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The Martian Chronicles/The Illustrated Man/The Golden Apples Of The Sun (2010)

by Ray Bradbury(Favorite Author)

4.38 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1435129067 (ISBN13: 9781435129061)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Sterling Publishing

review 1: This is a really beautiful edition of some of Ray Bradbury's finest work.I had not read The Martian Chronicles since high school, and it was great to rediscover it in the context of greater knowledge of Bradbury's work, where one can see the ripples of his recurrent themes spreading throughout other books and stories. This book is a great way to introduce someone to the genius of Ray Bradbury, and it's also a great book for Bradbury afficionados to enjoy his work in a truly gorgeous volume and rediscover some of his greatest stories.
review 2: I'm going through and reading the whole book, which contains 3 stories by Bradbury. I've just finished "The Martian Chronicles" and figured I'd write a review on it now.When I started reading "The Martian Chronicles," I ... morewasn't really sure what to expect. I'd heard of the story, of course, but I wasn't really sure what it entailed. So, the beginning was rather confusing. But as it progressed, not only did I gain an understanding, but also an appreciation for the style in which it was written. By telling a number of smaller stories within a larger framework, you are able to switch between characters, places, and time very easily - since the common thread between them if very loose. In this way, the reader is able to get a better appreciation for the entire time, as opposed to just one story told during a time. I did like how Bradbury came back to a few of the characters that were mentioned early on, then continued with their lives. When I read the initial story, I didn't understand why we were being introduced to so many characters - but by the end it made a lot of sense. In a similar vein, I sort of wish some of the later stories were told by the Martians, since they were involved as well, especially at the beginning.My final thoughts, which were minor, was that it was interesting to read stories about the now-future and now-past from the standpoint of the actual past (1951). In some ways, the mentality was old-fashion - memory tapes, film reels, etc. were still in use in the future. More annoyingly, there was some rather overt sexism during one story (Of course! I woman would go to a beauty salon!). On the other hand, the majority of the stories employed some /very/ creative imagination and direction, which I really enjoyed. In some ways, it reminded me of plots seen in Star Trek or Farscape. Martian Chronicles: 4 stars. Now I've finished reading "The Illustrated Man." While I found a lot of the themes /very/ similar to "Martian Chronicles", I very much enjoyed the short stories. Unlike MC, which had a very thin plot running throughout it, these were short stories just for the sake of short stories - not even really connected to one another. Although, many of them were futuristic or on Mars. The one obvious point was that many of the stories ended...well...badly for the main characters. In fact, there were only a 2 or 3 that weren't completely depressing. Some were beautiful, though (The Rocket) and others were strange and bit jarring (The Exiles). Then others had really interesting imagery about other worlds (The Long Rain), as long as you ignore that it's really about Venus, or thought experiments (Kaleidoscope). There were definitely some similarities between the stories, for example that a lot of them were on Mars or that the names were even very like each other. But the stories were not identical or, for the most part, predictable -- and that was very refreshing.Overall, very entertaining, although not good to read before bed.The Illustrated Man: 5 stars less

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