Title: Something Wicked This Way ComesAuthor: Ray Bradbury
Pages: 293 pages
Published: 1962
Source: Library
Book #4 - Classics Club Post
Stephen King Recommends Reading Challenge
GoodReads Description: "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. Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. A calliope’s shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. 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 nightmares.
Few novels have endured in the heart and memory as has Ray Bradbury’s unparalleled literary masterpiece Something Wicked This Way Comes. Scary and suspenseful, it is a timeless classic in the American canon."
"Beware the autumn people."
Is this the original creepy carnival? Everyone knows there is something creepy about a carnival. Especially an old-time carnival with the "freak shows." Animals caged up. Creepy old men trying to lure in little children... *shudder*
Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show is the creepy of the creepiest. The carnival arrives in October at 3 o'clock in the morning with a backwards funeral march caliope and black tents. Mr. Dark and his carnival will grant all your wishes with their magical carousel that ages and de-ages depending on which way it spins. He promises youth and beauty... but remember sometimes the devil doesn't come looking like the caricature we picture, but comes disguised as everything you ever wanted.
I loved this book. It was an awesome coming-of-age story! It reminded me of Stephen King's books with young protagonists. And it has beautiful prose! Oh my gosh I was blown away by Ray Bradbury's ability to keep up suspense and the creep-factor (yes, that's a technical term) and at the same time write such a lyrical book!
“His flesh took paleness from his bones.”
I think ordinarily when I read a book that is attempting to be both suspenseful and lyrical, one undoes the other. This one had just the right amount of each. What an eerily atmospheric, goose-flesh inducing, freaky book!
5 stars!
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