That Special Time At The End Of October

What is your favourite holiday? Easter, Christmas, New Year... Or perhaps you prefer the spooky yet peaceful time when you can dress up in a costume and participate in gathering sweets for yourself and your family that happens on the last day of the silent month when autumn has fully started without any days of summer and winter is far from appearing? Personally, I have never celebrated Halloween, and I'm a real genius for having read Something Wicked This Way Comes during the hot days of July, but now is better than never. 

What can I say about this book? Those who love the magic of carnivals and all the wonders that they can do, the nostalgic and comforting taste of the food that is served and reminds us of the olden days, the various attractions that they offer, might become less sure about that upon having read this book. While it is not exactly terrifying, it is spooky, and Bradbury's prose in this book helps build the atmosphere. It also helps that this is more than just a standard "good vs evil" story about an evil circus and coming-of-age. There are also many philosophical concepts presented with complex metaphors, which is impressive, especially when you consider that this is supposed to be a book for children, who are often pandered and talked down to just because they happen to be naive and know less than adults, some of whom often seem to mistake this for stupidity. 

There are some great descriptions, yet it's more than that. Ray Bradbury could have just written the book in normal prose, but then the whole point he wanted to make with it would be missed. He over-described everything on purpose, trying to make it feel like you yourself were in a circus for a night, gazing at one wondrous attraction and then the other, which helps build the atmosphere. However, that can also be a flaw. At one point, he described the shadows as "smelling like urine" and the moon as "having the smell of ice" (paraphrasing) in the same scene. This is not an isolated incident. The story was sometimes hard to follow, and sometimes it made the story more boring, sometimes both, especially between the middle and the climax.

The characters also felt a bit flat. Charles Halloway and Mr. Dark are great characters that will stay in my mind for a long time, but the characterization was not one of Bradbury's strengths in this novel. Will was the good boy. Jim was the well-meaning, yet mischievous boy. And the others are even weaker. 

That is it for this review. Goodbye and see you next time.