Alex Weller’s Reviews > The Illustrated Man > Status Update

The framing story's narrator watches as the Illustrated Man shifts in his sleep, revealing another illustration on his chest that comes to life. Here we go!

Finished "The Veldt"! McClean comes back and sees Peter and Wendy having a picnic in the nursery while the lions feed in the distance. I think we know what they're feeding on. What a duo of fucked-up kids. Overall, great story!

Peter isn't too happy to learn that George and Lydia are considering locking up the nursery and shutting off the house. He threatens George to stop considering it before going off to play. That doesn't feel okay.

George tries to change the nursery setting, but it won't work. When Peter and Wendy come home, the parents question them about the veldt setting but they deny it. George checks it again, but the children have changed the setting to a forest, and he finds a wallet of his, all bloody and mangled by lions. That night, the children break into the nursery, and the parents hear familiar screams followed by lion roars.

Just started reading the first story, "The Veldt". George and Lydia Hadley live with their kids Peter and Wendy in an automated Happy-Life Home that caters to their every need. However, the children's nursery has taken the appearance of a realistic African veldt with lions that feed on prey and charge at the parents. The parents lock the nursery and consider shutting the house down for a while to calm themselves.

Finished the prologue! The Illustrated Man struggles to keep jobs at carnivals because he keeps getting fired when an illustration develops and changes to show someone's gruesome fate, which happens whenever he stays with someone for so long. He tells the narrator not to look at his illustrations as they both sleep, but the narrator does anyway. The first illustration comes to life. Overall, great opener!

Just started reading the book and "Prologue: The Illustrated Man". While walking on a hot day in Wisconsin, the narrator meets the Illustrated Man, a man covered in extremely detailed and vivid tattoos. He claims he got them from a time-travelling witch. At night, the illustrations change. He's disturbed by his tattoos and wants to get rid of them and kill the witch. Damn!