Dandelion Wine, by
Ray Bradbury, was first published as a book in 1957. Portions had been
published as early as 1946. During our discussion, Jay suggested that the book
might have been written as separate stories all about the same group of characters,
and he was right. Looking at the title page shows the various years of
publication of various parts of the book in various magazines. We read and
discussed Dandelion Wine as a single
book.
Perhaps the episodic nature of the chapters was what a few
of our members didn’t like about the book. Most liked it. Some complained that
there was no plot, and someone said the reading was slow and unexciting.
Leading the discussion, Ken asked us which were our favorite
parts of the book. Morna said that her favorite parts were the tennis shoes
that symbolized the beginning of the summer and the way the author could express
the feelings of a happy childhood. She also liked the chapter about Grandmother
being a fabulous cook in a messy kitchen but unable to cook after the kitchen
was cleaned. Pam noticed that the characters filled and stored 90 bottles of
dandelion wine, 1 for each day of summer. Dennis noted that Bradbury showed the
way kids tend to feel that they are immortal. Frank said he was moved to tears
by the episode in which middle-aged Mr. Forrester and elderly Miss Loomis met
and became close as kindred souls in spite of their vast age difference. The
chapter had a bittersweet ending, as did several of the stories in the book. I
was touched by the difficulty that Doug and John Huff had when John was moving
away, because it reminded me of when my next-door neighbors, whom I had played
with almost daily for years, moved across the country when we were around 9
years old. Carla’s favorite part of the book was when the green machine created
the expectation that the future would get better. Shirley liked being reminded
of deviled ham sandwiches, and when the young girls refused to believe that
Helen Bentley had ever been young.
The book brought out memories for most of us. Joyce said that
when she was young, she wrote on the same kind of typewriter that Bradbury used
for his first novel. Ken remembered the
rumbleseat, which was at the back of cars. He said that the children sitting on
the rumbleseat, outside; and the parents sitting inside the car was a good
arrangement. Jay mentioned a memoir by Sally Mann, which says that memories
change as we age; and when we go back to a memory, we change it. Pam remembered
that when her father would spend long days farming, the rest of the family
would await his return anxiously, because nothing is guaranteed; and that once
he had arrived, she would be a little angry at her father for being so late.
Ken remembered feeling alive when a neighbor let him use her orchard when he
mowed her lawn.
We talked of memories and the magic of childhood as it was
in the 1950s. Bradbury’s characters, stories, and rich descriptive writing
style all inspired memories.
