READING THROUGH THE UNITED STATES...ILLINOIS

Illinois...

A masterpiece of gothic literature...or so “they” say. A well known literary genius...or so “they” say. A big ole slice of nonsense...I say. I chose to read Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury for my Illinois choice, a part creepy carnival, part coming of age story about two teenage boys. I drudged through the entire novel baffled at why this is considered a classic. To say that I was disappointed in this novel and the author is an understatement. Sorry Bradbury fans out there, I just don’t get it. 

First of all the main characters, Jim Nightshade and William Halloway, supposedly young teenage boys, talk as if they are old men waxing poetically about their lives. 

For example Chapter 8, page 33, “He remembered a greenhouse on a winter day, pushing aside thick jungle leaves to find a creamy pink hothouse rose poised alone in the wilderness. That was mother, smelling like fresh milk, happy, to herself, in this room.”

Seriously, what thirteen year old boy thinks about their mother in such a way? Not a single one that I know of. 

Second of all everything was written as if in secret poetic code, that you as the reader had to figure out.

For example Chapter 6, page 28, “Jim’s face was flushed, his cheeks blazing, his eyes green-glass fire. He thought of that night, them picking the apples, Jim suddenly crying softly, “Oh, there!” And Will, hanging to the limbs of the tree, tight-pressed, terribly excited, staring in at the Theater, that peculiar stage where people, all unknowing, flourished shirts above their heads, let fall clothes to the rug, stood raw and animal-crazy, naked, like shivering horses, hands out to touch each other.”

Now let’s sum it up. Perverted teenage boy climbs up tree to stare at a couple through their bedroom window. Yes I get that my version is a little more, shall we say to the point and boring, but page after page after page of trying to decode this nonsense is off putting. 

I really could go on, but I think you get my point. I really did not like this book. Too many hidden meanings, camouflaged under poetic nonsense.