Dandelion Wine

by Ray Bradbury

Paperback, 317 pages

Published May 1, 2018 by Tianjin People's Publishing House.

ISBN:: 978-7-201-13020-0

(3 reviews)

The summer of '28 was a vintage season for a growing boy. A summer of green apple trees, mowed lawns, and new sneakers. Of half-burnt firecrackers, of gathering dandelions, of Grandma's belly-busting dinner. It was a summer of sorrows and marvels and gold-fuzzed bees. A magical, timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding—remembered forever by the incomparable Ray Bradbury.

Dandelion Wine is unique amongst the works of the popular author Ray Bradbury, in that it provides us with perhaps the clearest insight into the thoughts and feelings of the author. The book was published in 1957, perhaps over twenty years after the era which it is about, thus providing an inevitable theme of nostalgia throughout the book. The principal character, Douglas Spalding, and his brother Tom, encounter a series of adventures which are described in a crafted and distinguished manner to provide a philosophical tone throughout the book. The narrative is enriched by the experiences of individuals such as Leo Auffman, who attempts (unsuccessfully) to construct a 'Happiness machine'. Overall, the book provides a nostalgic sense of childhood and an understanding of the beauty of the world and all its features; in this way, it appears to be Bradbury himself reminiscing on his past. Douglas has similar traits to those Bradbury has later in life identified in himself, strengthening this interpretation.

38 editions

Youssef | يوسف reviewed Dandelion Wine (Earthlight) by Ray Bradbury

Preserving the summer

5 stars

Dandelion Wine is a coming of age story, infused with the magic of childhood. It's about that first discovery and sharp awareness of being alive, and the attempt to relish every day of the summer. But that sense of life always comes with its twin shadow: the realization of mortality, the experience of loss, friends leaving, and the death of someone you love. What's at stake is to always reaffirm that first sensation of life. For this a new kind of magic is needed: the ethics of passing over the help your received onto others. Summer will be gone but we can preserve the wine of summer in bottles to help us through the winters to come. This is our mundane act of creation that sustains life in all its mystery.

Arbieroo reviewed Dandelion Wine (Earthlight) by Ray Bradbury

Review of 'Dandelion Wine (Earthlight)' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I first read this during my teenaged Bradbury binge and loved it. It spoke to me personally in a way that, say, The Martian Chronicles, did not. Doug Spaulding may as well have been me.

The second time I read it, in my twenties, all I really remembered was two out of three early episodes (the tennis shoes and the forest picnic) from right at the beginning of the book. Hence I was expecting a childhood nostalgia fest and got a bit of a shock. The book has a dark current running through it.

This time round, I still remembered the tennis shoes and the picnic - but also that it was dark in some way - people kept dying, at least.

And it's true; Doug Spaulding experiences two revelations in one long Illinois summer. The first is that he is alive. It's the first time that he's paid the fact any attention and it's exciting. Everything has an extra zing, even things that had been fairly zingy in previous years. The second is that people keep dying; old folks, murder victims, even folk-legendary characters. They were alive - now they are not. And Doug is alive - so one day he will not be either. Doug recognises his own mortality, is greatly shaken and takes one step closer to adulthood in his now old, no longer magical tennis shoes.

I don't think many people face up to their own mortality at the age of Doug Spaulding in this book, but Bradbury genuinely might have. He's the guy who wrote a story about noticing - really becoming aware of - one's skeleton. Noticing things with greater intensity than normal folks is a great part of Bradbury's genius.

The book is constructed in an odd fashion. Being an early novel by one of the greatest short-story writers ever, it resembles a collection of short stories sewn together to make up a novel. Somehow it works - perhaps because it has a novel's coherence of theme stitching it all together. It's also a brilliant evocation of mid-western small town life circa 1928. Just not nearly as nostalgic as one might expect.

𝔦𝔬𝔰𝔢𝔭𝔥𝔳𝔰 𝔟𝔦𝔟𝔩𝔦𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔠𝔞𝔯𝔦𝔳𝔰

rated it

July 29, 2012