I like scary stories, but most things marketed as horror are just violent and gory. The older I get, the more I realize that a truly terrifying atmosphere depends more upon what you don't show than what you you do. No matter how terrible the image a person may create, it's not as bad as what the audience will create in their imaginations.
In this book Ray Bradbury takes his own childhood and creates a dark fantasy. He's considered one of the greatest authors in American history, and one of the reasons his books seem so real is that they are real in a sense; all of them draw from his deep, deep store of memories. The world he describes here doesn't exist anymore, and when it's threatened it doesn't feel like a battle between two boys and a sinister carnival. It feels like a showdown between love and nihilism.
Maybe that's why I like this book so much. While the characters are very good, the story seems much bigger than characters. I recommend it.
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