Summer Morning, Summer Night

Green Town

by Ray Bradbury

Green Town, Illinois stands at the very heart of Ray Bradbury Country. A lovingly re-imagined version of the author's native Waukegan, it has served as the setting for such modern classics as Dandelion Wine, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Farewell Summer . In Summer Morning, Summer Night, Bradbury returns to this signature locale with a generous new collection of twenty-seven stories and vignettes, seventeen of which have never been published before. Together, they illuminate some of Green Town's previously hidden corners, and reaffirm Bradbury's position as the undisputed master of a unique fictional universe.

In the course of this volume, readers will encounter a gallery of characters brought vividly to life by that indefinable Bradbury magic. Included among them are a pair of elderly sisters whose love potion carries an unexpected consequence; a lonely teacher who discovers love on Green Town's nocturnal streets; a ten-year-old girl who literally unearths the intended victim of a vicious crime; and an aging man who recreates his past with the aid of a loaf of pumpernickel bread.

Each of these stories is engaging, evocative, and deeply felt. Each reflects the characteristic virtues that have always marked the best of Bradbury's optimism, unabashed nostalgia, openness to experience, and, most centrally, an abiding generosity of spirit. Summer Morning, Summer Night is both an unexpected gift and a treasure trove of Story. Its people, places, images, and events will linger in the reader's mind for many years to come.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Classics, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, Summer

176 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2008

About the author

Ray 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".

Reviews

[Lyubov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Не притежавам перото да редя излишни думи над тази изящна литературна прекрасност. Каквото е трябвало, Бредбъри го е казал.

За това просто ще мина на следващо ниво и ще допълня визуално как ме караше да се чувствам всеки следващ ред от "Лятно утро, лятна нощ":

[Христо Блажев · Rating 5 out of 5]

Още магия от Бредбъри: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/l...

Ако пил си веднъж “Вино от глухарчета”, няма да забравиш опиянението и пак към него ще се връщаш; ако казал си “Сбогом, лято”, то ще знаеш, че зимата ще отмине и то пак ще дойде. “Лятно утро, лятна нощ” е януарското ми късче топлина, четох я точно сред големите мразотевици миналата седмица, а отвътре ми всичко грееше, защото Бредбъри е властникът на слънчевите думи. Малко отклонение – от началото на годината чета по малко и от огромния сборник с разкази на Уилям Фокнър – “Златна колекция”, и си мислех как привидно сходни теми, градчета, герои и преживелици се четат по коренно различен начин при Бредбъри. И двамата пишат за обикновени хора със съдби, в които делничното преминава в магическо – дали чрез любовта, дали чрез някой чудат развой на събитията – но ако Фокнър не позволява да бъде четен по много, то при Бредбъри трябва насила да се спира човек. По никой начин не казвам, че единият е по-добър от другия, твърде различни са, но идеята ми е, че начинът, по който подрежда думите си марсианецът Рей, е неподражаем и толкова пивък.

Издателска къща БАРД
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/l...

[Петър Панчев · Rating 5 out of 5]

Лятото на Бредбъри
(Цялото ревю е тук: http://knijenpetar.blogspot.bg/2016/0...)

Не е лесно да се омаеш, дори да си поел едно-две питиета в сумрака на нощно заведение. В света на Бредбъри думите са достатъчни, за да се постигне този ефект – без тайнствени метафори, без изкуствено насищане на атмосферата, без магьосници, крале и остри мечове. Този свят е е изпълнен с неща, които се усещат с наличните ни сетива – действителен, естествен. Ако търсиш магия, можеш да я откриеш в цветовете, предметите, пътищата, верандите, вятъра, целувката или в докосването на любим човек. Това е Грийн Таун на Бредбъри – малкото градче с обикновените герои. Тук времето е просто щрих, който може да увековечи любовна история, кратка буря или сияйното лице на някоя красавица. А сега е лято, лятото на Бредбъри.

Бредбъри има стотици разкази, излезли сякаш от най-вълшебното място на света, но когато човек го чете, има усещането, че се среща със старите си приятели. „Лятно утро, лятна нощ“ („Бард“, 2016, с превод на Милена Илиева) съдържа 27 разказа, написани сякаш от вълшебник, извайващ думите с лекотата на бриз. (Продължава в блога: http://knijenpetar.blogspot.bg/2016/0...)

[Temi Panayotova-Kendeva · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://www.writingis.fun/%D0%BB%D1%8F...

Сборникът от разкази „Лятно утро, лятна нощ“ беше първият ми досег до творчеството на Бредбъри.

Най-накрая на самата книга пише:

Текстовете на останалите разкази, които са били публикувани и по-рано, се базират на своите първи издания.

Не съм ги чела в предишни издания, но новото преиздадено от „Бард“ – много ми хареса – обложката е прелестна, а самата книга е с бяла корица и гръб.

[Knigoqdec · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ако ми позволите лирични отклонения - книга, изпълнена с дъхаво живо лято, неописуемо реално и прекрасно вълшебно. Кратки отрязъци от вечно време, изпълнени с любов и красота.
Дори аз, човек на зимата, с радост се гмурнах за миг-два в дъхавата зеленина...
Не мога и не искам да надминавам Бредбъри, но пък наистина изпитах точно това...

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes.. I loved it, friends!!

Well, you may say that I'm addicted to Bradburys books!!
And, bingo!!.. again yes..!!
but, let me tell you that this isn't without a reason at all my friend..

But let gets started, and put first Things first!!
"Summer morning Summer night" is the fourth and last installment of the so called "Green Town Series"..

**Dandelion Wine**

**Something Wicked This way Comes**

**Farewell Summer**

**Summer morning summer night**

You can start reading directly with this one in the series..
But of course its much more rewarding if you have read all the previous novels..

Bradbury offers a stunning compilation of short stories immersed and saturated with nostalgia, romantic and wrapped atmospherically and densely forming a rainbow of colorful, heavy and vivid feelings!!

These are amazing stories, each one of them, saturated with the spirit of truth and the taste of eternity..
Here you will meet some old, good acquaintances and friends from the previous novels..

But you will also discover hidden secrets and will be privy to the thoughts and feelings of its inhabitants!!

**Miss Bidwell**

Oh what a wonderful old lady..
She resides nearly all the time secluded in her house!!
But then a mysterious stranger comes to town, and he begins singing with a guitar night by night in front of Miss Bidwell house..
Suddenly unexpected and surprising events, startling and marvelous begings to happen!!

**These Things Happen**

A bittersweet love story between a teenager schoolboy and his teacher Miss Ann Taylor..
It will also let you somewhat saddened, but the end will blow you away!!

**The Pumpernickel**

A peculiar and remarkable school reunion!!
Here Bradbury magnifies and shows us the flaws and shortcomings of our poor human condition!!

**Love Potion**

.."Alone they lived in their house, the two old sisters, as quiet as spiders, as large as sofas, both of them, stuffed with time and dust and snow"..

Miss Nancy Jillet and her sister Julia!!
This is one of my favorites..
They have this love potion and gives them to an 18 years old girl in love!!
Then, something marvelous happens!!

**The Circus**

Here we meet with Tom Spaulding..
A circus was in town..
But because he was sick with the cold, he had to stay in bed..
So he missed the circus, then goes to the empty meadow behind the town..
The emotions and feelings are so powerful!!

.."He walked across the meadow. He stood at his rim, and the numerous odors were richly ripened and might last, if savored carefully, if he didn't come to often, until next year"..

In Green Town we will meet with a bus driver who desperately is in love with a passenger..

We will be also silent witnesses as two young people deeply in love have their first kiss..
Sheltering by night in the forest under a tree, and rain falling around them, they kiss each other!!

Bradbury masterfully tied up his Green Town series with "Summer morning Summer night"..
Atmospheric written and richly sparkling with life!!!

I invite you to be bold, and to linger for a little while around in Green Town Illinois, to see what will happens with their inhabitants and with your feelings as well!!

Happy readings
Dean;)

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could do with an editorial introduction. It seems like it collects all the Green Town stories into one place (aside from the novels) whether published in Bradbury's lifetime or not, but then one is clearly set in a coastal town or city. Many of the previously unpublished "vignettes", as they are described on the cover blurb, appear to be isolated scenes that either never developed in to full stories or were cut from a story or novel for some reason. Hence an editorial - to explain the aim of the book and where the previously unpublished material came from.

Anyway, this is pure Bradbury in terms of writing style, plot and theme and a delight to read, even if those off-cut scenes appear to just be filler to bulk up what remains a slender volume.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been 'Cherry picking' the stories in this one.:) Some of them are a mere 7 lines long, others are just a page and some 3 pages but all have the Bradbury stamp engraved on them.
I love his novels best but this has seen me through the last day of the month very nicely. :)
3*

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, Bradbury. I don't think I've ever read anything by him outside of the months of July-October. I always pick his stories up during that time of the year, when we get unseasonably cold days, followed by summer thunderstorms, followed again by lush, sticky, hot days, after having been reminded that summer is coming to an end soon.

This last book in the Green Town "series" (which isn't one, really) consists of twenty-seven stories, scenes, and fragments that were left over after what was supposed to be his first novel, a loosely auto-biographical look back at the disappearing American small-town-world of his childhood, got taken apart and made into Dandelion Wine in 1957, and, almost 50 years later, into its sequel Farewell Summer . Knowing this, it's no surprise that Summer Morning, Summer Night isn't as cohesive in its narrative and shared characters as the stories Bradbury chose and interwove in Dandelion Wine—this is a plain short story collection, with only the Spauldings making a few repeated appearances.

When sitting down to write this review, I was a little puzzled by the fact that it doesn't even come close to a 100 reviews and only has a little over 500 ratings on here—I wasn't aware it was such an obscure title until just now, and further research suggests that this may not even be an official release—its Wiki page is almost nonexistent, it's not listed in the chronology on Bradbury's official website, it's unavailable on most book retailers I checked, and I couldn't find a definite answer to its original publication date—2002 or 2008. Regardless of this, I really enjoyed the collection, and would recommend it to anyone who loved Dandelion Wine, with the caveat that this is like the collected b-sides to a great album. Most of the stand-outs, for me, were crowded in the first half of the book, which includes the more fleshed out stories—the last bunch are very short vignettes, less than a page long, and feel like little notes and germs of ideas written down to be worked on later—although there were some lovely ones there as well that worked despite their brevity.

The Fireflies evoked such vivid images of my childhood and my catching fireflies in the woods with my dad, it actually made me cry. Other favorites were, in no particular order: Miss Bidwell, All On A Summer's Night, The Pumpernickel, Autumn Afternoon, I Got Something You Ain't Got, and The People with Seven Arms.

I didn't much like (or they didn't do much for me) End of Summer, Love Potion, and These Things Happen, with a few others thrown in that I found pretty forgettable. I'm finding it really hard to give this one an overall rating because the stories are so different and differ in length so vastly that I feel like some should carry more weight than others. I didn't like it quite as much as Dandelion Wine (4 stars), but I liked it better than Farewell Summer (3 stars). I'm rounding up for now, but may change my rating at some point.

This short story concludes the book, and it highlights everything I love about the poetry and gentle, melancholic, somewhat sad nostalgia of Bradbury's writing:

Summer's End

Summer was coming to its own end, winding up the spool, shaking out the last bright sand from the glass. It took in its leaves, or dropped them when a good wind passed. It let the rain wash the color from the grass. It forgot the flowers so they turned away and died. There was a great stir, as of a family upon the eve of departure, birds rushing all about in children’s bands, impatient for the going. When summer died there was always a great whining and roaring of wind. In every yard, soon, summer would be piled and burned, with children tending the pyres and the smoke flagging the sky, showing the birds how the wind moved and where the great waiting south lay.

“The sooner we freeze the sooner we thaw,” said Grandfather. “Look at the leaves. The air smells like an old book store on days like this.”

The fruits were quartered and liquored and bottled and shelved. The house was painted and shingled and puttied and put right. The trees were free of their leaves and enjoying the freedom of the sky, like hands fresh out of gloves. An avalanche of coal tinned and chuted in a dark pour through the cellar window, rising to a volcano peak in the wooden bin. Winter coming on with stony thunder! Winter, later, floating down like the white lace of a woman passing by. Winter and the flood of wind rising foot by foot over the porches and towers and roofs of town until all was under its tide. The skies swept clean of birds, erased, it almost seemed, by hurrying clouds. Storms coming and going so high that they were not felt, but occurred only among themselves, in high gray mountains in the heavens, throwing lightning and coldness all about in twists and turns. All pointing toward that morning when one would wake to hear the world holding its breath, and silence, in lace, falling from the sky, a whiteness moving in a great moth wind softly upon the lawns. All these things predicted and foretold by this one day in September.

[Temz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Отдавна книга не ми е носила онази ленива влюбено-щастлива усмивка.
„Лятно утро, лятна нощ“ от Рей Бредбъри (изд. къща „Бард“, 2016; превод: Милена Илиева) е сборник, който включва в себе си 27 разказа (17 от които непревеждани до момента на български) и който хваща пролетта, настанила се над София, и я повежда за ръката към звездните летни нощи над Грий Таун, щата Илинойс.
Чудесен избор на Издателска къща БАРД за допълване на колекцията от съкровища в жанра на късия разказ след „Златната колекция" на Уилям Фокнър.. След „Лятно утро, лятна нощ“ на човек му остава само да се ослушва – да се ослушва за края на лятото и повея от нощницата на Хати, за зова на Пищящата жена или за усмивката на Аги Лу. И да се влюбва.
http://knijno.blogspot.bg/2016/04/blo...

[Petya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Страхотна книга! Напълни ми душата.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its suburbs housed young and old, hermits and gossips, conservatives and eccentrics, the love-lorn and the unlovable; Green Town, Illinois, was -- maybe still is -- a town of mystery, secrets and heartaches underneath its bland exterior.

Bradbury's chronicles of lives lived under his microscope extended from the observational vignettes in Dandelion Wine to the magic realism of Something Wicked This Way Comes. Based on the author's childhood experience in Waukegan, Illinois, its aspiring middle-class neighbourhoods are portrayed as a hothouse harbouring secret passions and private obsessions, all seething beneath a thin veneer of respectability.

This selection of short stories (some only half a page long) similarly let the reader eavesdrop or spy on the everyday doings of townsfolk; but rather than it being an abusive relationship our fly-on-the-wall position allows us to extend our compassion to many of the denizens, just occasionally permitting us to be judgemental.

Nearly thirty pieces mostly deal with summer in Green Town, even including the word 'summer' in the title. Ranging in date from 1948 to 2002 and later (the collection appeared in 2008) they provide a sepia-tinged picture of 1920s Waukegan, where Bradbury lived on and off until he was 14. One can imagine the young Ray frequenting the Carnegie-funded library, sauntering or slinking down side streets, observing everyone from his peers to his elders, reconstructing their stories based on a mix of hearsay and imagination.

He even borrows a paternal family name, Spaulding, to give to some of his Green Town characters. Here is a young boy infatuated with a young female librarian, a pair of old biddies offering love philtres, a grocer hoping to reunite long-separated lovers, a sceptic moved to disinterring a body, and young girls who dice with death to win a game of one-upmanship. Here is homespun philosophy, crass judgements, sage advice and poetry; here are tragedies, comedies, forgotten memories, crimes, romances and fables; here you will find all life bounded in a nutshell.

Once or twice we are reminded that autumn is coming, and at least once we seemingly find ourselves not on the shores of Lake Michigan but the Pacific, but by and large we remain in a forever summer, in an American Midwest seesawing from balmy to sweltering and marooned in the hiatus between the end of the Great War and the Great Depression.

Told with a serene economy that belies its richness Summer Morning, Summer Night for me is a treasure chest of jewels to save and keep, knowing that it'll be there for me to open and examine its contents whenever the mood takes me.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will readily admit that I don't always "get" Bradbury's stories. There were a few of the short stories in this book that left me going "huh?" But I cannot even adequately put into words how these stories made me feel! I felt so good, so warm. It's as if Bradbury's words are magic of some kind that permeate my emotions, even down to my very soul.

His descriptiveness is absolutely charming. "He moved into the bathroom of the quiet house, thinking all this, enjoying the clear rush, the tumultuous gushing of memories like a water falling of the mind over a steep precipice, falling and falling toward the bottom of his head." The book is chock full of verbal imagery like this.

Towards the end of the book, there are several "stories" that are barely a paragraph. Very interesting. One in particular stood out to me. It was called "A Serious Discussion," subtitled "or Evil in the World." The story is one paragraph, totally comprised of Grandfather's advice to Douglas. (There are also many recurring characters in these stories, as they all take place in the same town of Green Town, Illinois.) "Douglas," said Grandfather, "You must learn as soon as possible the difference between the real world and the world the way you would like it. The difference between the way some people teach us the world is, and the way it happens to be. For only then will you know what to expect, boy. You will see the world clear. And you won't be a cynic, a man with a bunch of dreams still lying around in the back of the mind, that turns him sour on everything. And you won't be a skeptic, either, really. I don't even know if there's a name for it, boy. You'll just be someone that looks at the world straight off and sees it. You can even enjoy the duplicity of man, somehow. By recognizing that evil is natural to man, you should be able to cope with it better." That's it. That's the story. I wish that someone had given me that advice when I had been a young boy. Perhaps I would not be a "cynic, a man with a bunch of dreams still lying around in the back of the mind, that turns him sour on everything."

My favorite stories in this book: The Screaming Woman, These Things Happen, A Walk in Summer, Arrival and Departure, The River that Went to the Sea, and A Serious Discussion.

The book defies a genre description. It's certainly not Science Fiction. Really not "Fantasy," either, not in the purest sense. It's simply, well...beautiful.

[Cherie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall, I really enjoyed reading the stories in this ode to summer and the characters in Green Town, revisited.

I tracked them all on a sheet of paper and wrote down my impressions of them and my star rating. At the end, I gave 10 stories 5 stars, 8 stories 4 stars, 7 stories 3 stars, and 2 stories 2 stars. 107 stars divided by 27 stories equaled 3.96 for a solid 4 star rating.

Stars can't really say anything but register my own personal enjoyment. They say nothing of Ray Bradbury's ability to paint a picture or elicit an emotion. He does it though, so wonderfully! He can do it with a story ten pages long or one only two paragraphs long. Amazing.

My favorite words from the book take place during a conversation between Douglas Spaulding and his Grandpa Spaulding (we met them first in Dandelion Wine). They were discussing love. From the story titled The Fireflies.

Douglas: "What good is love?"
Grandpa: "Well, I guess you'd call it a kind of lubricant. It stops friction. There are so many elbows to knock and feet to step on in this world. And so many people swatting each other in the face with pan-cake flippers, accidentally, of course, you need to be baptized in this first-grade oil, love, or you wouldn't get anywhere. Your breaks would burn out on the first mile."

[Кремена Михайлова · Rating 5 out of 5]

„Дъждът се ля безмилостно върху дървото цяла минута, всичко навън беше студено, а всичко вътре бе дървесно топло и скрито.“

Какъв хубав човек/писател е този Рей! Защо по-често не се отдавам на такива неща – романтика, полет, тръпка!

Ето първоначалният ми отзив, запазвам си го!
„Заради Бредбъри си легнах в 2:30 ч.; и ми се искаше да хукна насред свежата пролетна нощ и да се върна чак сега – романтична и летяща, 6:30 ч. в пролетното утро.“

Всъщност в началото започнах с „Хм, каква семпла сантименталност…“ Но щом се стигна до „хукването“, значи съм сантиментална (това разбрах за себе си и от „Арфата на тревите“ на Труман Капоти). И отново си помислих: „Не е ли най-важно спонтанното въздействие, което оказва една книга върху нас? Временно и постоянно?“

Ето от какво се запалих през въпросната нощ:

„Набраха си грозде от една дива бодлива лоза. Вдигнеш ли грозда към слънцето, можеш да видиш ясните гроздови мисли, увиснали в кехлибарената течност, малките горещи семенца на размишленията, складирани там през летните следобеди на самота и растителна философия. Гроздето имаше вкус на прясна вода и на нещо, което лозата беше запазила от утринните роси и вечерните дъждове. Те бяха затоплената плът на април, готова сега, през август, да се отдаде на всеки странник, който мине край нея. А урокът е следният – стой си там, свел глава под слънцето на бодливата лоза, кога на припек, кога на шарена сянка, и светът ще дойде при теб. Небето ще дойде, когато реши, и ще донесе дъжд, земята ще се издига по теб от дълбокото и ще те направи богат, ще те изпълни.“

Обичам красивите думи, да. Но почти винаги си имам едно наум да „проверя“ как са използвани. Заради самото умение на автора да си играе с тях, с желание да впечатли читателите? Или те са същинският „костен мозък“ на съответното преживяване, чиста емоция. Сега с този откъс и с повечето разкази за мен беше второто. (честно казано във „Вино от глухарчета“ малко в повече ми дойде експресивността, сега с кратките разкази ми беше идеално.)

И отново към сантименталността - дори за някои от героите да не е така, то със сигурност на читателя се предлага свободата: да не се възпира да изпитва/изразява емоции – нито ако е малък, нито ако е голям; нито ако е мъж, нито ако е жена.

„Вчера те видях да гледаш майка си. Ако съм в тъмна стая, бих могъл да чета книга на светлината, която излъчваше лицето ти.“

„Не сме толкова стари, просто се чувствахме стари.“

Само при първите 1-2 разказа ми трябваше време да вляза в атмосферата. Но във всеки следващ намерих по нещо, дори и някои да напомняха на „Вино от глухарчета“, а други – на подобни случки от други книги/филми. Все пак НАЙ-любими: „Ръжен хляб“, „Случват се такива неща“, „Пристигане и заминаване“, „Разходка през лятото“!!! (четох го много пъти, намерих го и на английски – какво беше изумлението ми, че 5-6 изречения към края не са преведени?!). И 3-4 мрачни/тъжни разказа харесах много. А към края – мъниците от по страничка-две! По принцип харесвам такива размери и съдържания. Иска ми се да изброя и от мъниците, защото са толкова велики, един дори с деветте си реда. „Крачка“, „Кучето“, „Прожекционният апарат“, „Покрива“, „Хората със седем ръце“, „Една сериозна дискусия“, „Светулките“...

„ – Но каквото и да правиш, септември винаги идва – каза тя. – Време е да откъснем август от календара!
- Може ли да задържа август? – Том стоеше с откъснатия месец в ръце.
- И за какво ти е? – каза баба.
- Не е свършил наистина, никога няма да свърши. – Том вдигна откъснатия лист. – Помня какво се е случило през всеки негов ден.“

„След половин час госпожица Уелкис вече бе на предната веранда, седеше, скръстила чистите си ръце, и гледаше вратата. Такъв беше летният вечерен ритуал, хората излизаха на верандите, седяха на люлките, облягаха се на бродираните възглавнички, жените си приказваха и бродираха или шиеха, мъжете пушеха, децата седяха на групички по стъпалата. Но още беше рано за него, градските веранди още бяха напечени от залязващото слънце, ехото още кънтеше със силата на деня, гражданската война за Независим следобед щеше още час да се губи в звука на лимонада, която разливат щедро в чаши, и на залци, които обират соса от чиниите.“

Досега обичах утрото, обичах светлината на деня, обожавах лятото. Но с тези разкази на Рей Бредбъри и нощта засили чара си в моите възприятия. Вярно, че се случи през най-топлата нощ от много месеци насам, но ако не четях точно този сборник, едва ли щях да я усетя така и да поемам със седемте си ръце свежестта, примамливостта и тишината на нощта - ту на едната тераса, ту на другата, почти към 3 часа след полунощ.

От време на време си казвам за някой писател – „Трябва да се изучава в училище“. Сега си го помислих за Рей Бредбъри. Доброто, красивото и любовта трябва да се проповядват.

„... трябва да си кръстен с онова първокласно миро, любовта, иначе няма да стигнеш доникъде.“

„Просто ще бъдеш човек, който гледа света право в очите и го вижда.“

[Stephanie Ricker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ate up Summer Morning, Summer Night. Look, I know I gush about Bradbury in every other entry here, but seriously, his stories are exquisite. If you haven't read any of his short stories, do yourself a favor and try some immediately. It doesn't even matter what collection; they're all great. Bradbury's stories ARE the seasons. I can't think of summer without thinking of Dandelion Wine, and I can't think of fall without thinking of the autumn people in Something Wicked This Way Comes. I'm convinced that Bradbury lives inside of summer nine months out of the year; how else could he describe the feel of it so perfectly? No other writer is like him.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summer is not Summer until you dive head first into Ray Bradbury. I love his language and writing style. I love how you can see and taste and smell Green Town, Illinois. I read him every summer and it never gets tired.

[Rado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ами, Бредбъри! Страхотен, невероятен, малко меланхоличен, малко страшен, малко сантиментален, малко забавен. Уникален стил на разказване. Оценката не е 5, просто защото сивото вещество не ми достига, за да разбера последните разкази от по 1 стр.

[Morwenna Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Turns out Ray Bradbury's standard fiction is just as enchanting and perplexing as his sci-fi. Who knew? This is the book that made me wonder why the hell I haven't read Dandelion Wine yet.

[Emanuella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Наистина е вълшебник! Успява да те трогне с всеки един разказ, толкова е поетичен и искрен. Една от историите ме разстрои силно и си поплаках :'( Хем ми хареса, хем ме ядоса!

[Daria Bezzub · Rating 3 out of 5]

Тут я вирішила абстрагуватися від "Кульбабового вина" та "Прощавай, літо!" щоб сприйняти дану збірку як окремі розповіді, що відбуваються в одному місті.

End of Summer (1948) 2/5
Сподобалося чим закінчилося. Тільки читаючі останні абзаци розумієш, що поведінка героїні така, тому що, вона має токсичну сім'ю. І тільки, коли зійде місяць, а всі спатимуть, вона зможе відкрити своє справжнє обличчя.

The Great Fire (1949) 3/5
Смішно бачити що батько сім'ї одночасно жалкує про своє одруження і заздрить молодій дівчині і її свбоді.

All on a Summer's Night (1950) 4/5
Гарно. Дуже сподобалося як невимушено нам розповіли про першу закоханність підлітка у дорослу жінку. Али все тут невинно.

Miss Bidwell (1950) 5/5
Дуже цікава історія, що показує як може незнайома і стороння людина щиро хвилюватися за іншу людину.

The Pumpernickel (1951) 2/5
Історія про ностальгію, яку не варто сприймати серйозно.

The Screaming Woman 5/5
Добре, що історія добре закінчилася. Але дуже шкода, що і через майже 70 років батьки все так же не вірять своїм дітям. Що можно побачити і сьогодні, коли з дітьми щось трапляється, вони ідуть до батьків, а ті кричать з піною у рота, щоб не видумували. І більше дитина вже не розкаже, що її скривдивли інші.

A Story of Love 4/5
Чотирнадцятирічний хлопець закохався у свою вчительку, що на десять років старша за нього. Мені сподобалося як вели себе герої і як пройшла розмова між вчителькою і учнем. Як на мене гарний розвиток розмови, де вчителька все обговорює і пояснює, чому їм треба маусимально зменшити спілкування. Сподобався учень, що в 14 років може розуміти причини і наслідки. Мінус зірочка тільки за те як автор вирішив обмежити спілкування героїв - зовнішня причина (хлопець через тиждень має переїхати із сім'єю до сусіднього міста, як на мене, то випав рояль в кущах).

At Midnight, in the Month of June (1954) 1/5
Дивна оповідь. Це як продовження і оповідь від іншого персонажа із оповідки "Кульбабового вина". Там ми дізналися про те, що "Нелюдь" зачаївся у Лавінії вдома, а наступний ранок був мертвий, бо Лавінія заколола його ножицями. Тут ми ж бачимо як це все було зі сторони "Нелюдя" і нам кажуть, що в кінці він вижив. Дуже дивно.

A Walk in Summer (1979) 2/5
Флірт і перше кохання між хлопцем і дівчиною. Нудна оповідка.

Autumn Afternoon (2002) 1/5
Або я не уважно читала, або не зрозуміла про що ця оповідь.

Arrival and Departure 3/5
Смішно. Наче описують реалії з ковідом. Пандемія вже закінчилася, але з дому частенько вже і виходити не хочеться.

The Beautiful Lady 2/5
Про гарну неіснуючу жінку.

Love Potion 4/5
Як на мене вийшла гумористична замальовка з чорним гумором.

Night Meeting 3/5
Коли ти нерішучий, то можливо пропустиш долю всього свого життя.

The Death of So-and-So 3/5
А старі тільки і говорять, що про смерть.

I Got Something You Ain't Got! 4/5
Інколи діти бувають жостокі, бо дурні.

The Waders 1/5
Не цікава замальовка.

The Dog 1/5
Ще одна не цікава замальовка.

The River That Went to the Sea 2/5
Замальовка, але трохи краща.

Over, Over, Over, Over, Over, Over, Over, Over! 1/5

The Projector 4/5
Мабуть найкоротша замальовка від Бредбері, яку я читала, але виявилася вона напрочуд цікавою.

The People with Seven Arms 2/5

A Serious Discussion (or Evil in the World) 1/5

The Fireflies 2/5

The Circus 2/5

The Cemetery (or The Tombyard) 2/5

Summer's End 1/5

Загалом, майже не сподобалися короткі замальовки. Не вистачало мені ідеї або історії.

[Lissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read Dandelion Wine, I didn't realize it was the 1st of series. As a completist, I had to read the rest of this Green Town series. I hadn't even heard about this one, but I read it as soon as I could. This last installment is a collection of short stories also based in the small town of Green Town, IL. The reader is privy to all the secrets of the town: Why does one lady board up her house on September 1st? What happened to Miz Edith? Is that guy a serial killer?? But the best parts of the book are the ending vignettes about children sending notes to mermaids, or playing Annie Over (like I did! but with different rules from the book), or taking off shoes for the summer. These were fun, but the stories about Tom Spaulding and Grandpa are beautiful, wise poetry. A lovely, summer read!

[Silver Lining · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
It was a bit hard for me to rate this book since this is a collection of short stories and I didn't understand all of them. Some of them were pretty amazing. Mostly the ones focused on childhood and nostalgia. It was very touching. But the last 10-ish stories were too short for my taste, I couldn't get invested.
Overall, I enjoyed my reading.

[diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really quite beautiful. Not for everyone, as the short story format might not appeal to all, but I loved it a lot. I forget the names of the stories, but I have a few favorites in mind.

5/5 stars

[Ollie Skyba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Я очень любила книги Брэдбери - в детстве или в юности, не помню точно своего возраста, когда читала под одеялом под светом настольной лампы толстое издание "Марсианских хроник", а потом мне снились удивительные, яркие сны про загадочные инопланетные миры. Много лет я помнила свои впечатления от "451 градус по Фаренгейту", буквально над каждой следующей прочитанной книгой задумывалась, стоило бы ее сохранить для будущих поколений.
В декабре (2012) мне хотелось какой-то доброй жизнеутверждающей литературы, и я прочла залпом несколько сборников рассказов Рэя Брэдбери.

Вопреки прежнему моему мнению о Брэдбери как о мэтре научной фантастики, теперь его книги наполнены для меня романтикой, человеческими переживаниями, жизненной философией, простыми и понятными ценностями - о семье, о равноправии людей, о любви и дружбе. Очень рекомендую всем, кто знаком с его творчеством опосредованно, начните знакомство с рассказов, которых Брэдбери написал несколько сотен.

...любовь там, где мы с тобой, и бабушка, и все наши дети-внуки, и племянники, и жильцы... Это когда среди распрей стараешься жить с миром. Это когда бабушка печет пироги с тыквой, а я вырезаю для тебя свисток из орешины. Это когда ты сидишь вот так, как сейчас, и слушаешь не перебивая. И когда вы с братишкой ложитесь спать зимним вечером и греете ноги, ступню о ступню. Когда мама ждет отца с работы и смотрит на часы — не стряслось ли какой беды. Когда за ужином всем весело...

[Joell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bradbury is always wonderful when writing about his favorite little town. But this book was a confused jumble of collected stories. I guess I was looking for typical Bradbury storytelling that leads you down a crooked, but wonderful path and this book jumped from trail to road and then out to uncharted territory. Some lovely moments, but all in all, I really struggled to hold my attention to the pages.

[Bohdana Muzyka · Rating 4 out of 5]

It feels like Bradbury managed to invent the time machine which takes you back to the childhood when grass was greener, days were longer and everything seemed possible. The book consists of short stories each of which conveys a different idea but all of them are united with the same nostalgic and almost intangible atmosphere of reminiscence... Probably, the most summertime book I've read in the last few years.

[Austin]

All of Bradbury's Green Town novels are autumnal life-slices—they're first coffee sips and morning light blinking in between shaky leaves. And this novel in particular, with the multitude of vignettes, is just a beautiful expression of Bradbury's writing; his observations on aging and living in nostalgia as it's also evaporating, they're just warm and sad all at once.

Green Town feels like such a full place, so easy to imagine life there even between pages.

[StephanieNicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

If you like Dandelion Wine, you'll like this collection of short stories all with themes about summer and seasonal changes. I docked half a star because there were a couple problematic stories that rubbed me the wrong way, but overall, these are gems. I don't understand it, but Bradbury captures nostalgia on the page like his characters capture it in bottles of dandelion wine.

[Dalibor Dado Ivanovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Predivno sjetne priče...
Mislim da je sa ovom zbirkom Bradbury završio svoje priče o Spauldingu i njegovoj obitelji, o kojima je prva knjiga Dandelion Wine napisana, meni najdraža knjiga ikad.
Dakle, nemam riječi, znam da ću sve opet čitati od prve i da me samo sjeta hvatala čitajući jer i moj Život je onako, poodmako godinama, gdje su sva ljeta kojih se sjećam kao da su nedavno bila, sa hrpom ljudi kojih više nemam.
Bradbury zna dotaknut sa pričama pravo.