Book Review: Farewell Summer by Ray Bradbury

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.

“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.”

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.

Johann

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