Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (2006) – Sometimes you have to pick up a book you loved from your childhood just to restore your faith in good literature (or what you considered good). A Wrinkle in Time, Canticle for Leibowitz, Moon of Three Rings, any of the Zenna Henderson stuff are all childhood friends of mine.
I hadn’t read Something Wicked since I was a kid, and I was a little afraid it wasn’t as good as I remembered or perhaps hadn’t aged well. I needn’t have worried. It was amazing. It’s a very simple story about good and evil, friendships, and sacrifices, but Mr. Bradbury wraps poetry around every scene and every bit of dialogue. Atmospheric doesn’t even begin to describe how the reader is completely drawn into the story. All the strange and wonderful things the carnival has to offer, the urgency of seeing it through a child’s eyes, and the incredible narrative make me want to reread each page – once for the story and once to see how it’s written.
A thread of sadness runs through the story. Sadness that the two best friends will soon outgrow the wonder of the world around them, sadness that so many of the adults in the story carry around regrets as big as a house. It could be our town. It could be any town. A carnivorous carnival might tempt us with bright lights and potential danger. Each of us could look in the funhouse mirror and see parts of our lives we’d do over.
I think this might be one of Mr. Bradbury’s finest works. I also love the Martian Chronicles because it’s an unending series of short stories about life on Mars, but Wicked is short, sweet, and powerful. Shadows disturbed me after reading this. Lightning signified an ominous death approaching that even the man selling weather vanes couldn’t escape. Clowns? Mr. Bradbury could show Stephen King a thing or two.
You can’t take your eyes off the riveting characters of the carnival. They’re disturbing but you can’t look away. Even as the high-spirited (I won’t say he’s evil or bad) boy joins the disturbing carnies, you stand helpless and watch as his friend tries everything to save him. It’s exhausting, velvety smooth, and inspiring.
I want to be Ray Bradbury when I grow up.
