[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

Just to go against the tide, I really liked the "snapshot" quality of the different events in Doug's life in that summer. Life does tend to be a series of episodes rather than a single smooth-flowing event. I also liked the fact that sad and scarey things happened in the midst of the idyllic summer, which again is a reflection of the way life is.

I do agree about the Happiness Machine story, which really doesn't seem to fit.

Originally Posted by issybird

I agree with both of these comments.

I think part of the charm of summer is that is just is; it's time experienced rather than time passing - or at least that that's a valid way to look at it. I also think the sad and scary things were a necessary counterpoint; can an idyll be appreciated in a void? Without a counterpoint? I think Bradbury demonstrates that push/pull throughout; one explicit example is when the boys needed to revivify the Lonely One.

But too many of the sad and scary things happened outside Doug's direct experience, and we don't get his POV. What does Lavinia's scary walk home have to do with Doug? What does the Elmira-Clara witchcraft story have to do with Doug? What do the details of the deaths of the old people and the Helen-Bill "romance" have to do with Doug? What does the Happiness Machine have to do with Doug? Sometimes he's not even an observer, let alone a participant.

I don't think it's enough to string together a bunch of short stories and call it a novel; the episodes needed to be unified/reconciled in some way or else should simply have been published as an anthology.