As all of you who are reading my blog know, a memoir is a segment of a person’s life. Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury is very interesting, as it doesn’t feel like it fits this definition at all. If I hadn’t have picked this book off Mrs. Burgess’s memoir list, I would never have guessed this novel depicts Bradbury’s life.
This work is more fictionalized than it is fact. Each chapter focuses on a different person; not every event is seen through the eyes of the author. The first couple chapters make a believable memoir, but after a few chapters, smaller story lines pop up. Leo Auffmann, the creator of a “happiness machine” becomes the focus of one chapter, and then Douglas’s little brother, Tom, is another focus. Within a few more chapters, the story is told through the eyes of an elderly woman, Mrs. Bentley. I have yet to figure out the advantage of seeing so many peoples’ points of view of one summer, but I assume Ray Bradbury has a very good reason for writing in this style.
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1 comment:
Hmmmm... interesting. I didn't realize you could write a memoir that strayed from the writers perspective. Like you said, he probally has a good reason for it though.
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