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Ray Bradbury – Something Wicked This Way Comes | Review

Title: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Author: Ray Bradbury

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 278

Rating: 4/5

I picked this up as part of a buddy read with Graham Quigley on BookTube, but I’ve got to be honest, I pretty much whizzed through it in 24 hours or so. Graham said that there was something about the writing style that reminded him of Harper Lee, but it put me more in mind of The Night Circus if it had been written by Shirley Jackson.

What’s interesting here is that it was the writing itself that really stood out to me. It was beautifully done, and some of the sentences alone make it worth picking up. At the same time, though, the characters felt pretty fleshed out and the plot was fantastic, if a little weird and occasionally hard to follow.

I was pretty sure I was going to enjoy this before I picked it up, partly because I’ve enjoyed Bradbury’s work in the past and partly because the front cover is blurbed by Stephen King. This is one of those novels that I think every serious writer should read, and horror writers in particular will find plenty here that gives them food for thought.

So all in all, this is one of those classics that lives up to its hype, and I can see why it would be especially formative for writers of genre fiction. I also think it has a kind of widespread appeal that not all classics have, so I’d recommend just picking it up whenever you get a chance. I promise you won’t regret it.

Click here to buy Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Daphne du Maurier – Rebecca | Review

Title: Rebecca

Author: Daphne du Maurier

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 432

Rating: 4*/5

Daphne du Maurier – Rebecca

First off, whatever you do, don’t read the Virago Modern Classics edition. The front cover is a spoiler for the last page and the introductory essay is a spoiler for the other 431 of them. I already knew a little bit about the story line of Rebecca because of its parodies in popular culture, and particularly Mitchell and Webb which ruined the scene with the dress from the portrait, and what I didn’t know was spoiled by Sally Beauman’s introductory essay. And from what I understand, that was only there in the first place to try to get you to buy her “award-winning Rebecca’s Tale, authorised by the du Maurier estate.” Yeah, I won’t be reading that.

Because of all that, this entire read felt more like a re-read, even though it’s the first time I’ve ever picked it up. And that’s a shame, because it took a lot of the enjoyment out of it for me. Sure, it was good to read it to see how du Maurier told the story, but none of it took me by surprise, as I imagine it would have if I’d read it in 1938. I’ve also never read Jane Eyre, which apparently it’s based on, so maybe I would have got more from it if I’d read that.

The unnamed narrator is bland and boring, at least for the majority of the book, but that’s a deliberate ploy on du Maurier’s part. Still, it was kind of irritating to have to read her whittering on about stuff, especially when you already know what’s going to happen and that it’ll make most of what she’s even going on about completely redundant. Maxim de Winter and Mrs Danvers were much more interesting.

Daphne du Maurier

I also found it entertaining because I didn’t trust Rebecca and then it turned out that I’d sussed her character out when everyone else in the book was taken in by her. But that wasn’t outright spelled out or spoiled for me and so even though I called it, at least I called it myself. I was also taken by surprise by a twist towards the end when they called upon Rebecca’s former doctor, but I also thought it was a little too convenient.

Overall, based on my reading experience, Rebecca just scrapes a 4/5, and only because I’m generous and based on the strength of du Maurier’s writing. Without being spoiled, it would have been an easy 5* and a contender for my book of the year. Oh well.