the sensitive adults that we, hopefully, are now. Like 'To Kill a Mockingbird', it takes us to a time when we and the world around us was more innocent, more forgiving and more magical. I read this every third summer as a reminder of where I came from and how a child's naivity can open his heart to everything around him.

It's magical...:
Ray Bradbury is a master, no question, and this little book is a masterpiece. I first read it as a child - now, many years later, I go back to it often. It is simple, yet the prose is elegant and the message timeless. I have enjoyed almost everything Ray Bradbury has written but this is absolutely a favorite. I just joined a group of women in a book club and this is the book I intend to have everyone read - I can't wait to introduce them to it!

Dandelion Wine:
This is without a doubt, the absolute worst book i have ever read in my life. Let me tell you i have read some horrible books that are pointless and have no relation whatsoever to life. However this one takes the cake. This isn't just a boring book. I have read books that were well made but are just boring to me such as Rebecca, Kidnap, and Great Expectations, but this book has no plot. Dandelion Wine is 239 pages of description. Some of the chapters include the character Douglass buying a pair of shoes, picking grapes, and brushing his teeth. This, as you can see, is quite "thrilling". I would rather take medicine than read this.

A series of metaphors about life in an active summer:
This is a chronicle of a simpler time in Middle America, often presented in the form of a metaphor. It is the summer of 1928, from opening day until the school supplies are readied for the first day of school in the fall. New sneakers, packed with enormous potential for running, jumping and general activity are one of the opening traditions of the summer. The title comes from the making of dandelion wine, which is considered to be a way to pack the emotions of summer into a bottle. Since the dandelion flower is yellow and round, it bears some resemblance to the sun. As the story moves through the days of summer, there is the pain of a friend moving away, the fear of a major summer illness of a child, the death of a great grandmother, the concern over a haunted area of the town, and a women's social society. Through it all, there is a note of underlying mysticism, but it is simply humans in a small town doing what people did in small towns in those days. The introduction of the supernatural forces is clearly meant to be a set of metaphors for the usual unusual events over the course of an active summer. The best example of this is the happiness machine. One of the inhabitants builds a machine that mentally takes you to many of the exotic places in the Earth. However, the wife of the man who built it points out that it is a bad thing, because it makes you want to go places you can't. Furthermore, it doesn't make the supper, mend the clothes, clean the house, or do any of the routine, but necessary tasks of daily life. One of the most moving segments was the death of the great grandmother, who dies contented, considering it just another event in a long life filled with many happy routines. The segment begins with a recapitulation of her life, all of the actions of cleaning, cooking and taking care of children. She makes one last sweep of the house to check on things, and then goes upstairs to her bed to die. She dispenses some last-minute advice about how to carry on, commenting that she will live on in her descendents. With that last act out of the way, she curls up in bed and quietly and peacefully dies. Reading it took me back to the days when I was twelve and growing up in Iowa. We had our summer rituals, the places we avoided because of the spooks, our favorite fields and swimming places and we also let the doors slam behind us. Bradbury writes very well, but you cannot appreciate these stories if you take them too literally. However, if you are capable of thinking metaphorically, then this is the summers of my youth as well as the youth of millions of other active boys.

A Favorite:
This is one of my top 5 favorite books. Bradbury rocks.