| Esteemed Scholar: | David Loftus |
| Total Posts in Ray Bradbury |
233 |
| 1. Favorite book and why? |
_Something Wicked This Way Comes_. Because it encapsulates nearly all the classic Bradbury themes -- the dark carnival, the triumphs and pitfalls of late childhood, the haunting if subtle threats of age, death, and sex, the magic of books, the sheer joy of living -- in one beautiful package.
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| 2. Least favorite book and why? |
Any of the brief, syrupy animal or poem collections: _When Elephants Last in the Dooryard Bloomed_, _Where Robot Mice and Robot Men Run Round in Robot Towns_, _With Cat For Comforter_, etc. Bradbury is not a poet. He should save his gift for words and poetic language for his stories.
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| 3. Favorite scene in favorite book and why? |
There are almost too many to pick from. The very end, where father and two boys race to train switch after defeating the evil carnival is pretty good, but the famous bullet trick with the Dust Witch, the scene where Mr. Dark captures the boys in the library, and some of the other creepy scenes earlier in the book are all winners.
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| 4. Favorite character and why? |
I assume this means favorite Bradbury character in all his books, not just _Something Wicked_. I would choose Doug Spalding in the story "The Utterly Perfect Murder," which can be found in the collections _Long After Midnight_ or _The Stories of Ray Bradbury_. He's a mildly sick man who knows he's sick, and cures himself while gaining revenge on the man who bullied him when they were 12.
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| 5. Which character do you identify most with and why? |
Oh gosh ... I don't normally identify with Bradbury characters -- they're either too "Middle America" or too "out there" (either in terms of being alien or extra-human in some magical or extremely eccentric fashion). I have a feeling that before too much longer, however, I'll identify quite a bit with Will's father, the library janitor, in _Something Wicked This Way Comes_. He's a tired, disappointed man but graced with an almost infinite humanity.
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| 6. If you could see a sequel to one of the author's books, which would it
be and what would it be about? |
Most of Bradbury's books are short story collections (and most of his best work in those stories), so it would be hard to imagine a sequel to any of them per se. But a sequel to _Fahrenheit 451_, where the "human books" come to the attention of the repressive authorities and all-out war for their survival breaks out, could be most bracing.
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| 7. What do you like about author's writing style? |
His lovely, beautiful use of the English language. Reading Bradbury is sometimes like eating rich foods or courting your first girl.
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| 8. What are your favorite themes of this author? |
The joys of late childhood ... the magic of books ... the mixed blessings of growing up ... the threat and blessing of death ... the wonder of technology and how it changes human beings and does not change them ... how fine and good it is to be different, eccentric, or to have such people exist....
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| 9. What could be most improved about this authors books? |
Fewer stories, narrators, and characters who speak in his same optimistic, wonder-full, word-loving voice.
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| Reviews |
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I Sing The Body Electric!
Driving Blind
Long After Midnight
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Fahrenheit 451
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