Books
The trouble with Jim was he looked at the world and could not look away. And when you never look away all your life, by the time you are thirteen you have done twenty years taking in the laundry of the world.
— Ray Bradbury · Something Wicked This Way Comes
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
Jim can't stop taking in the world around him. The image of its laundry makes that attention feel like work, piling up faster than his years. By thirteen he seems to carry far more experience than his age suggests, because he never gives himself a break from looking.
Context reviewed