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Green Town #2
Farewell Summer
A poignant and brilliant sequel to Dandelion Wine from the author of Fahrenheit 451In Green Town Illinois, Douglas Spaulding is in the midst of a small civil war with the old pitted against the young in this, the second book in Bradbury's semi-fictionalised account of his childhood. As the school board's figure of authority Mr Calvin C. Quartermain attempts to outwit the boys at every turn, their antics increase and become ever more daring and mischevious. Once the shadow of winter draws across Green Town, the boys quickly realise that their enemy is not so much the senior members of their own community, but rather time itself which is ever ebbing away, just beyond the reach of their most daring trick yet: a bold attempt to sabotage the town's clock.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published October 17, 2006
510 people are currently reading
8489 people want to read
About the author
Ray Bradbury
2,560 books25.3k followersRay Douglas Bradbury was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and realistic fiction.
Bradbury is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). Other notable works include the coming of age novel Dandelion Wine (1957), the dark fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. Bradbury also wrote poetry which has been published in several collections, such as They Have Not Seen the Stars (2001).
The New York Times called Bradbury "An author whose fanciful imagination, poetic prose, and mature understanding of human character have won him an international reputation" and "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream".
Bradbury is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). Other notable works include the coming of age novel Dandelion Wine (1957), the dark fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. Bradbury also wrote poetry which has been published in several collections, such as They Have Not Seen the Stars (2001).
The New York Times called Bradbury "An author whose fanciful imagination, poetic prose, and mature understanding of human character have won him an international reputation" and "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 744 reviews
September 29, 2019
Ray Bradbury is to American literature as Credence Clearwater Revival is to classic rock, a producer of compact, meaningful, entertaining genre ambiguous work that speaks with a masterful voice.
Farewell Summer is the sequel to Dandelion Wine, published 50 years after the first work. In an afterward, Bradbury stated that the bulk of what would become Farewell Summer was created at the same time as the classic Dandelion Wine but the publishers thought the original work too long and convinced the author to put off the second half until later. No doubt none of the publishers would have guessed the half a century lapse, and Bradbury hints that he edited it off and on over the years until it was as ripe as an autumn apple.
Farewell Summer is the coming of age story of Douglas Spaulding, introduced to readers in Dandelion Wine. As most of his work, it is beautifully written, poignant and nostalgic yet with a depth and life of its own. Definitely for the Bradbury fan, a reader unfamiliar with his works would be better to begin with some short stories or Fahrenheit 451, but this is a good read.
Farewell Summer is the sequel to Dandelion Wine, published 50 years after the first work. In an afterward, Bradbury stated that the bulk of what would become Farewell Summer was created at the same time as the classic Dandelion Wine but the publishers thought the original work too long and convinced the author to put off the second half until later. No doubt none of the publishers would have guessed the half a century lapse, and Bradbury hints that he edited it off and on over the years until it was as ripe as an autumn apple.
Farewell Summer is the coming of age story of Douglas Spaulding, introduced to readers in Dandelion Wine. As most of his work, it is beautifully written, poignant and nostalgic yet with a depth and life of its own. Definitely for the Bradbury fan, a reader unfamiliar with his works would be better to begin with some short stories or Fahrenheit 451, but this is a good read.
December 7, 2019
“His library was a fine dark place bricked with books, so anything could happen there and always did. All you had to do was pull a book from the shelf and open it and suddenly the darkness was not so dark anymore.”
If you enjoyed Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine, Farewell Summer is a must-read! As Bradbury explains in the afterword, this is an extension of Dandelion Wine, initially cut by his publishers. He then revisited it years later to create what would become his last published novel.
Farewell Summer is a beautiful book where everything comes back to one theme: the passage of time. Whether that is hitting puberty and experiencing the changes that come with that, like discovering girls, or sitting down and asking an elderly person about life and what it all means. This is truly one of my favourite themes, I love it when people with life experience look back and provide little nuggets of wisdom.
As has been the case with all the Bradbury I’ve read so far, the writing is simply incredible. The descriptions of those last days of summer, as we transition into fall... my god, they were breathtaking. This excerpt is from the very first page:
“So along the road those flowers spread that, when touched, give down a shower of autumn rust... The rust was laid out everywhere, strewn under trees and by riverbanks and near the tracks themselves where once a locomotive had gone but went no more. So flowered flakes and railroad track together turned to moulderings upon the rim of autumn.”
If that doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will! I also buddy read this alongside @0hfortheloveofbooks which was so much fun as we got to fangirl together! Although there is one part towards the end that just felt a tad... unexpected. If you’ve read it, you’ll know!
Overall, a captivating addition to the Green Town series. I just love the others a tad more. 4.5 stars.
If you enjoyed Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine, Farewell Summer is a must-read! As Bradbury explains in the afterword, this is an extension of Dandelion Wine, initially cut by his publishers. He then revisited it years later to create what would become his last published novel.
Farewell Summer is a beautiful book where everything comes back to one theme: the passage of time. Whether that is hitting puberty and experiencing the changes that come with that, like discovering girls, or sitting down and asking an elderly person about life and what it all means. This is truly one of my favourite themes, I love it when people with life experience look back and provide little nuggets of wisdom.
As has been the case with all the Bradbury I’ve read so far, the writing is simply incredible. The descriptions of those last days of summer, as we transition into fall... my god, they were breathtaking. This excerpt is from the very first page:
“So along the road those flowers spread that, when touched, give down a shower of autumn rust... The rust was laid out everywhere, strewn under trees and by riverbanks and near the tracks themselves where once a locomotive had gone but went no more. So flowered flakes and railroad track together turned to moulderings upon the rim of autumn.”
If that doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will! I also buddy read this alongside @0hfortheloveofbooks which was so much fun as we got to fangirl together! Although there is one part towards the end that just felt a tad... unexpected. If you’ve read it, you’ll know!
Overall, a captivating addition to the Green Town series. I just love the others a tad more. 4.5 stars.
June 11, 2022
[Update]: After reading another Bradbury novel, Something Wicked This Way Comes, which I felt was a lot better written than Farewell Summer, and which I gave four-and-a-half stars, I can't justify giving Farewell Summer four stars, as that would only mean a 0.5 star difference from Something Wicked This Way Comes, which was easily a full star better than Farewell Summer, so I'm reducing my rating from four stars to three-and-a-half stars. Review for Farewell Summer follows:
Seems I'm no sooner jumpin' in the lake at the start of vacation than I'm creepin' out the far side, on the way back to school. Boy, no wonder I feel bad."
"It's all how you look at it," said Doug. "My gosh, think of all the things you haven't even started yet. There's a million ice cream cones up ahead and ten billion apple pies and hundreds of summer vacations. Billions of things waitin' to be bit or swallowed or jumped in."
"Just once, though," said Tom, "I'd like one thing. An ice cream cone so big you could just keep eatin' and there isn't any end and you just go on bein' happy with it forever."
Farewell Summer is the last novel published in Ray Bradbury's lifetime, and is a fitting, though at times uneven, end to a fantastic literary career. It tells the story of a seemingly neverending summer and takes place in the fictional town of Green Town, Illinois in October, 1929. It is a direct sequel to Bradbury's masterpiece novel Dandelion Wine, which was published forty nine years previous.
The book tells the story of a "war" between the young children and elderly residents of the town, with thirteen-year-old Douglas Spaulding acting as "general" for the youth army, which consists of him, his younger brother Tom, and six or so other kids from the town. Together, they wage war on the elderly residents, which are led by Calvin C. Quartermain.
The war doesn't involve actual violence, instead consisting of misguided acts of youth rebellion and vandalism, and frustration on the part of Quartermain. I thought it brilliantly captured the adventurous spirit of what it's like to be a kid having fun. After all, who didn't play an imaginative game of war, or spies, or James Bond, or something as a kid, with either neighbours, friends, or maybe even family members being the unwitting victims of a stray Nerf gun dart, or the blast of water from a Super Soaker? I know I did, and I thought Bradbury captured that child-like spirit wonderfully in this book.
I also really enjoyed seeing these characters again, as several of them are also in Dandelion Wine. It was particularly smile-inducing to encounter Grandpa Spaulding again; he is a really great character. Besides the decent characters, the book also explores many themes in a seamless but powerful fashion: the loss of youth and growing up, the shortness and preciousness of life, rebellion against authority, love, and many others.
Some passages resonated heavily with me, and I was shocked to read reflections in here that I've secretly carried around my entire life. One example is how, when at the beginning of a long break like summer or Christmas vacation, you consciously think, in that moment, at the very beginning, how it's almost like the break is already over...because life is so short, and the good times go by in a flash and are over before you know it, and then are just memories.
I've read very few perfect books, and so, understandably, this is not one of them. I found the war to be a bit one-sided and thus a little pointless? It was mostly the kids going on the offensive, with absolutely no response by Quartermain other than his being upset and bitching about it to his friend and close confidant, the hilariously-named Mr. Bleak. This leads to another point, which is that the elderly army really is only composed of Quartermain and Bleak, against a youth army of about eight. That always seemed noticeably one-sided to me throughout the book; I wished there was more involvement on the elderly side of the fight.
The other thing I didn't like was...
Oh. My. God. The ending. THE ENDING. I mean, what the HELL was that?! The ending of this book is of a completely different tone than the entire rest of the book, to the point where I harbour doubts Bradbury even wrote it. It's absolutely demented, and is by far the strangest ending I have ever read in any book, ever. I won't spoil anything, but I'll tell you that it's sexual in nature, and has to be read to be believed.
Overall, those who are expecting another Dandelion Wine will likely be disappointed by this sequel; though set in the same town, with many of the same characters, and with a decent amount (though not nearly as much) of the same nostalgic atmosphere and imagery that Bradbury is uniquely able to create, it's a noticeable step down in nostalgia and quality from its predecessor. It reads like "Dandelion Wine Lite", and has a bonkers ending that feels like it came out of a Pynchon novel. That being said, it's also touching, poignant, and at times magical. And it has a great Afterword from Bradbury that, given this was the last book published in his lifetime, feels like a farewell from one of the greatest authors to ever live. For me, at least, it was worth reading, and other than the ending I really enjoyed this final nostalgic journey through the eternal youth of Bradbury's Green Town, Illinois.
3.5 stars
Recommended.
Seems I'm no sooner jumpin' in the lake at the start of vacation than I'm creepin' out the far side, on the way back to school. Boy, no wonder I feel bad."
"It's all how you look at it," said Doug. "My gosh, think of all the things you haven't even started yet. There's a million ice cream cones up ahead and ten billion apple pies and hundreds of summer vacations. Billions of things waitin' to be bit or swallowed or jumped in."
"Just once, though," said Tom, "I'd like one thing. An ice cream cone so big you could just keep eatin' and there isn't any end and you just go on bein' happy with it forever."
Farewell Summer is the last novel published in Ray Bradbury's lifetime, and is a fitting, though at times uneven, end to a fantastic literary career. It tells the story of a seemingly neverending summer and takes place in the fictional town of Green Town, Illinois in October, 1929. It is a direct sequel to Bradbury's masterpiece novel Dandelion Wine, which was published forty nine years previous.
The book tells the story of a "war" between the young children and elderly residents of the town, with thirteen-year-old Douglas Spaulding acting as "general" for the youth army, which consists of him, his younger brother Tom, and six or so other kids from the town. Together, they wage war on the elderly residents, which are led by Calvin C. Quartermain.
The war doesn't involve actual violence, instead consisting of misguided acts of youth rebellion and vandalism, and frustration on the part of Quartermain. I thought it brilliantly captured the adventurous spirit of what it's like to be a kid having fun. After all, who didn't play an imaginative game of war, or spies, or James Bond, or something as a kid, with either neighbours, friends, or maybe even family members being the unwitting victims of a stray Nerf gun dart, or the blast of water from a Super Soaker? I know I did, and I thought Bradbury captured that child-like spirit wonderfully in this book.
I also really enjoyed seeing these characters again, as several of them are also in Dandelion Wine. It was particularly smile-inducing to encounter Grandpa Spaulding again; he is a really great character. Besides the decent characters, the book also explores many themes in a seamless but powerful fashion: the loss of youth and growing up, the shortness and preciousness of life, rebellion against authority, love, and many others.
Some passages resonated heavily with me, and I was shocked to read reflections in here that I've secretly carried around my entire life. One example is how, when at the beginning of a long break like summer or Christmas vacation, you consciously think, in that moment, at the very beginning, how it's almost like the break is already over...because life is so short, and the good times go by in a flash and are over before you know it, and then are just memories.
I've read very few perfect books, and so, understandably, this is not one of them. I found the war to be a bit one-sided and thus a little pointless? It was mostly the kids going on the offensive, with absolutely no response by Quartermain other than his being upset and bitching about it to his friend and close confidant, the hilariously-named Mr. Bleak. This leads to another point, which is that the elderly army really is only composed of Quartermain and Bleak, against a youth army of about eight. That always seemed noticeably one-sided to me throughout the book; I wished there was more involvement on the elderly side of the fight.
The other thing I didn't like was...
Oh. My. God. The ending. THE ENDING. I mean, what the HELL was that?! The ending of this book is of a completely different tone than the entire rest of the book, to the point where I harbour doubts Bradbury even wrote it. It's absolutely demented, and is by far the strangest ending I have ever read in any book, ever. I won't spoil anything, but I'll tell you that it's sexual in nature, and has to be read to be believed.
Overall, those who are expecting another Dandelion Wine will likely be disappointed by this sequel; though set in the same town, with many of the same characters, and with a decent amount (though not nearly as much) of the same nostalgic atmosphere and imagery that Bradbury is uniquely able to create, it's a noticeable step down in nostalgia and quality from its predecessor. It reads like "Dandelion Wine Lite", and has a bonkers ending that feels like it came out of a Pynchon novel. That being said, it's also touching, poignant, and at times magical. And it has a great Afterword from Bradbury that, given this was the last book published in his lifetime, feels like a farewell from one of the greatest authors to ever live. For me, at least, it was worth reading, and other than the ending I really enjoyed this final nostalgic journey through the eternal youth of Bradbury's Green Town, Illinois.
3.5 stars
Recommended.
July 31, 2025
At the end of August 1973, I was a newly turned 10-year-old, running wild around the vast (or so it seemed at the time) woods surrounding the house where we lived.
The scent of summer lingered in the air, in the pine needles, and in the insects buzzing under the sunshiny rays penetrating the canopy of pines, poplars, eucalyptus, and other trees that I don't remember the name of.
With only a dozen cars passing through each day, it was the perfect place for biking. The wind blew through my long hair (yes, it was long, once! now is just absent) while I rode, with my dog following closely behind me; we would run to meet my neighbour friends, and then we would pretend to be part of an army fighting off alien invasions, mythical pirates, and other hidden threats, using the bushes and masses of rocks as cover while we uncover the famous treasure hidden on an island.
At nightfall, we would start improvised campsites around an imaginary fire (our fathers always refused us the real deal... I wonder why..?) to pass the night. But when the stars came out of hiding to sparkle in the dark sky, we would find an unavoidable excuse to go back home and sleep in a comfortable and safe bed, free of bugs and pine needles.
It was a hot summer, and the last days of school holidays were running out fast, but we didn't care because the future was a million years ahead.
October was on the corner, and I had no clue at all about the fact that 7 months later the country would be swept by a revolution with a real army on the streets, and 1 year later I was in an airplane, abandoning my country, my house, my friends, and, worst of all, my dog, in the direction of another country on another continent and another completely different universe. I died for the first time when I was 11 years old, flying 10000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean, and without the plane dropping into the sea. Pity!
Floating through the clouds, with memories rushing up to meet me, in the space between the heavens and the corner of some foreign city where I lost my youth forever, I could only hold on to a dream when I was trapped between the sense of wonder of a new fauna and the nostalgic sadness of loss.
Nostalgia is a treacherous concept that, I think, we're all well acquainted with. It involves fondly remembering at least some bygone days, free of worries and filled with innocent happiness. However, life moves on with or without us. Whether we like it or not, responsibilities start getting piled upon us, and we must simply learn how to deal with them.
Can't you see? It all makes perfect sense when expressed in dollars and cents! And the "future" was already there, locked in the "past."
Youth is ephemeral, a fleeting moment, short-lived, and easily missed or overlooked, a transient phase that slips away quietly and imperceptibly into the night of Time, never to be seen again. We never realise that it is fast going away, and by the time we notice its absence, it's already long gone and it's too late.
And no one can write about those feelings of loss of youth as Ray Bradbury did.
"Farewell Summer" was published in 2006 and was the last novel released during the author's lifetime. But it wasn't a "new" book. It was actually part of his 1957 novel "Dandelion Wine" that was split, at the time, in two by his publisher, on the grounds that the book was too thick. I wonder what that publisher would have to say about the books of Tolkien, Sanderson, or Jordan.
This book is about the bittersweet challenges of growing up, taking on responsibilities, ageing, seeking redemption, and the discovery that death and girls exist and are not related in any way.
Set 55 years after the events of Dandelion Wine, this story takes place about a year after the previous book's summer. The narrative unfolds during an early October Indian Summer, evoking a sense of nostalgia and contemplation on themes of memories and the eternal cycle of birth and death.
I read Dandelion Wine when I was 17 and was enchanted by an adolescence cut short from me that I wasn't having and would very much like to have had. As I've gotten older, Bradbury keeps holding the magic that he used to entice his readers.
Thousands of years from now, when we all are only fading memories of dust, on Mars, Bradbury's books will continue to be read. His work has literally travelled out of this world - a digitised copy of "The Martian Chronicles" was sent aboard NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander in 2008.
Ray Bradbury belongs to the exclusive club of elite writers whose every word seems to be chosen so every sentence has a true meaning beyond merely filling pages. He had a gift for transporting us deep into his dream landscapes, and he does so once again here, magnificently.
The scent of summer lingered in the air, in the pine needles, and in the insects buzzing under the sunshiny rays penetrating the canopy of pines, poplars, eucalyptus, and other trees that I don't remember the name of.
With only a dozen cars passing through each day, it was the perfect place for biking. The wind blew through my long hair (yes, it was long, once! now is just absent) while I rode, with my dog following closely behind me; we would run to meet my neighbour friends, and then we would pretend to be part of an army fighting off alien invasions, mythical pirates, and other hidden threats, using the bushes and masses of rocks as cover while we uncover the famous treasure hidden on an island.
At nightfall, we would start improvised campsites around an imaginary fire (our fathers always refused us the real deal... I wonder why..?) to pass the night. But when the stars came out of hiding to sparkle in the dark sky, we would find an unavoidable excuse to go back home and sleep in a comfortable and safe bed, free of bugs and pine needles.
It was a hot summer, and the last days of school holidays were running out fast, but we didn't care because the future was a million years ahead.
October was on the corner, and I had no clue at all about the fact that 7 months later the country would be swept by a revolution with a real army on the streets, and 1 year later I was in an airplane, abandoning my country, my house, my friends, and, worst of all, my dog, in the direction of another country on another continent and another completely different universe. I died for the first time when I was 11 years old, flying 10000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean, and without the plane dropping into the sea. Pity!
Floating through the clouds, with memories rushing up to meet me, in the space between the heavens and the corner of some foreign city where I lost my youth forever, I could only hold on to a dream when I was trapped between the sense of wonder of a new fauna and the nostalgic sadness of loss.
Nostalgia is a treacherous concept that, I think, we're all well acquainted with. It involves fondly remembering at least some bygone days, free of worries and filled with innocent happiness. However, life moves on with or without us. Whether we like it or not, responsibilities start getting piled upon us, and we must simply learn how to deal with them.
Can't you see? It all makes perfect sense when expressed in dollars and cents! And the "future" was already there, locked in the "past."
Youth is ephemeral, a fleeting moment, short-lived, and easily missed or overlooked, a transient phase that slips away quietly and imperceptibly into the night of Time, never to be seen again. We never realise that it is fast going away, and by the time we notice its absence, it's already long gone and it's too late.
And no one can write about those feelings of loss of youth as Ray Bradbury did.
"Farewell Summer" was published in 2006 and was the last novel released during the author's lifetime. But it wasn't a "new" book. It was actually part of his 1957 novel "Dandelion Wine" that was split, at the time, in two by his publisher, on the grounds that the book was too thick. I wonder what that publisher would have to say about the books of Tolkien, Sanderson, or Jordan.
This book is about the bittersweet challenges of growing up, taking on responsibilities, ageing, seeking redemption, and the discovery that death and girls exist and are not related in any way.
Set 55 years after the events of Dandelion Wine, this story takes place about a year after the previous book's summer. The narrative unfolds during an early October Indian Summer, evoking a sense of nostalgia and contemplation on themes of memories and the eternal cycle of birth and death.
I read Dandelion Wine when I was 17 and was enchanted by an adolescence cut short from me that I wasn't having and would very much like to have had. As I've gotten older, Bradbury keeps holding the magic that he used to entice his readers.
Thousands of years from now, when we all are only fading memories of dust, on Mars, Bradbury's books will continue to be read. His work has literally travelled out of this world - a digitised copy of "The Martian Chronicles" was sent aboard NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander in 2008.
Ray Bradbury belongs to the exclusive club of elite writers whose every word seems to be chosen so every sentence has a true meaning beyond merely filling pages. He had a gift for transporting us deep into his dream landscapes, and he does so once again here, magnificently.
January 12, 2019
Only Bradbury can write a novel like this!!!
Captivating, vibrant and entrancing from the first page on..
Of course it's the sequel to "Dandelion Wine", and it has taken him more than 50 years to write it..
Let me say that Bradbury is indeed a master story teller, and in his craft unsurpassed to the very day!!
Further I want to declare that although it's a quiet novel, I coudn't put it down..
It's so beautifully written, like poetry, Bradbury himself has declared that he is indeed a poet..
The prose in "Farewell Summer" that Bradbury exhibits, is pregnant with heavy feelings and sparkle with life and optimism;
In "Farewell Summer" Bradbury deals with important themes like what it means to grow up, then the first kiss and also old age..
Death and life, in a small city..
The freshness of being young, and the maturity of a long life by the old people..
Douglas Spaulding and his friends in the midst of a war with the old-timer..
Full of adventures and pranks!!!
It's a novel with an important message to all of us!!!
How short and volatile youth are, what it means to become grown up..
And also the preciousness of life itself!!
It was a pleasure to read it..
And Bradbury himself is in love with life, if you read his novels this is a contagious matter and you yourself cannot avoid to fall in love too..
This is a novel about youthful spirits and old age, the endless cycle of birth and death, with his struggles and concepts..
Let us visit together Green Town, Illinois, and join the people living there!!!
A wonderful novel, full with magic and evocative of deep feelings and emotions, I recommend it to all my friends at goodreads with my whole soul and heart!!
Dean;)))
Captivating, vibrant and entrancing from the first page on..
Of course it's the sequel to "Dandelion Wine", and it has taken him more than 50 years to write it..
Let me say that Bradbury is indeed a master story teller, and in his craft unsurpassed to the very day!!
Further I want to declare that although it's a quiet novel, I coudn't put it down..
It's so beautifully written, like poetry, Bradbury himself has declared that he is indeed a poet..
The prose in "Farewell Summer" that Bradbury exhibits, is pregnant with heavy feelings and sparkle with life and optimism;
In "Farewell Summer" Bradbury deals with important themes like what it means to grow up, then the first kiss and also old age..
Death and life, in a small city..
The freshness of being young, and the maturity of a long life by the old people..
Douglas Spaulding and his friends in the midst of a war with the old-timer..
Full of adventures and pranks!!!
It's a novel with an important message to all of us!!!
How short and volatile youth are, what it means to become grown up..
And also the preciousness of life itself!!
It was a pleasure to read it..
And Bradbury himself is in love with life, if you read his novels this is a contagious matter and you yourself cannot avoid to fall in love too..
This is a novel about youthful spirits and old age, the endless cycle of birth and death, with his struggles and concepts..
Let us visit together Green Town, Illinois, and join the people living there!!!
A wonderful novel, full with magic and evocative of deep feelings and emotions, I recommend it to all my friends at goodreads with my whole soul and heart!!
Dean;)))
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2019
Blurb from Dandelion wine.
A moving recollection of a magical small-town summer…
I loved that book and gave it 5* however I didn't write a review.
Farewell summer is a follow on from that book Bradbury says in the closing of it that it is an extension of the original book, written over 55 years ago but the publishers felt that it was too long and suggested he keep it for a 'future year'. Over 50 years later his wonderful part 2 had evolved and become richer (his words) with the further ideas and beautiful metaphors that we have here today.
Reading a book by Ray Bradbury is always a joy but I knew from the start that this was going to be extra special.
I was smiling and laughing throughout at the antics of 13 year old Doug and his friends in their war with the elderly people in their town.
A visit to a sweet shop had me drooling over the descriptions of the "sweet poisons hid in luscious traps".
"In bright bouquets the candies lay, caramels to glue the teeth, liquorice to blacken the heart, chewy wax bottles filled with sickening mint and strawberry sap, Tootsie rolls to hold like cigars, red tipped chalk mint cigarettes for chill mornings when your breath smoked on the air".
This book is about boys trying to cling to the last days of summer, being young. And the elderly people " with the touch of winter in their hair" having forgotten, remembering what it's like to want summer to last forever.
Special thanks to my Goodreads friend Dean for recommending this one to me. Dean it was just beautiful. :))
5 shining *
A moving recollection of a magical small-town summer…
I loved that book and gave it 5* however I didn't write a review.
Farewell summer is a follow on from that book Bradbury says in the closing of it that it is an extension of the original book, written over 55 years ago but the publishers felt that it was too long and suggested he keep it for a 'future year'. Over 50 years later his wonderful part 2 had evolved and become richer (his words) with the further ideas and beautiful metaphors that we have here today.
Reading a book by Ray Bradbury is always a joy but I knew from the start that this was going to be extra special.
I was smiling and laughing throughout at the antics of 13 year old Doug and his friends in their war with the elderly people in their town.
A visit to a sweet shop had me drooling over the descriptions of the "sweet poisons hid in luscious traps".
"In bright bouquets the candies lay, caramels to glue the teeth, liquorice to blacken the heart, chewy wax bottles filled with sickening mint and strawberry sap, Tootsie rolls to hold like cigars, red tipped chalk mint cigarettes for chill mornings when your breath smoked on the air".
This book is about boys trying to cling to the last days of summer, being young. And the elderly people " with the touch of winter in their hair" having forgotten, remembering what it's like to want summer to last forever.
Special thanks to my Goodreads friend Dean for recommending this one to me. Dean it was just beautiful. :))
5 shining *
October 1, 2019
I'm a huge Ray Bradbury fan. I haven't found another writer who can accurately capture the nostalgia of childhood so perfectly. I read Dandelion Wine for the first time a few years ago and it instantly became my favorite book of all time. It was so perfect in fact that I decided to hold off on reading the sequel, Farewell Summer, until this year.
Farewell Summer brings readers back to Green Town, Illinois with summer hanging on in to early October. Doug Spaulding and his friends find a rival in school board leader Calvin Quartermain as they try to make summer last forever, starting a war between the youth and the elderly, both unable to stop the ticking of the clock.
Another powerful coming of age story full of bittersweet nostalgia eloquently written by Bradbury. Most of this sequel was actually written at the same time as Dandelion Wine but was set aside when the publishers decided it would make the novel too long.
Fifty years later, Bradbury released this long awaited sequel, beautifully polished over the years.
Farewell Summer is a lovely final visit to Green Town with Doug. If you're a fan of Bradbury and/or coming of age novels, be sure and read both Dandelion Wine and Farewell Summer!
For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com
Farewell Summer brings readers back to Green Town, Illinois with summer hanging on in to early October. Doug Spaulding and his friends find a rival in school board leader Calvin Quartermain as they try to make summer last forever, starting a war between the youth and the elderly, both unable to stop the ticking of the clock.
Another powerful coming of age story full of bittersweet nostalgia eloquently written by Bradbury. Most of this sequel was actually written at the same time as Dandelion Wine but was set aside when the publishers decided it would make the novel too long.
Fifty years later, Bradbury released this long awaited sequel, beautifully polished over the years.
Farewell Summer is a lovely final visit to Green Town with Doug. If you're a fan of Bradbury and/or coming of age novels, be sure and read both Dandelion Wine and Farewell Summer!
For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com
September 25, 2018
"Farewell, Summer. Here it is. October 1st. Temperature's 82. Season just won't let go. The leaves won't turn." from Farewell, Summer by Ray Bradbury
I read Farewell Summer on the last day of summer.
My electric company had sent me a warning email that my bill would be twice as high as last month's. We had been running the air conditioner for weeks because of the high humidity and 90-degree weather, accompanied by thunderstorms. The bees were visiting the Sedum Autumn Joy since most of the other flowers had gone, except the roses which are still blooming their hearts out.
But a few days later as I write this post the change has come. We expect our first frost. The apple tree has some yellowing leaves. I left my window open last night but pulled my quilt up to my chin. The house was chilled this morning. Farewell, Summer.
If only life were only about the changing of the seasons, but with the change comes the recognition that life is moving on, the months are ticking off another year. I am growing old. I tried to hang onto youth, like Doug and Tom in Bradbury's fictional Illinois town, resentful and obstinate, sure I would never grow old. I would die first. Instead, I turned sixteen and suddenly I was married and then I was old.
A sequel to Dandelion Wine, written 55 years later, Bradbury returns to childhood's grappling with the awareness that comes after age nine, the knowledge that we grow old and die. Doug and Tom go to war with the old men. They think they know how the old men control the boys' destiny so they become men. Steal the chess pieces! Break the clock!
Couched in the language of war, the last chapter is Appomatix. Mr. Quartermain, the old man who resented the boys, and Doug who waged war on the old men sit down together.
"What is it you want to know?" Quartermain asks Doug.
"Everything," said Douglas.
"Everything?" Quartermain laughed gently. "That'll take at least ten minutes."
"How about something?" asked Douglas finally.
"Something? One special thing? Why, Doug, that will take a lifetime. I've been at it a while. Everything rolls off my tongue, easy as pie. But something! Something! I get lockjaw just trying to define it. So let's talk about everything instead, for now."
I was so blown away by the writing, the word choice, the insights, I could have highlighted pages of favorites sentences. For #SundaySentence hosted on Twitter by author and 'book evangelist' David Abrams, I shared this lovely quote:
Grandpa's library was a fine dark place bricked with books, so anything could happen there and always did. All you had to do was pull a book from the shelf and open it and suddenly the darkness was not so dark anymore.
Last year I read Dandelion Wine with book club, my first reading since I was a teenager. Then I reread Something Wicked This Way Comes, which I also last read as a teenager.
Frankly, I could easily make it a habit every year of reading Dandelion Wine and Farewell, Summer both on the Autumn Equinox. The older I get, the more I have to learn from children.
I read Farewell Summer on the last day of summer.
My electric company had sent me a warning email that my bill would be twice as high as last month's. We had been running the air conditioner for weeks because of the high humidity and 90-degree weather, accompanied by thunderstorms. The bees were visiting the Sedum Autumn Joy since most of the other flowers had gone, except the roses which are still blooming their hearts out.
But a few days later as I write this post the change has come. We expect our first frost. The apple tree has some yellowing leaves. I left my window open last night but pulled my quilt up to my chin. The house was chilled this morning. Farewell, Summer.
If only life were only about the changing of the seasons, but with the change comes the recognition that life is moving on, the months are ticking off another year. I am growing old. I tried to hang onto youth, like Doug and Tom in Bradbury's fictional Illinois town, resentful and obstinate, sure I would never grow old. I would die first. Instead, I turned sixteen and suddenly I was married and then I was old.
A sequel to Dandelion Wine, written 55 years later, Bradbury returns to childhood's grappling with the awareness that comes after age nine, the knowledge that we grow old and die. Doug and Tom go to war with the old men. They think they know how the old men control the boys' destiny so they become men. Steal the chess pieces! Break the clock!
Couched in the language of war, the last chapter is Appomatix. Mr. Quartermain, the old man who resented the boys, and Doug who waged war on the old men sit down together.
"What is it you want to know?" Quartermain asks Doug.
"Everything," said Douglas.
"Everything?" Quartermain laughed gently. "That'll take at least ten minutes."
"How about something?" asked Douglas finally.
"Something? One special thing? Why, Doug, that will take a lifetime. I've been at it a while. Everything rolls off my tongue, easy as pie. But something! Something! I get lockjaw just trying to define it. So let's talk about everything instead, for now."
I was so blown away by the writing, the word choice, the insights, I could have highlighted pages of favorites sentences. For #SundaySentence hosted on Twitter by author and 'book evangelist' David Abrams, I shared this lovely quote:
Grandpa's library was a fine dark place bricked with books, so anything could happen there and always did. All you had to do was pull a book from the shelf and open it and suddenly the darkness was not so dark anymore.
Last year I read Dandelion Wine with book club, my first reading since I was a teenager. Then I reread Something Wicked This Way Comes, which I also last read as a teenager.
Frankly, I could easily make it a habit every year of reading Dandelion Wine and Farewell, Summer both on the Autumn Equinox. The older I get, the more I have to learn from children.
July 26, 2016
WOW! Real emotion! I cannot remember the last time that an author caused me to close a book and take a moment to sob like what happened with this book today. Perhaps I read too much and have become jaded, but thankfully Mr. Bradbury broke through for me! I have waited for this book for most of my life as it is a sequel to "Dandelion Wine" which is one of my favorites. This book is powerful in its beauty and emotion and the thought it provoked in me. Parents, there are some adult themes here, please read this before allowing your children to read it.
Some quotes....
"Anything that moves ahead, wins. No chess game was ever won by the player who sat for a lifetime thinking over his next move."
"Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get."
"Life should be touched not strangled. You've got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it. It's like boats. You keep your motor on so you can steer with the current. And when you hear the sound of the waterfall coming nearer and nearer, tidy up the boat, put on your best tie and hat, and smoke a cigar right up till the moment you go over. That's the triumph."
"Look, life gives us everything. Then it takes it away. Youth, love, happiness, friends. Darkness gets it all in the end. We didn't have enough sense to know you can will it - life - to others. Your looks, your youth. Pass it on. Give it away. It's lent to us for awhile. Use it, let go without crying. It's a very fancy relay race, heading God knows where."
"The worst thing is to never grow up. I see it all around...If you want them unhappy, don't force people to grow. Baby them. Teach them to nurse their grievances adn grow their private poison gardens. Little patches of hate and prejudice."
"I'm only mean in private. I don't blame others for my own mistakes. I'm bad in a different sort of way than you, of course, with a sense of humore developed out of necessity."
Some quotes....
"Anything that moves ahead, wins. No chess game was ever won by the player who sat for a lifetime thinking over his next move."
"Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get."
"Life should be touched not strangled. You've got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it. It's like boats. You keep your motor on so you can steer with the current. And when you hear the sound of the waterfall coming nearer and nearer, tidy up the boat, put on your best tie and hat, and smoke a cigar right up till the moment you go over. That's the triumph."
"Look, life gives us everything. Then it takes it away. Youth, love, happiness, friends. Darkness gets it all in the end. We didn't have enough sense to know you can will it - life - to others. Your looks, your youth. Pass it on. Give it away. It's lent to us for awhile. Use it, let go without crying. It's a very fancy relay race, heading God knows where."
"The worst thing is to never grow up. I see it all around...If you want them unhappy, don't force people to grow. Baby them. Teach them to nurse their grievances adn grow their private poison gardens. Little patches of hate and prejudice."
"I'm only mean in private. I don't blame others for my own mistakes. I'm bad in a different sort of way than you, of course, with a sense of humore developed out of necessity."
November 7, 2021
This is a sequel to Dandelion Wine. In an afterword, Bradbury says that originally Dandelion Wine was longer but the material that went beyond the end of the book as printed was cut in response to his editor. He carried on working on the novel...for fifty years! Is it worth the wait? Oh yes...yes it most definitely is. Tree-men-dous. (Not bush-woman-doesn't.)
THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN CURTAILED IN PROTEST AT GOODREADS' CENSORSHIP POLICY
See the complete review here:
http://arbieroo.booklikes.com/post/33...
THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN CURTAILED IN PROTEST AT GOODREADS' CENSORSHIP POLICY
See the complete review here:
http://arbieroo.booklikes.com/post/33...
September 5, 2020
"There are those days which seem a taking in of breath which, held, suspends the whole earth in its waiting. Some Summers refuse to end...."
From the first line to the last Bradbury always manages to sweep you in and hold you tightly in his poetic storytelling. This is a beautifully told tale of how both young and old are at odds with time. How we all have to go to war with the truth of our mortality and it's never too late to embrace life and start living it to the fullest. I may be biased because Dandelion Wine is one of my all time favorites and I love these characters, but this is a book I would recommend to everyone.
From the first line to the last Bradbury always manages to sweep you in and hold you tightly in his poetic storytelling. This is a beautifully told tale of how both young and old are at odds with time. How we all have to go to war with the truth of our mortality and it's never too late to embrace life and start living it to the fullest. I may be biased because Dandelion Wine is one of my all time favorites and I love these characters, but this is a book I would recommend to everyone.
September 30, 2022
Farewell Summer is the third book of Bradbury’s Green Town Trilogy. It was part of the original manuscript of his classic Dandelion Wine (Green Town #1), but his editor suggested that it appear some time in the future as a stand-alone volume. Fifty-five years after Dandelion Wine was published, this super-polished version finally appeared in bookstores to complete the trilogy.
From the first paragraph, the reader is whisked back to Douglas Spaulding and the Green Town of Bradbury’s youth, the real Waukegan, Illinois, complete with the infamous and mysterious Green Town Ravine.
“Dandelion Wine” was composed of a series of vignettes, short stories of events, that characterized a Summer for Douglas Spaulding and his crew of near-puberty boys. In contrast, Farewell Summer is a long story of the end of that Summer, the last Summer they would spend as “boys,” per se, and their fight to stay boys that will never turn into the rickety, decrepit old bachelors they see around them. The boys see these geezers as the enemy, trying to drag the boys into becoming men, then old men – a genuine conspiracy where misery loves company. They must vanquish the old men and their evil plot, then finish off the town clock that is part of that plot to make time pass on and on. The clock, and time, must be stopped! Will they win the battles?
While a sequel to “Dandelion Wine,” the book lacks some of the sparkle and wide-eyed innocence that made “Wine” into an indelible classic. Still, it is Bradbury delightfully writing about the wonderful boyhood days, real and imagined, that he spent in that ravine with those pals and those golden days that will never be recaptured except in memory. And now in print for all to enjoy.
The childhood house still exists at 11 South St. James Street, and not far away is Ray Bradbury Park at 41 North Park Street complete with the ravine, now sadly gentrified with a stone stairway down to the very small creek called the Waukegan River, but still there, miraculously preserved by an appreciative hometown. For those who love these books, a pilgrimage is still possible!!
From the first paragraph, the reader is whisked back to Douglas Spaulding and the Green Town of Bradbury’s youth, the real Waukegan, Illinois, complete with the infamous and mysterious Green Town Ravine.
“Dandelion Wine” was composed of a series of vignettes, short stories of events, that characterized a Summer for Douglas Spaulding and his crew of near-puberty boys. In contrast, Farewell Summer is a long story of the end of that Summer, the last Summer they would spend as “boys,” per se, and their fight to stay boys that will never turn into the rickety, decrepit old bachelors they see around them. The boys see these geezers as the enemy, trying to drag the boys into becoming men, then old men – a genuine conspiracy where misery loves company. They must vanquish the old men and their evil plot, then finish off the town clock that is part of that plot to make time pass on and on. The clock, and time, must be stopped! Will they win the battles?
While a sequel to “Dandelion Wine,” the book lacks some of the sparkle and wide-eyed innocence that made “Wine” into an indelible classic. Still, it is Bradbury delightfully writing about the wonderful boyhood days, real and imagined, that he spent in that ravine with those pals and those golden days that will never be recaptured except in memory. And now in print for all to enjoy.
The childhood house still exists at 11 South St. James Street, and not far away is Ray Bradbury Park at 41 North Park Street complete with the ravine, now sadly gentrified with a stone stairway down to the very small creek called the Waukegan River, but still there, miraculously preserved by an appreciative hometown. For those who love these books, a pilgrimage is still possible!!
August 31, 2010
Dandelion Wine. What a book to get drunk on. What a book to fill your brain, unrelentingly, with beauty on every single page.
What we have here isn't so much a sequel as a sip. Not a ton of plot, not too many characters. Maybe it's not Dandelion Wine, but it's also not as long. It's Ray Bradbury, and his writing is, to put it simply, perfect.
Douglas Spaulding, the wide-eyed hero of Dandelion Wine, is back. And he's still wondering. Why can't summer last forever? Why can't he cling to it forever? Why is he going to have to die? (You thought he came to terms with that in the last book, didn't you? Well, I guess nobody really comes to terms with that.)
The only solution, to him, is war. War with the old men of the village. And it's here that his mind totally snaps.
Who wouldn't want to be a general, especially of an army that fights for immortality?
Ray Bradbury's genius lies not only in giving meaning to a million words, but in giving one word the snap and crackle that such a book needs to survive ("metronome", anyone?) Doug's a wildly imaginative boy, and here it's played almost to the point of insanity. Leading the boys of the village on missions, his plans include: weaning his army off candy and soda (it'll make you old and rotten inside--"'You want root beer spit, to be poisoned forever, to never get well?'"), stealing the old men's chessboards (because the chess pieces represent the boys, and the old men are controlling them) and killing the courthouse clock (it represents time--"...the thing that bleached and ruined life, jerked people out of bed, hounded them to school and graves!") It's classic Douglas Spaulding logic, the stuff that rules an overly-imaginative childhood, and the other kids praise it in chorus. They don't want to get old either, after all.
And there's an angry old man fighting back. Quartermain. He knows a war when he sees one, and he's determined, with a logic that's somewhat similar to Doug's, to kill the youth of these kids. Because he's just like them--he fought the battle to keep his youth, and lost. He never got married, never had any children of his own.
It has to be read to be believed, the descriptions of everything--the candy shop, the birthday cake, the beautiful little girl who Douglas falls for, and in the end, Douglas and Quartermain sitting on a creaky old porch that shifts back and forth like a teeter-totter, having finally reached an "Appomattox," but unsure which of them is Lee and which is Grant. Douglas staring down the courthouse clock, and fearing it, is perhaps the best moment in the entire book: "At any moment the great machine might uncoil its brass springs, snatch him up, and dump him in a grinder of cogs to mesh its endless future with his blood, in a forest of teeth and tines, waiting, like a music box, to play and tune his body, ribboning his flesh."
There's a little bit of, well, weirdness at the end--actually, the whole book is weird--but I loved it. It's a haunting early autumn read.
I think this'll be a yearly thing for me. When summer comes again, I'll go read Dandelion Wine.
What we have here isn't so much a sequel as a sip. Not a ton of plot, not too many characters. Maybe it's not Dandelion Wine, but it's also not as long. It's Ray Bradbury, and his writing is, to put it simply, perfect.
Douglas Spaulding, the wide-eyed hero of Dandelion Wine, is back. And he's still wondering. Why can't summer last forever? Why can't he cling to it forever? Why is he going to have to die? (You thought he came to terms with that in the last book, didn't you? Well, I guess nobody really comes to terms with that.)
The only solution, to him, is war. War with the old men of the village. And it's here that his mind totally snaps.
Who wouldn't want to be a general, especially of an army that fights for immortality?
Ray Bradbury's genius lies not only in giving meaning to a million words, but in giving one word the snap and crackle that such a book needs to survive ("metronome", anyone?) Doug's a wildly imaginative boy, and here it's played almost to the point of insanity. Leading the boys of the village on missions, his plans include: weaning his army off candy and soda (it'll make you old and rotten inside--"'You want root beer spit, to be poisoned forever, to never get well?'"), stealing the old men's chessboards (because the chess pieces represent the boys, and the old men are controlling them) and killing the courthouse clock (it represents time--"...the thing that bleached and ruined life, jerked people out of bed, hounded them to school and graves!") It's classic Douglas Spaulding logic, the stuff that rules an overly-imaginative childhood, and the other kids praise it in chorus. They don't want to get old either, after all.
And there's an angry old man fighting back. Quartermain. He knows a war when he sees one, and he's determined, with a logic that's somewhat similar to Doug's, to kill the youth of these kids. Because he's just like them--he fought the battle to keep his youth, and lost. He never got married, never had any children of his own.
It has to be read to be believed, the descriptions of everything--the candy shop, the birthday cake, the beautiful little girl who Douglas falls for, and in the end, Douglas and Quartermain sitting on a creaky old porch that shifts back and forth like a teeter-totter, having finally reached an "Appomattox," but unsure which of them is Lee and which is Grant. Douglas staring down the courthouse clock, and fearing it, is perhaps the best moment in the entire book: "At any moment the great machine might uncoil its brass springs, snatch him up, and dump him in a grinder of cogs to mesh its endless future with his blood, in a forest of teeth and tines, waiting, like a music box, to play and tune his body, ribboning his flesh."
There's a little bit of, well, weirdness at the end--actually, the whole book is weird--but I loved it. It's a haunting early autumn read.
I think this'll be a yearly thing for me. When summer comes again, I'll go read Dandelion Wine.
September 9, 2023
This is the last novel Ray Bradbury wrote in his lifetime, and a sequel to Dandelion Wine, which was published 49 (!) years earlier.
I love Ray Bradbury. I love his way with words, and the nostalgic feeling he gives me—I often associate music with seasons, but not books, and definitely not authors—Ray is the exception. His books are everything I connect with those lush late summer days as summer changes into autumn, well into those deceivingly warm October days and Halloween time. I've found that I seem to always grab a Bradbury book around that time of year.
Dandelion Wine is hailed as a masterpiece. I started Farewell Summer thinking it would be a natural extension of it, which in a way, it was, although this is an actual (very short) novel, as opposed to the prequel, which was interconnected, autobiographical short-stories, a format that's usually not really for me and marred my enjoyment of Dandelion Wine a little, so I appreciated the fact that this was one narrative.
Literally, it's about the young waging a war against the old (and vice-versa). Figuratively, it's about changing seasons, changing bodies and minds, growing old, and losing one's childhood innocence.
All well and good, but towards the end it lost me—it's quite clearly a book about boys and men, written by an old man in the winter of his life. I get what he was trying to do when they (yes, literally) talk to their rousing/dying penises, but that was the probably most ridiculously heavy-handed metaphor I've ever come across in a book that was really good up to that point. I'm also not down with the fact that the girl who kisses Doug in front of the haunted house was nothing more than a symbol, snatching away his innocence and childhood, and awakening his manhood.
The gorgeous writing salvages the storyline, so let's make it an average three.
There are those days which seem a taking in of breath which, held, suspends the whole earth in its waiting. Some summers refuse to end.
So along the road those flowers spread that, when touched, give down a shower of autumn rust. By every path it looks as if a ruined circus had passed and loosed a trail of ancient iron at every turning of a wheel. The rust was laid out everywhere, strewn under trees and by riverbanks and near the tracks themselves where once a locomotive had gone but went no more. So flowered flakes and railroad track together turned to moulderings upon the rim of autumn.
"Look, Doug," said Grandpa, driving into town from the farm. Behind them in the Kissel Kar were six large pumpkins picked fresh from the patch. "See those flowers?"
"Yes, sir."
"Farewell summer, Doug. That's the name of those flowers. Feel the air? August come back. Farewell summer."
"Boy," said Doug, "that's a sad name."
I love Ray Bradbury. I love his way with words, and the nostalgic feeling he gives me—I often associate music with seasons, but not books, and definitely not authors—Ray is the exception. His books are everything I connect with those lush late summer days as summer changes into autumn, well into those deceivingly warm October days and Halloween time. I've found that I seem to always grab a Bradbury book around that time of year.
Dandelion Wine is hailed as a masterpiece. I started Farewell Summer thinking it would be a natural extension of it, which in a way, it was, although this is an actual (very short) novel, as opposed to the prequel, which was interconnected, autobiographical short-stories, a format that's usually not really for me and marred my enjoyment of Dandelion Wine a little, so I appreciated the fact that this was one narrative.
Literally, it's about the young waging a war against the old (and vice-versa). Figuratively, it's about changing seasons, changing bodies and minds, growing old, and losing one's childhood innocence.
All well and good, but towards the end it lost me—it's quite clearly a book about boys and men, written by an old man in the winter of his life. I get what he was trying to do when they (yes, literally) talk to their rousing/dying penises, but that was the probably most ridiculously heavy-handed metaphor I've ever come across in a book that was really good up to that point. I'm also not down with the fact that the girl who kisses Doug in front of the haunted house was nothing more than a symbol, snatching away his innocence and childhood, and awakening his manhood.
The gorgeous writing salvages the storyline, so let's make it an average three.
August 11, 2023
Perfect sequel to Dandelion Wine. The summertime adventures of Douglas Spaulding, his younger brother Tom, and their group of friends is fun and nostalgic! Fun coming of age story by an outstanding author! Highly recommended!
Read
April 22, 2021Muchísimo menos potente que "El vino del estío", obviamente, pero con su punto de ternura y maravilla.
Eso sí, el tramo final, en el que se representa de manera simbólica cierta "sucesión", es una de los pasajes más crispantes que he leído en el último tiempo, por lo ridículo. Me dio risa, claro, pero me dije internamente: "plw, tío Brabdury, por quéeeee" XD
Eso sí, el tramo final, en el que se representa de manera simbólica cierta "sucesión", es una de los pasajes más crispantes que he leído en el último tiempo, por lo ridículo. Me dio risa, claro, pero me dije internamente: "plw, tío Brabdury, por quéeeee" XD
August 28, 2021
Not until you have read these 3 books of Green Town; Illinois have you REALLY experienced the magic of Ray Bradbury!!
With this being the final book in the Green Town trilogy that started with 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' continued on with 'Dandelion Wine' and ends with 'Farewell Summer' this book was not as good as the other 2. BUT when a tale that was written in the 1950's can introduce a 14 year old boy to 'the best friend you will have for the rest of your life!' being his penis......will I never look at another coming of Age novel either horror or literature classic as this one was. Douglas Spaulding is now 14 and Summer is ending; he learns what it is like to get kissed by his little friend who just happens to be a girl for the first time, and he learns that ghosts really do exist, or do they? He also learns what it means to say 'Goodbye'. This was an endearing and beautiful read, and i actually chuckled when Douglas meets the best friend he will ever have for the rest of his life! Great novel.....just pick it up and read it; or listen to it as I did.
4 🧨💖💪😉
With this being the final book in the Green Town trilogy that started with 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' continued on with 'Dandelion Wine' and ends with 'Farewell Summer' this book was not as good as the other 2. BUT when a tale that was written in the 1950's can introduce a 14 year old boy to 'the best friend you will have for the rest of your life!' being his penis......will I never look at another coming of Age novel either horror or literature classic as this one was. Douglas Spaulding is now 14 and Summer is ending; he learns what it is like to get kissed by his little friend who just happens to be a girl for the first time, and he learns that ghosts really do exist, or do they? He also learns what it means to say 'Goodbye'. This was an endearing and beautiful read, and i actually chuckled when Douglas meets the best friend he will ever have for the rest of his life! Great novel.....just pick it up and read it; or listen to it as I did.
4 🧨💖💪😉
January 20, 2009
No matter how much you loved Dandelion Wine, or how much you love Bradbury, don't read this. Really.
August 17, 2025
Well written, but I just couldn't relate to the kids or the adults.
March 24, 2021
Kartais būna kai pirma istorijos knyga yra geriausia ir labiausiai patinkanti, o bandymas rašyti tęsinį gaunasi visiškas nesusipratimas. Kaip ir daugelis čia skaičiusių ir davusių vieną ar kelias žvaigždutes už šią knygą, tikėjausi tęsinio, kuris lyg ir papildytų pirmąją knygą. Deja to nebuvo, knyga skaitėsi sunkiai, siužetas nė kiek nesudomino. Realiai galėjau likti skaitęs tik pirmąją dalį ir to būtų visiškai pakakę. Pasidomėjęs sužinojau, kad knygos turėjo būti kaip viena knyga, bet leidėjai pasakė, kad per stora ir paliko likutį, šiai knygai. Kai pirma istorijos knyga yra mano favoritė, taip šita visiškas šlamštas.
July 26, 2024
"Трябва да се научиш как да не се вкопчваш, преди да се научиш как да придобиваш. Животът трябва да бъде докосван, а не удушаван.
Трябва да се отпуснеш, понякога да оставяш нещата да се случват, а друг път да се движиш заедно с тях. Също като с лодките. Поддържаш мотора включен, за да я насочваш по течението.
И когато чуеш шума на водопада все по-близо, разтребваш в лодката, слагаш си най-хубавата шапка и вратовръзка и си пушиш пурата чак до мига, когато пропадаш.
И това е истинска победа. Не да спориш с бездната.'
Трябва да се отпуснеш, понякога да оставяш нещата да се случват, а друг път да се движиш заедно с тях. Също като с лодките. Поддържаш мотора включен, за да я насочваш по течението.
И когато чуеш шума на водопада все по-близо, разтребваш в лодката, слагаш си най-хубавата шапка и вратовръзка и си пушиш пурата чак до мига, когато пропадаш.
И това е истинска победа. Не да спориш с бездната.'
September 1, 2015
When I finished high school, Ray Bradbury was easily my favorite author. I had read Fahrenheit 451, The Illustrated Man, and The Martian Chronicles, at least--and I still consider the first of those (which I reread recently) one of the most important books of the century, and have specific memories of some of the stories in the last (which I have not read since). Then in college I discovered C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams, and in the years which followed my wife introduced me to Agatha Christie, and Bradbury slipped down the list a bit--but was still someone whose writing I admired and enjoyed.
I have never read Dandelion Wine, and know nothing about it. That perhaps matters, because this is, apparently, its sequel, published fifty years later.
The book is surreal. It is so surreal, in fact, that in the second chapter when the viewpoint character is dreaming it is simply not clear that this is not the book's reality until the boy awakens. There remains a quality about the book that makes it difficult to be quite certain what exactly is happening or, more usually, why. At one point the boy shoots an old man with a cap gun, and the old many dies, and someone blames the fact that he could not get to his metronome fast enough to stabilize his heart rate.
The core characters seem to be pre-adolescent boys who during one seemingly unending summer come to believe that someone, or something, is trying to force them to grow up, and they are not going to take it and are going to fight back. They go to war against the forces they recognize. They steal the chessmen from the local park chessboard, on the belief that some sort of voodoo-like power is involved and the old men playing chess are controlling their destinies; they have to return these, because they made no effort to do it surreptitiously. They break into the town hall and into the clock tower to attempt to stop the clock using firecrackers, so they can stop the inexorable advance of minutes and hours and days. They fight the aging men of the school board.
One of these aging men attempts to fight back. Exactly what he does is sometimes unclear and confused, but he sets up a display of pre-born children (the boys are clueless as to what it is or what it means) and holds a birthday party for one of the girls in their age group to which the boys are invited. Here somehow the boys score a point when their leader decides to deliver a slice of the cake to the old man himself.
In some Peanuts cartoon somewhere Linus, sitting amidst the ruins of a washed-away sand castle in the rain, says, "There's a lesson to be learned here somewhere, but I don't know what it is." I have much the same feeling about this book. We are given to think that everyone in the story learned something, but I don't recall what they learned. In the end, it seems to have been more interesting for the mood and the use of language than for what was told. I have already forgotten much of it.
I think Bradbury has written better, but then maybe this just did not click for me.
I have never read Dandelion Wine, and know nothing about it. That perhaps matters, because this is, apparently, its sequel, published fifty years later.
The book is surreal. It is so surreal, in fact, that in the second chapter when the viewpoint character is dreaming it is simply not clear that this is not the book's reality until the boy awakens. There remains a quality about the book that makes it difficult to be quite certain what exactly is happening or, more usually, why. At one point the boy shoots an old man with a cap gun, and the old many dies, and someone blames the fact that he could not get to his metronome fast enough to stabilize his heart rate.
The core characters seem to be pre-adolescent boys who during one seemingly unending summer come to believe that someone, or something, is trying to force them to grow up, and they are not going to take it and are going to fight back. They go to war against the forces they recognize. They steal the chessmen from the local park chessboard, on the belief that some sort of voodoo-like power is involved and the old men playing chess are controlling their destinies; they have to return these, because they made no effort to do it surreptitiously. They break into the town hall and into the clock tower to attempt to stop the clock using firecrackers, so they can stop the inexorable advance of minutes and hours and days. They fight the aging men of the school board.
One of these aging men attempts to fight back. Exactly what he does is sometimes unclear and confused, but he sets up a display of pre-born children (the boys are clueless as to what it is or what it means) and holds a birthday party for one of the girls in their age group to which the boys are invited. Here somehow the boys score a point when their leader decides to deliver a slice of the cake to the old man himself.
In some Peanuts cartoon somewhere Linus, sitting amidst the ruins of a washed-away sand castle in the rain, says, "There's a lesson to be learned here somewhere, but I don't know what it is." I have much the same feeling about this book. We are given to think that everyone in the story learned something, but I don't recall what they learned. In the end, it seems to have been more interesting for the mood and the use of language than for what was told. I have already forgotten much of it.
I think Bradbury has written better, but then maybe this just did not click for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 9, 2024
Having read Dandelion Wine with immense pleasure, I immediately launched into that book's sequel. I wasn't expecting the sequel to be as good, and it isn't; and I even feared it might be bad, which it also isn't. Farewell Summer is a good book, but not a great book like its predecessor.
I regard Bradbury's later work as weaker than his earlier, and the prose in Farewell Summer certainly isn't up to the high standards of Dandelion Wine, yet I am a little confused about this. For even though Farewell Summer was published late in his career, the origin of the book is much older. Dandelion Wine and Farewell Summer were originally part of one long novel called The Blue Remembered Hills that never saw publication in that form. Bradbury's publishers suggested that he split the manuscript into two sections, and they published the first section as Dandelion Wine. So Bradbury was sitting on Farewell Summer for fifty or more years? Somehow it doesn't feel like it.
I suspect that the core of Farewell Summer is half a century old, yes, but that Bradbury has added, adjusted, cut, and done various other things to the raw manuscript to turn it into the version we see today. It is a short novel, it reads a little too easily; but its main thrust, which is about a war between the young and old people of Green Town is quite inspired, and good fun. I don't regret reading this novel, though it is a much lesser beast that its predecessor.
The end chapters are extremely weird, and I don't know if Bradbury understood quite how weird they are. Two characters, the leader of the old men and the leader of the young boys, both have conversations with their erections at night, while lying in their own beds.
That is strange enough but what makes it truly bizarre is the implication that it is the same erection shared between the two individuals, or rather that the erection possessed by the old man leaves him forever and is then reborn in the body of the boy. I am not sure if this conceit is brilliant or distasteful, or both. I felt awkward reading it, and yet in many ways it serves a powerful symbolic function, concerned as it is with the passing of the old, the rise of the new, the endless relay race through the generations that is life itself. Nonetheless it caught me by surprise and I still feel bemused.
I regard Bradbury's later work as weaker than his earlier, and the prose in Farewell Summer certainly isn't up to the high standards of Dandelion Wine, yet I am a little confused about this. For even though Farewell Summer was published late in his career, the origin of the book is much older. Dandelion Wine and Farewell Summer were originally part of one long novel called The Blue Remembered Hills that never saw publication in that form. Bradbury's publishers suggested that he split the manuscript into two sections, and they published the first section as Dandelion Wine. So Bradbury was sitting on Farewell Summer for fifty or more years? Somehow it doesn't feel like it.
I suspect that the core of Farewell Summer is half a century old, yes, but that Bradbury has added, adjusted, cut, and done various other things to the raw manuscript to turn it into the version we see today. It is a short novel, it reads a little too easily; but its main thrust, which is about a war between the young and old people of Green Town is quite inspired, and good fun. I don't regret reading this novel, though it is a much lesser beast that its predecessor.
The end chapters are extremely weird, and I don't know if Bradbury understood quite how weird they are. Two characters, the leader of the old men and the leader of the young boys, both have conversations with their erections at night, while lying in their own beds.
That is strange enough but what makes it truly bizarre is the implication that it is the same erection shared between the two individuals, or rather that the erection possessed by the old man leaves him forever and is then reborn in the body of the boy. I am not sure if this conceit is brilliant or distasteful, or both. I felt awkward reading it, and yet in many ways it serves a powerful symbolic function, concerned as it is with the passing of the old, the rise of the new, the endless relay race through the generations that is life itself. Nonetheless it caught me by surprise and I still feel bemused.
February 22, 2024
Like other Bradbury books, especially those in the Green Town series, this Farewell Summer ruminates on the spectrum of age. It mirrors its themes with the Civil War chronology, swapping the North vs. South with the Young vs. Old of the town. I loved the creativity in the escalating skirmishes. I won't remember too many details from this book - that's not a criticism as much as the reality of most Bradbury stories I've read - because the details, and even the plot itself, are often secondary to Bradbury's prose. Like in other books, Bradbury shows in Farewell Summer, how much fun writing is - how invoking imagery, investing in word choice, and delivering poetic cadence is a joy in itself.
...speaking of imagery (or maybe better stated as unwanted "mental pictures"), I did not anticipate the ending going there. An awkward section that captures some of the awkwardness of growing up.
I read this in September thinking it an appropriate tribute to align with the seasons, like you might save Dandelion Wine as a June read or Something Wicked for Halloween, but the title is a misdirect for those like myself that didn't read the plot description before starting. A fun read especially if you'd enjoy Civil War symbolism, and one that will sit in the middle-tier of the Bradbury books I've read to this point, which is becoming an extensive list.
...speaking of imagery (or maybe better stated as unwanted "mental pictures"), I did not anticipate the ending going there. An awkward section that captures some of the awkwardness of growing up.
I read this in September thinking it an appropriate tribute to align with the seasons, like you might save Dandelion Wine as a June read or Something Wicked for Halloween, but the title is a misdirect for those like myself that didn't read the plot description before starting. A fun read especially if you'd enjoy Civil War symbolism, and one that will sit in the middle-tier of the Bradbury books I've read to this point, which is becoming an extensive list.
September 16, 2009
Is it as good as Dandelion Wine? Well...to be honest, no. But still, it's a fine read for any Bradbury fan and someone looking to catch a bit more of Green Town, IL. Where Dandelion Wine captured the joys of innocent childhood and a town full of unique and charming characters (bottled like a nice wine), Farewell Summer is more about a boy's passage (like a change in seasons) from childhood into adolescence. Douglas learns about old people. He learns about how his actions can effect other people. And he learns that girls exist and that maybe there's something wondrous and exciting about these girls (that is once he's experienced his first kiss). Think of this book as a nice piece of cheese to nibble on after you've taken a good long drink of Dandelion Wine.
October 6, 2017
The afterword for the book is by Ray Bradbury himself and I was surprised to learn that this was originally half of what became Dandelion Wine. Together they made up a longer book but his publisher at the time wished to split it into something shorter so it was edited and published as Dandelion Wine. Fifty Five years later in 2006 the second half was published and I'm happy to say it's just as good as the first.
The book follows the same teenage boy as before, Doug Spaulding, a year later during the end of summer once more. He's now more aware of mortality, his own included, and has concluded to fight back against it. He finds you can't always fight against everything; for example your first kiss.
The book follows the same teenage boy as before, Doug Spaulding, a year later during the end of summer once more. He's now more aware of mortality, his own included, and has concluded to fight back against it. He finds you can't always fight against everything; for example your first kiss.
November 3, 2021
I remember reading a ray bradbury review where they mentioned something about him being an ‘autumnal author’. Someone who writes about fall, the ends of things like childhood and the changing of the leaves, and they were so right. That description has stuck with me since and I see it, especially in later pieces, in so many of his works. I’ve never met (read) an author who was an entire season of emotions. There’s such a powerful nostalgia that crosses gender, maybe race and culture though I couldn’t say. And it’s a beautiful nostalgia, not good or bad, but so intense, and dreamy, almost spooky almost magical. It pops up in the Martian chronicles and Fahrenheit, but it’s so prevalent in this series which is why I give them a higher rating than some maybe.
July 8, 2015
This is one of the many books on my list to read that I know I will never reach so I'm supplementing some on audio.
This is a mock dreamlike fantasy tale of kids versus very old men in a small American town. The boys don't want to age and therefore lose their youth and the old men want to keep experiencing emotions through the faculties of the young.
Poignant with poetic descriptions yet some might argue not a lot is happening and the final resolution ends at a low.
Robert Fass does a good job with the many voices, especially those of the kids. BBC Audiobooks America put this album together.
OVERALL GRADE: B minus to B.
This is a mock dreamlike fantasy tale of kids versus very old men in a small American town. The boys don't want to age and therefore lose their youth and the old men want to keep experiencing emotions through the faculties of the young.
Poignant with poetic descriptions yet some might argue not a lot is happening and the final resolution ends at a low.
Robert Fass does a good job with the many voices, especially those of the kids. BBC Audiobooks America put this album together.
OVERALL GRADE: B minus to B.
August 26, 2015
Farewell Summer makes me long for my youth -- specifically the part of my youth before this book was published. I thought I couldn't dislike anything written by Ray Bradbury, but this proved me wrong. This trunk sequel should never have seen the light of day. I will spend the rest of my life trying to erase it from my memory -- particularly the ludicrous ending where Really, Ray? Really?
September 3, 2020
There’s just something about Bradbury’s writing that always makes me want to cry.
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