Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked this Way Comes is an attempt at a thriller. The story tries to follow two young boys and their experience with a supernatural carnival that comes to town. Where3 Bradbury failed is in another character, Will's father. Will's father is composed of Bradbury's own fears about aging and death. This character takes page after page of nearly nonsensical philosophy that has no real place in the action/adventure preteen story. I thought at first that Bradbury wrote it when he himself was too old to comprehend what he was writing but it turns out good ol' Ray was only in his 40s. Maybe I need to go back and re-read Fahrenheit 451. Maybe it's not as good of a book as I remember. Or maybe Bradbury just stumbled on this one and that's why no one has heard of it.
I have to mention two characters though that really stood out and made the story worth reading. The first is the Illustrated Man. Pure evil incarnate, he wasn't quite as enrapturing as the dust witch.
THE DUST WITCH. A witch with her eyes sewn shut. She travels in a hot air balloon and feels the earth with her hands. She struck me almost as strongly as Coraline's Other Mother.
2/5
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