Author – Ray Bradbury
A review of The
Martian Chronicles – The Illustrated Man – The Golden Apples of the Sun
The three titles packed together in this thick book are the
first I’ve read of Mr. Bradbury. The
cover art caught my eye and the top title ‘The
Martian Chronicles’ to be interesting for a soul such as mine that has a
tendency to devour science fiction. I
read ‘The Martian Chronicles’ in a
moderate time and was at first struggling to adjust to a series of short
stories that it actually was. As I read
it wasn’t long before I enjoyed reading what a 1950s author thought of space
travel and its Martian implications. I
moved onto ‘The Illustrated Man’ but
within four of those short stories I promptly tossed in back onto the shelf to
accumulate a mini mountain of dust. I
had grown tired of short stories in my early time being a full time reader; I
had and still do much to learn about reading.
It takes time and brain pain sometimes to read but later I’d learn that
completing any book is an experience you can grab a hold of in times where you
may otherwise feel regretful of how life is going.
The
book stared at me for months as I distanced myself from books until I finally
obstructed it’s vision of me by leaving my closet door open against the
bookshelf, quite an evil deed. This new
year of 2013 emerged from the future as I had already been dragged back into
the world of my mind. Books have a way
of bringing you back if you leave the door open but a crack. It took about nine months since I last read
this collection of Mr. Bradbury’s but I had a whole new appreciation for the
stories. It felt to me as I read each
story, as fast as my fingers could turn the pages that each story was like
viewing a photo album. A photo album
shows you a certain time, place and experience within it much the way I
accepted each short story having its own tale.
If you don’t prefer short stories then it’ll be a chore to read any of
this.
Short Stories
When I first began reading these stories in ‘The Martian Chronicles’ I had never read
short stories much and was very accustomed to reading novels, my lack of
reading prowess failed me. In my early
era of reading I’ve grown fond of single story novels not that I limit myself
to said books now but when I began Bradbury’s short stories I hated being
sucked into a ten page group of intrigue only to have it come to an end. In reading a book such as this I recommend coming
to terms that it’s meant to be short.
That probably seems obvious but I overlooked it and it tormented me. The stories can end quickly and sometimes
leaving you scratching your head but the upside is a new one can begin right
after. The majority of the stories are
fantastic for a science fiction mind however anybody could find a story or two
to admire. I came back to this behemoth
of a book due in large part that I found myself writing short stories and
rather enjoying it, figure that one. My
perception has changed about this book and for the greater good of my soul.
The Martian
Chronicles
There are some interesting views on what Mars could be used
for in mankind’s future and Bradbury brings to light many of them. I would rather avoid opening the book for you
and telling you what this brilliant author concocted oh so many years ago so I
won’t. I will say it’s well written
which is what readers want to know. The
idea of space travel, particularly to other planets, is unknown to us. We know we can go to space but what is Mars
like or Venus? How many other galaxies
are there, truly? The stories in this
book whip up some notions of what it is by planting that seed. Whenever I hear the word Mars now my mind
twists and turns to recall a story from this book as my base understanding of
the planet, how many other books claim that?
One story I’d recommend is ‘The
Earth Men’.
The Illustrated Man
The stories within this book differ on topic and aren’t
limited to space travel or Mars. A witch
tattoos a man with some questionable ink thus showing whoever casts eyes upon
him to see a most unsettling story. I
like the idea of this main story that starts and concludes this book. ‘The
Long Rain’ is one of my favorites but there are many that succeed. The stories jump around a bit topic wise so
you’re not set on any one area.
The Golden Apples of
the Sun
In my mind I thought this would be a slow struggling
read. It happens to us all from time to
time right? Before we begin a book we
have that intuition that it’s going to be lackluster or a failure. My brain chose this one but it was wrong
again, surprise. It does start off
uninteresting with some of the stories ending before you really understand what
was going on. It does pick up and before
you know it your fingers are working then begging for a massage. Some that I liked, ‘The Murderer’, ‘Sun and
Shadow’, ‘R is for Rocket’, ‘Frost and Ice’ and ‘Chrysalis’. There are plenty
more that really entertain and if I had to pick one of these it would be ‘Frost and Ice’. Out of the three books here I’d save this one
for last so you’re guaranteed a satisfactory conclusion to your read.
No comments:
Post a Comment