Summer Morning, Summer Night ~Ray Bradbury
2008, Subterranean Press
176 pages
REVIEW SUMMARY: The nostalgia of springs and summers long past awaits the reader who walks along with Ray Bradbury down the streets of Green Town, Illinois. There is a magic in the remembrance that makes this the perfect book to read with the scents of spring in the air.
MY RATING: 4.75/5 stars
BRIEF SUMMARY: Ray Bradbury returns the reader to the fictional Green Town, Illinois, a small town reportedly based on his childhood home town, Waukegan. Green Town has been the setting for some of Bradbury’s most beloved works, including Something Wicked This Way Comes and Dandelion Wine. This recently release collection contains twenty-seven stories, seventeen of which are new to this collection. Within these brief reflections on life in a small town during times that we would refer to today as ‘the good ol’ days’, Bradbury conjures up memories from our own lives that are echoed in the lives of his characters. Regardless of the setting one grew up in, there is the magic of the shared life experience that all readers can relate to. It is this ability that sets Bradbury apart as a master of the nostalgic short story.
MY REVIEW:
PROS:
-Stories are short, easy to get in to and digest and yet many of them contain material that make you want to sit back, close your eyes, and just ruminate on them.
-Tales are varied enough in theme to maintain interest and yet have a common thread of the experience of summer that tie these loose threads together.
-Bradbury is a masterful at this type of short story.
-Makes you feel good about your past, your present, and your future.
-High quality book, as Subterranean Press books always are.
-Fantastic Vincent Chong cover.
CONS:
-A couple of stories are weak because of how brief they are. Of course a ‘weak’ Bradbury short story proves to still be very good.
-Those unfamiliar with Dandelion Wine may not enjoy this collection as much as I did, having read Dandelion Wine last year.
-This version appears to be sold out at Subterranean Press and is “temporarily out of stock” at Amazon.
BOTTOM LINE: If you are looking for fiction to light that spark of spring/summer fever, you could do no better than to find a copy of Dandelion Wine and then follow it up with a read of Summer Morning, Summer Night. There is a familiar enchantment in each of these vignettes and reading these books makes one feel that they are a part of the shared experience of living. Some of Bradbury’s characters get it, they understand what the mystery of life is all about. Others truly do not. But in them we are able to examine ourselves in a way that is both powerful and transformative.
Having absolutely loved Dandelion Wine when I read it last year (and failed to give it a proper review…something I hope to remedy this year when I read the collection aloud to my family), I could not hope to resist the temptation last year when Bradbury’s latest collection came up on the pre-order list at Subterranean Press. I am so glad that I gave in.
Summer Morning, Summer Night turned out to be perfect for me in its timing. I wanted to read some short stories for the Short Story Weekends quest for Once Upon a Time III, and over the course of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, amidst time spent with family and friends, I managed to read more than just a few of these stories. I devoured the book!
There are twenty-seven stories in this collection, many of them towards the end of the book being no more than a page or more. The stories at the front of the collection are definitely something that I think anyone could pick up and enjoy. There is a nostalgic enchantment to these stories that gives them a feeling of fantasy. One can sense the magic in them and being what they are, I would consider them a folklore of sorts of small town rural America. There is a hint of Norman Rockwell in Bradbury’s fictional town and yet there is also a darkness present in some tales that grounds the whole of these stories in the kind of reality that keeps them from being too sentimental. Two of these stories are downright creepy. And yet the overall collection is one that I believe touches us all in what it meant to grow up and what it continues to mean as we trod life’s path and continue to age.
The later part of this collection is the weakest…IF you haven’t recently read Dandelion Wine. Many of these brief, brief glimmers of story are centered around a grandfather and his two grandsons who feature prominently in Dandelion Wine. There is a universal quality to the stories that makes me believe they would still be appreciated, but not as much as they were for me because of having the background information of the other book.
Reading these stories makes one feel wistful and nostalgic. They bring forth feelings of both melancholy and joy in such a mixture that you cannot help but fondly remember childhood adventures and hope for the kind of awareness in adulthood that makes you genuinely appreciate each and every day that you are given.
If you are not familiar with this aspect of Ray Bradbury’s writing, I cannot encourage you highly enough to make yourself familiar with it. Spring and summer will be all the more enjoyable after you do.
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This is my second read (first review) of the Once Upon a Time III Challenge. My loose interpretation of the rules puts it in the folklore category.
I’ve been meaning to reread Dandelion Wine and Something Wicked This Way Comes for years. I first read them when I was about 19 or 20, and even then the sense of nostalgia was overwhelming. I’ve started rereading The Illustrated Man recently and was amazed by the weird impact of the stories. You’ve sold me on Summer Morning, Summer Night, but I suppose I should reread Dandelion Wine first.
Sounds great Carl! And I actually have this one already. I think I’m going to read Dandelion Wine before I read this one though!
I read Something Wicked This Way Comes for RIP last year. I just loved it!! Scary, but it’s actually the first Bradbury I’ve ever read. I may see if I can find this somewhere!! I need to pick up a good book of Short Stories for this challenge. I miss doing Short Story Monday! (I could never actually make it on Sundays!)
Sounds like a really good book… I have to read the short story collections I own already first! It’s really not good that I have yet to read a Bradbury. I own a couple…
Speaking of short stories…. I’M FINALLY READING CONAN! Well, I read three stories, anyway. The post is scheduled for later today. It’s only taken me two years to get to them… *cough*
I have Dandelion Wine somewhere, I’m sure of it, and enjoyed Something Wicked last year so this definitely sounds like something to put on my Wish List.
Oh well more books on my Wish List. Interesting way to review anthologies. 🙂 I am trying to find my own individual way to review those.
Oooooh! I have several Bradbury collections sitting unread on my shelf, but now I really want this one too… although I’d probably need to re-read Dandelion Wine, as it’s been about a decade.
I am not a lover of short stories, though have on rare ocassion come across one or two that I’ve enjoyed (except when I do then they are “too short!”)
The cover on this book is gorgeous!
Deslily: Dandelion Wine is a little better in that regard because it is written much more in the form of a novel. It occasionally veers off into chapters about other characters in the town but has an overall structure to it that doesn’t make it feel like short stories. Summer Morning, Summer Night is definitely of the short story variety. I think you’d enjoy Dandelion Wine but am not sure Summer Morning, Summer Night would fit the bill for you.
Fyrefly: I started reading Dandelion Wine to my wife and daughter last night. They are enjoying it so far and it is fun for me to be able to read it again so soon after having experienced it for the first time (hasn’t been quite a year).
Harry: Generally I end up reviewing each individual story, but there were just too many in this collection and some of them were so short that there was no way to do it justice by reviewing it that way.
Bride: I want to re-read Something Wicked someday. I checked it out from the library back when I was a kid and the film version came out. I remember enjoying it but don’t remember anything else about it at all.
Kailana: I too have many, many anthologies and short story collections sitting around that I should get to. And yay, I’m so glad you are finally reading Conan. They are really great stories, in my opinion. I still have the final volume to read myself. I’ve read part of it but not completed it. I want to get to it and at the same time will be sad when it is over.
Stephanie: It seemed like several people read that book for R.I.P. last year. It is cool to see a resurgence of sorts of Ray Bradbury’s work. I still have not read his seminal work, Fahrenheit 451.
Chris: I really think you’d enjoy Dandelion Wine. It may be sexist to say so, but as a coming of age story of a boy I think it is idea for all of us adult men to read and fondly remember our childhoods.
Jim: I would definitely re-read Dandelion Wine. My personal opinion is that this would feel too much like some loose collection of stories without that book freshly in mind. I totally understand what you are saying about that sense of nostalgia. When Douglas Spaulding, in Dandelion Wine, first realizes that he is alive, I felt like someone had pulled thoughts from my very own head. It was so easy to relate to that discovery because we’ve all had those moments.
I have never read Ray Bradbury, but you may have sold me on the cover alone! Great review, thanks.
Mariel: I’m hit and miss with Vincent Chong’s work. Much of it I like but there are a few covers that I have not been happy with. This one is wonderful and is, in my opinion, some of his best work.
So would your “loose interpretation of the rules” put Dandelion Wine in the folklore category, too? I really wanted to put it on my list somewhere, but couldn’t figure out a way to do it. I just bought the sequel, Farewell Summer, and would love to work it in, too. Of course my wishful plans are always much grander than my realities anyway. 🙂
Oops. Above was me. Must be more diligent about checking that.
Annie…er, Debi ;). I would definitely include Dandelion Wine as a Once Upon a Time read. There is certainly a thread of magic realism in some of the stories and elements of the fantastical.
I want to read Farewell Summer at some point but I had read some reviews that complained about the direction that he took these characters as they grew older, that made me want to wait and perhaps just pass on. If you end up reading both I would love to read your thoughts on them.
Sounds like a book I need to get my hands on. Something Wicked and Dandelion Wine are two of my all time favorite books ever. I’ve got Farewell Summer in my TBR pile. I want to both read it and save it.
You are so right – Ray Bradbury is the master of nostalgia. I’ll have to check out this collection – sounds wonderful.
I have Dandelion Wine. Now I”m really tempted to take it off the shelf and read it.
You should Maree, it is a real joy to read. I’ll be reading some more of it aloud to my wife and daughter tonight.
Darla: That is a great new title, isn’t it? Master of Nostalgia! I think Bradbury would definitely be one to bear that title.
Terri: I think you’ll enjoy this if you enjoyed Dandelion Wine so much.
This sounds absolutely lovely! I really hope it becomes available again. In the meantime, I really want to read Dandelion Wine.
I would love to read this. I just checked Interlibrary Loan availability in TN (at least for those that use AGent) and there is only 1 copy in Brentwood so we will see. If not, a few months ago I found a collection called The Cat’s Pajamas that looks good, too.
That cover is absolutely gorgeous.
I started Soemthing Wicked last yaer, and although I was really enjoying it, I never finished it for some reason. some day.
Dandelion Wine has been on my TBR list for a while. This one has a beautiful cover, but it sounds like I should get to DW first.