T.E. W. (terez93) reviewed on 7/29/2019 + 345 more book reviews

I've recently (re)discovered Ray Bradbury novels, having read them in high school and during my undergrad program, but I find that they are far more rich and meaningful, now that I have some additional life experience. I find that I can just relate to the material in a more profound way. Bradbury is a true wordsmith, not in the pejorative sense: he always weaves such a rich tapestry of prose that readers can easily project themselves into the scenes. The characters are well-developed, not so much through a narrative portrait of them, but more in the dialogue and the extrapolation of their motives and actions, which creates far more depth than simplistic, superficial descriptions.

That said: this wasn't one of my favorites, although I still liked it. I think there's much more than meets the eye, here, and that a substantial amount of this book is intended to be allegorical, but darned if I can figure out what that is, at least with the first read-through. The story really lags about halfway through, and rather than building throughout to a conclusion, it seems to labor through the material in a way that most of his other novels don't. The strengths lie in the characteristic poetic prose, which is rich without ever being pretentious, and is always enjoyable to read.

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