I read Homer Price over and over when I was just a wee bairn. Now, about 40 years later, I picked it up again. The stories are still delightful and funny, told in an engaging, childlike manner. They are everything I remember.
But wait, there's more. Where did all that social satire come from? I don't remember that being there when I was nine. "The Case of the Cosmic Comic" is dark, showing the shattering of a young boy's dream of his hero. "Wheels of Progress" is still as pointed a commentary on the demise of craftsmanship in a mass-produced world as it was in 1943, when the book was published. This ranks up there with the brilliant political satire hidden in Oliver Butterworth's The Enormous Egg.
If you haven't read this since you were a kid, pick it up. It'll bring back great memories of your childhood reading, but will be much more than just a nostalgic trip back to your old bookshelf. These stories are fun and imaginative, but they also have teeth.
No comments:
Post a Comment