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Title details for Farewell Summer by Ray Bradbury - Available

Farewell Summer

A Novel

#3 in series

by Ray Bradbury
Robert Fass
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

October first, the air is still warm, but fall is rolling in. Thirteen-year-old Douglas Spaulding, his younger brother Tom, and their friends do their best to take advantage of these last warm days, rampaging through the ravine, tormenting the girls, and declaring war on the old men who run Green Town, IL. For the boys know that Mr. Quartermain and his cohorts want nothing more than to force them to put away their wild ways, to settle down, to grow up. If only, the boys believe, they could stop the clock atop the courthouse building. Then, surely, they could hold onto the last days of summer—and their youth. But the old men were young once, too. And Quartermain, crusty old guardian of the school board and town curfew, is bent on teaching the boys a lesson. What he doesn't know is that before the last leaf turns, the boys will give him a gift: they will teach him the importance of not being afraid of letting go.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Greentown

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    November 1, 2006

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780792745976
      • File size: 95652 KB
      • Duration: 03:19:16

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Ray Bradbury is one of America's great science fiction writers, and FAREWELL SUMMER is the relatively brief but highly enjoyable sequel to his 1957 novel, DANDELION WINE. The story focuses upon a mock war between the young and the old in Green Town, Illinois, as well as the sexual awakening of young Doug Spaulding. Robert Fass brings the story to life, using a enlivening mix of emotion and enthusiasm that helps the book seemingly fly by. Fass's distinct characterizations are particularly memorable, especially young Spaulding, who focuses his energies on the town elders and on old man Quartermain, who tries to teach Spaulding and his friends a lesson, only to discover that he may learn more than they do. D.J.S. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from August 7, 2006
      This poignant, wise but slight "extension" of the indefatigable Bradbury's semiautobiographical Dandelion Wine
      picks up the story of 12-year-old Douglas Spaulding in October of 1928, when the warmth of summer still clings to Green Town, Ill. As in his episodic 1957 novel, Bradbury evokes the rhythms of a long-gone smalltown America with short, swift chapters that build to a lyrical meditation on aging and death. Playing at war, the imaginative Douglas and his friends target the town's elderly men, and the outraged 81-year-old bachelor Calvin C. Quartermain attempts to organize a counterattack against the boys' mischief. Rebelling against their elders—and the specter of age and death—Douglas and his gang steal the old men's chess pieces before deciding that Time, as embodied by the courthouse clock, is their true nemesis. The story turns on a gift of birthday cake that triggers Douglas and Quartermain's mutual recognition: "He had seen himself
      peer forth from the boy's eyes." Soon thereafter, Douglas's first kiss and new, acute awareness of girls serves as the harbinger of his inevitable adulthood. Bradbury's mature but fresh return to his beloved early writing conveys a depth of feeling. Look for a Q&A with Bradbury in the Aug. 21 issue.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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