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The Martian Chronicles

Ray Bradbury

4.13 · Rating details · 181,990 ratings · 6,379 reviews

The strange and wonderful tale of man’s experiences on Mars, filled with intense images and astonishing visions. Now part of the Voyager Classics collection.

The Martian Chronicles tells the story of humanity’s repeated attempts to colonize the red planet. The first men were few. Most succumbed to a disease they called the Great Loneliness when they saw their home planet dw ...more

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Paperback, Grand Master Edition, 182 pages

Published June 1st 1984 by Bantam/Spectra (first published 1950)

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Oct 18, 2012 mark monday rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi-classic, rain-man-reviews

RIDDLE ME A MARTIAN RIDDLE

۞

A Riddle: What walks on two legs, uses two arms, talks like a human, acts like a human, kills humans, replaces humans, wants to be accepted and loved by a human?

Answer: A Martian!

۞

A Riddle: What walks on two legs, uses two arms, talks like a human, acts like an animal except that's unfair to animals, kills others of its kind, wages war on its own kind, and destroys its own planet?

Answer: A Human!

۞

A Riddle: What is built like a succession of linked stories, feels at tim ...more

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Jul 18, 2015 Sean Barrs the Bookdragon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, folio-society-edition, short-stories, 4-star-reads, reviewed-for-fantasy-book-review

"We earth men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things."

This brilliant collection of science fiction short stories combines elements of humour and tragedy to show us how much man must learn, as such a very dim view of human society is evoked in these pages. Before he enters the world of the Martian, he has a lot of developing to do.

Bradbury suggests that Martian culture has transcended its human counterpart; the Martians have accepted an almost animalistic ethos in which they live fo "We earth men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things."

This brilliant collection of science fiction short stories combines elements of humour and tragedy to show us how much man must learn, as such a very dim view of human society is evoked in these pages. Before he enters the world of the Martian, he has a lot of developing to do.

Bradbury suggests that Martian culture has transcended its human counterpart; the Martians have accepted an almost animalistic ethos in which they live for the simple sake of existence. They do not question religion or science; they blend the two together in a display of cultural harmony. However, the brutish man is too limited to do this and as a result has lost all sense of himself. The image of the Martian way of life is captured in the serene beauty of their cities, which is juxtaposed against the humans incessant trespassing on foreign soil. He is the invader, the unwelcome guest.

For centuries man has dreamed about going to Mars. He has finally achieved this monumental feat, and when he arrived, he expected to be greeted as a hero: he expected to be greeted with open arms by the Martians. But, alas, the Martians have a very different opinion to the aliens that invaded their planet. They have a funny and very realistic response to the intruders. They raise their laser pistols and get ready to fire. The humans could not comprehend that perhaps the aliens may be different to themselves; they didn’t consider that their so-called expeditions could be received so negatively.

"It is good to renew one's wonder, said the philosopher. Space travel has again made children of us all."

Indeed, the children (man) did not stop to think about what he was doing: he simply rushed in and expected the best. He ignorantly presumed that he wouldn’t be received as a threat and an invader that needed to be fought off. Time and time again man repeats his mistakes, and, for me, this formed the main motif of this collection of short stories. Humanity never learns. The repeated expeditions into the unknown only ended in disaster, first for the humans and then eventually for the Martian people.

In these stories Bradbury questions human existence and the futility of its explorations. They each carry a powerful moral message. By drawing the parallel between human and Martian culture, Bradbury captures how flawed human aspirations are. Humans will never be fulfilled and complete. They are harboured by a perpetual longing to have more than what they need. The continuous visits to Mars symbolise this. Earth is not enough for man, he wants Mars too in his folly. Bradbury’s stories suggest that he needs to take a step back before he ruins something beautiful.

This is a great collection of science fiction stories that, together, speak louder than they do alone. Whilst each is individual, they are, of course, meant to be read as a collection. This provides a comment of the nature of man, and a highly entertaining reading experience. These are some of Ray Bradbury’s finest short stories, don’t miss them! ...more

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May 02, 2010 Nataliya rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, my-childhood-bookshelves, excellent-reads, location-is-the-true-protagonist, books-from-childhood-revisited

"We earth men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things."

The Martian Chronicles, a perfect example of what I'd call a 'quintessential Bradbury' - fragmentary, at times disjointed, occasionally crossing the line into the realm of surreal, full of his trademark nostalgia and sadness, this account of the failed American Dream approach to the exploration of the ultimate frontier never stops fascinating me and drawing me in with its inexplicable charm.

(Side note: as a person of Russian descent "We earth men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things."

The Martian Chronicles, a perfect example of what I'd call a 'quintessential Bradbury' - fragmentary, at times disjointed, occasionally crossing the line into the realm of surreal, full of his trademark nostalgia and sadness, this account of the failed American Dream approach to the exploration of the ultimate frontier never stops fascinating me and drawing me in with its inexplicable charm.

(Side note: as a person of Russian descent, I reserve the right to run-on long-winded sentences in the best tradition of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky of which my literature-teacher mother clearly approves).

It is such a multifaceted tale! It is a condemnation of the dear to the human heart way of 'exploration' and colonization - that is, coming to a place new to us and attempting to turn it into a carbon copy of 'home', of the place where we come from, of the place that gives us comfort - and all else be damned. It is an ode to the beauty of the strange and un-understood alienness. It is a criticism of the American Dream which was written in the heyday of this 'Dream'. It is a thinly veiled cautionary tale about the perils of science when misapplied. It is all of the above and none of the above, with everything masterfully interwoven to create a unique unforgettable reading experience.

'Who wants to see the Future, who ever does? A man can face the Past, but to think - the pillars crumbled, you say? And the sea empty, and the canals dry, and the maidens dead, and the flowers withered?' The Martian was silent, but then he looked ahead. 'But there they are. I see them. Isn't that enough for me? They wait for me now, no matter what you say.'

The story, for those who somehow are not familiar with it, is simple. In the far future of 1999, rocket ships from Earth start coming to Mars. The Martians - the enigmatic, serene, telepathic race - sense the disturbances. Eventually they die off, and the colonization in the American Dream style begins, until the nuclear war on Earth interferes. But the narrative is not quite this linear. It is made of separate, rather stand-alone short stories that often read as interludes, some straightforward, some surreal, but all of them quite haunting, memorable, and thought-provoking.

Bradbury is (was, actually - I still can't believe he's dead) a master of writing peaceful, nostalgic sadness that feels upliftingly purifying. His writing is poetic and lyrical, often dreamlike, with almost a musical quality to it. He often straddles the line between cautionary and moralistic, but mostly succeeds at not crossing over to the unpleasantly preachy side. He is exceptionally good at writing amazing short fiction - since this is what this book essentially is, a collection of interlinked short stories. He manages to create a memorable, beautifully flowing, sophisticated story without a steadily progressing plot, without a main or even a major character, without even a consistent setting.

"Night are night for every year and every year, for no reason at all, the woman comes out and looks at the sky, her hands up, for a long moment, looking at the green burning of Earth, not knowing why she looks, and then she goes back and throws a stick on the fire, and the wind comes up and the dead sea goes on being dead."

=================================
Now, as an aside, I heard this book described as 'not really a science fiction book but a speculative fiction book' quite a few times, almost apologetically, as though science fiction is something to be ashamed of. I understand that this book is essentially a crossover phenomenon which appeals to sci-fi fans and 'general public' alike, and describing it as something else besides sci-fi can help generate a wider audience and a broader appeal.

But hey, I realized that I don't want to be the person falling into this trap - the trap of dismissing sci-fi as something that is not literary enough, something of interior quality, something to be apologetic about. Bradbury, Le Guin, Miéville, Lem (insert your own favorite acclaimed sci-fi author here) are NOT great writers that...ahem...just happen to write sci-fi but maybe not quite really. They are excellent sci-fi writers, and that's how I recommend their books, even at the threat of losing potential audience. After all, Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles was not only one of the first books that I checked out of the 'adult' library, but also the book which cemented my love for science fiction, first fueled by Poul Anderson's Call Me Joe.

The Martian Chronicles is an excellent book, the one that I will continue to re-read every few years or so. It deserves ALL the stars.

"The Martians stared back up at them for a long, long silent time from the rippling water."

...more

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Aug 10, 2017 Matthew rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017, audio, classic, library, sci-fi, magical-realism, post-apocalyptic-dystopian, favorites

The Martian Chronicles is a book I have heard about for years, but ended up passing it by in lieu of other Ray Bradbury classics (do you need to qualify them by saying “classic”? I think that goes without saying). I have now finally read it and it is amazing. I continue to be impressed with Bradbury’s writing style – and his style is very well defined. I am pretty sure he is so integrated into how and what he writes, I could probably guess that a book is written by Bradbury after just a few para ...more

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Aug 21, 2014 Fabian rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

A magnificent experience in which we discover that the inhabitants of the fourth planet in the Milky Way are identical in the trifles of the everyday as the resident in the 3rd planet. Then some collective idea pops out of nowhere--a fine symbol of apocalypse and annihilation--& scares the living shit outta everyone.

I know I haven't read much sci-fi in the past, but I know that to top this one will be VERY tough.

"Martian Chronicles" surpasses, in some ways, that which Bradbury tried, and adm ...more

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Nov 02, 2011 Lyn rated it really liked it

Poetic science fiction.

Being set in the future and involving space travel, Mars and futuristic technology makes this fit into the science fiction genre, but Bradbury is a writer of literature. This is beautiful writing and Bradbury is an artist with a mastery of the language.

Mars could be another dimension, or fairy land, it does not really matter, Bradbury has concocted an alternate reality to explore psychological ethos. If Heinlein is the science fiction ideologist / sociologist, and Clarke ...more

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Feb 12, 2019 Coos Burton rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: antologias, clasicos, favorites, ciencia-ficcion

Sin palabras, una grandiosa antología que nos lleva a Marte en un grandioso y hasta ruinoso viaje en cohete con forma de libro. Bradbury es uno de mis autores predilectos, y no haber leído este clásico me atormentaba un poco. Por fortuna, tuve el empuje a través de mi grupo "Lectores de la Cripta" para iniciarlo y la emoción ganó por goleada. Este libro queda entre mis favoritos. La prosa de Bradbury es sencillamente única, me vinculó de una manera intensa hacia un género que no suelo frecuentar ...more

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Mar 11, 2015 Fernando rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

"Nosotros, los habitantes de la Tierra, tenemos un talento especial para arruinar las cosas grandes y hermosas."

Corría el año 1947 y un joven de 27 años llamado Ray Bradbury tenía en su cabeza una mezcla efervescente de ideas, que fue acumulando en cuentos, bocetos de novelas y muchas cosas más; pero aún no era no era conocido en el ambiente literario.
Había escrito varios cuentos que entrelazaban sus historias con el planeta Marte, y quiso el azar que se cruzara con uno de los más importantes e ...more

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Jun 15, 2018 Justin rated it it was amazing

Ray Bradbury has suddenly secured his spot at the top of my list of favorite authors. He’s the LeBron of writing. The G.O.A.T.

And Scott Brick has suddenly secured his spot at the top of my list of favorite audiobook narrators. He is the Tom Brady of narrating. Also, G.O.A.T.

So what happens when you mix the two together? Something magical. There isn’t even a word or an amazingly alliterative animalistic acronym to describe what happens. But, man, if you want to take your Bradbury experience to t ...more

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Mar 18, 2019 Henry Avila rated it really liked it · review of another edition

There once were a people whose children played in the sunshine, on a magnificent place, they laughed and sang....then the first rocket ship came...They laughed not as much some even cried now, but always resumed their merriment , still another rocket ship landed soon after, the children became uneasy... then the third rocket appeared the children went silent... a fourth ship followed and found no more people. So these brilliant beings vanished with the wind into the blue mountains some said, or There once were a people whose children played in the sunshine, on a magnificent place, they laughed and sang....then the first rocket ship came...They laughed not as much some even cried now, but always resumed their merriment , still another rocket ship landed soon after, the children became uneasy... then the third rocket appeared the children went silent... a fourth ship followed and found no more people. So these brilliant beings vanished with the wind into the blue mountains some said, or in the bright raw deserts, maybe the long lonely canals they hide, floating on boats through the endless violet waterways crisscrossing the planet. The strangers began building their own cities, destroying the dead ones , the ancient structures collapsing to the ground, dusty things to be seen by the invaders, but wistfully beautiful, however any new civilization brought to this world can never escape the old hates, war troubles on Earth. The ghosts of the natives are never forgotten though, all the spoilers feel the haunting presence of them, and deep in their hearts the conquerors, tens of millions of miles away from home, believe this... they do not belong here, looking up at the unreal twin moons drifting by . Nonetheless this is paradise, free for the taking a fortune can be made and so many hundreds of thousands arrive, the air is thin yet the harvest is good for those brave enough to come. The wicked numerous for certain, indeed, establish quickly, the know how long learned just like on the former Blue Planet,
works everywhere, prosperity commences ... Ray Bradbury's classic... elegantly sad tales of life on Mars, his predictions haven't been accurate, we've yet to land on the Red Planet but someday this will occur for better or worse , that is for historians to write about, for me the poetic, melancholic, quite nostalgic narrative is more important, the author was a master in his unearthly prose; capturing also the essence of our own third planet or hopefully this will not be true, time the final judge. ...more

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Dec 04, 2015 Adina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy-sf, classics, short, favorites, us

I enjoyed this short story collection a lot more than the famous, Fahrenheit 451. I believe Ray Bradbury has an exceptional talent writing short stories. I am not a fan of short stories in general, however, I was totally absorbed and fascinated by this book.

I was expecting the stories to be something different than what i read, something more Science Fiction. Yes, it does have a bit of space travel, some alien encounters, some "hi-tech"technologies but they are totally not the point of these st I enjoyed this short story collection a lot more than the famous, Fahrenheit 451. I believe Ray Bradbury has an exceptional talent writing short stories. I am not a fan of short stories in general, however, I was totally absorbed and fascinated by this book.

I was expecting the stories to be something different than what i read, something more Science Fiction. Yes, it does have a bit of space travel, some alien encounters, some "hi-tech"technologies but they are totally not the point of these stories. I guess the main idea I got can be summarized by the following quote:

“We earth men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things.”

The martian Chronicles are stories about destruction, in many forms caused by what humanity has worse: war, censorship, ignorance, disrespect for other cultures, greed, fear etc.

The stories are beautiful, fascinating but very disturbing and scary in the same time. It made me meditate on the future of humanity and for long we will be able to survive as a race, doing what we are doing. Will we be condemned to destruction?

I leave you with some quotes below:

“There was a smell of Time in the air tonight. He smiled and turned the fancy in his mind. There was a thought. What did time smell like? Like dust and clocks and people. And if you wondered what Time sounded like it sounded like water running in a dark cave and voices crying and dirt dropping down upon hollow box lids, and rain. And, going further, what did Time look like? Time look like snow dropping silently into a black room or it looked like a silent film in an ancient theater, 100 billion faces falling like those New Year balloons, down and down into nothing. That was how Time smelled and looked and sounded. And tonight-Tomas shoved a hand into the wind outside the truck-tonight you could almost taste time.”

“I'm not anyone, I'm just myself; whatever I am, I am something, and now I'm something you can't help.”

“They began by controlling books of cartoons and then detective books and, of course, films, one way or another, one group or another, political bias, religious prejudice, union pressure; there was always a minority afraid of something, and a great majority afraid of the dark, afraid of the future, afraid of the past, afraid of the present, afraid of themselves and shadows of themselves.”

“Ignorance is fatal.” ...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Megan Baxter rated it it was amazing

Wow. Just...wow. Why have I never read this before? Ray Bradbury has written an amazing, lyrical, spooky-as-hell set of pieces that all add up to something much more. Some are very brief, mere sketches of events. Others are full-length short stories.

Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the recent changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.

In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook

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Aug 26, 2012 David Schaafsma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

“We earth men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things.”

The Martian Chronicles tells the story of humanity’s repeated attempts to colonize the red planet.I listened to this book, and my version features an introduction by Bradbury, wherein. we hear that Bradbury met Aldous Huxley, who read this book and insisted Bradbury was a poet. That makes sense to me, especially if you consider passages such as this:

“There was a smell of Time in the air tonight. He smiled and turned the fancy in his “We earth men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things.”

The Martian Chronicles tells the story of humanity’s repeated attempts to colonize the red planet.I listened to this book, and my version features an introduction by Bradbury, wherein. we hear that Bradbury met Aldous Huxley, who read this book and insisted Bradbury was a poet. That makes sense to me, especially if you consider passages such as this:

“There was a smell of Time in the air tonight. He smiled and turned the fancy in his mind. There was a thought. What did time smell like? Like dust and clocks and people. And if you wondered what Time sounded like it sounded like water running in a dark cave and voices crying and dirt dropping down upon hollow box lids, and rain. And, going further, what did Time look like? Time look like snow dropping silently into a black room or it looked like a silent film in an ancient theater, 100 billion faces falling like those New Year balloons, down and down into nothing. That was how Time smelled and looked and sounded. And tonight-Tomas shoved a hand into the wind outside the truck-tonight you could almost taste time.”

This book is less conventional novel than a series of lyrical vignettes stitched together to give us a sense of why a variety of Earth people might have come to Mars. The need to escape endless war, racism, environmental destruction. To Go Back to the Garden and begin again.

The thing is, we are who we are, to a certain extent. Can we ever change? I was in therapy once and the guy asked me (the unhappy one): So move to Santa Fe, what would be different for you, how could you be happy there? I saw his point. Over time, in a new place, in a new relationship, I would probably be the same old me, unless I worked very hard to be different. I have changed, thankfully, in some ways. But can human beings as a species do that? Can we eschew capitalism and rapacious materialism and embrace the arts and care about each other and save the planet? It really looks doubtful.

This book is shelved as science fiction, because Mars and space travel, I guess, but calling it speculative fiction would be closer to it. As in his autobiographical book Dandelion Wine, there is a streak of nostalgic despair in Bradbury, a hankering to go back to the days of his Waukegan, Illinois boyhood. He understands the hopefulness in some of his characters’ desires to go back to the times when some people seemed to appreciate the arts, when machines were feared more than revered. One can see how this 1950 book was embraced by the late sixties counter-culture movements.

“Rocket summer. The words passed among the people in the open, airing houses. Rocket summer. The warm desert air changing the frost patterns on the windows, erasing the art work. The skis and sleds suddenly useless. The snow, falling from the cold sky upon the town, turned to a hot rain before it touched the ground. Rocket summer. People leaned from their dripping porches and watched the reddening sky.”

“They knew how to live with nature and get along with nature. They didn't try too hard to be all men and no animal.”

Bradbury says this book was written after reading Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, and was initially a kind of attempt to recast that small town feel on Mars. And it’s there, in the focus on every day characters, in the sad nostalgia and sense of loss.

But what actually happens, in Bradbury’s move to Mars?

“The rockets came like locusts, swarming and settling in blooms of rosy smoke. And from the rockets ran men with hammers in their hands to beat the strange world into a shape that was familiar to the eye, to bludgeon away all the strangeness, their mouths fringed with nails so they resembled steel-toothed carnivores, spitting them into their swift hands as they hammered up frame cottages and scuttled over roofs with shingles to blot out the eerie stars, and fit green shades to pull against the night.”

There’s a kind of admiration of Mankind in this passage, a kind of hopefulness in man’s determination, but there’s also a kind of dystopian despair. Rather than making a New World in the way of communes and cooperation, there’s a sense in which we would destroy Mars in the same way we destroyed Earth. When I first read this fifty years ago I thought this book was sweet, fanciful, both a romantic call to Tune In and Drop Out of conventional society and a dark warning of the Apocalypse. But today it reads to me like a sad elegy. ...more

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Aug 29, 2011 Apatt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, sf-top-20, top-20, favorites

Since Ray Bradbury passed away (about a month ago at the time of writing) it occurred to me to reread his books that I have read before, and read the others that I have missed. After rereading Something Wicked This Way Comes last month I thought I'd read Fahrenheit 451 but as it turned out The Reddit SF Book Club chose The Martian Chronicles as book of the month (July 2012) so in order to keep up with the Joneses here we are! How about that for a useless intro?

This book is a fix-up novel which i ...more

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Jul 20, 2014 Ted rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, lit-american, sci-fi, have, reviews-most-liked

4 1/2
If you want to read a great review of The Martian Chronicles, skip this one and go directly to mark monday’s. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

If you’re still here, I will try to keep you entertained for a while by talking about myself, about my reading (and not reading) Ray Bradbury and other SF, about Ray Bradbury himself and his writing, and even a little (near the end) about this book.

(view spoiler)

Me the SF fan

This summer I decid ...more

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Aug 30, 2017 Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: a-own-book-form, science-fiction, 5-star, read-in-2017, movie-havent-seen, classics, drama-gen-fiction, apocalyptic, classics-i-have-finally-conquered, dying-earth

4.5 stars

“I have something to fight for and live for; that makes me a better killer. I've got what amounts to a religion now. It's learning how to breathe all over again. And how to lie in the sun getting a tan, letting the sun work into you. And how to hear music and how to read a book. What does your civilization offer?”

I’m basically a noob when it comes to science fiction. Other than one Sci-fi book I dared (and enjoyed) a few years ago and a sampling of alien creature-features, I haven’t ex 4.5 stars

“I have something to fight for and live for; that makes me a better killer. I've got what amounts to a religion now. It's learning how to breathe all over again. And how to lie in the sun getting a tan, letting the sun work into you. And how to hear music and how to read a book. What does your civilization offer?”

I’m basically a noob when it comes to science fiction. Other than one Sci-fi book I dared (and enjoyed) a few years ago and a sampling of alien creature-features, I haven’t explored much inside this complex genre. Enter a book like this, a classic by an author who has given man several other timeless warnings.

At first I worried it’d be difficult to get into since it seemed too out there, too surreal, but it didn’t take long to grab my interest and shake off my annoyance that the visitors were being given such a hard time. It’s a pet peeve of mine when characters aren’t believed. All made sense soon enough, so have a small amount of patience and all will be rewarded.

When the final page is closed, what echoes and stands out is how beautifully unique this work is. It’s clever and much more layered than it starts. There is not only one central story or one central theme, but a showcase of journeys and stories throughout different ages. As time passes, more worsens and less progresses. Clearly it should be the other way around, but Bradbury’s heart seemed to be in dystopian and twisted futuristic fiction that shows man ruins societies and worlds he tries to improve.

Pacing is no struggle at all once the beginning has eroded away. Each small story that shows a different view and time piece flies by, all leaving an impression without boring me. Sometimes I had to pause between pieces to mentally fathom the emotional jabbing. There is no one larger-than-life lesson or story here, for the pieces are too varied and artistic to come together where it would only fit into one mere puzzle.

I think what impressed me most is how the surreal feel and epic imagery with the talented writing made me picture certain scenes so clearly. The slow movements of the faces and the turning heads with the wine pouring over the lips was downright creepy. The tragic face-changing finale of a particular tragic figure wanting to fit in and be loved is not forgettable. The haunting ending with the reflections – all shiver inducing stuff.

‘The Martian Chronicles’ was such a strange beauty of a book. I shall not forget it. Varied and tragic, clever and haunting, it definitely deserves the classic stamp.

Oh, and how nifty was that mini tribute to Edgar Allen Poe in one of the timelines? May the books never be burned.

“All down the way the pursued and the pursuing, the dream and the dreamers, the quarry and the hounds. All down the way the sudden revealment, the flash of familiar eyes, the cry of an old, old name. Everyone leaping forward as, like an image reflected from ten thousand mirrors, ten thousand eyes, the running dream came and went, a different face to those ahead, those behind, those yet to be met, those unseen... And here they all are now, at the boat, wanting the dream for their own.” ...more

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Feb 16, 2016 Char rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book, dark-fiction, science-fiction, 40s, 50s-sci-fi, classics-read, post-apocalyptic, psychological-horror, short-stories-read, short-story-coll-anthologies-read

The Martian Chronicles is an amazing collection of interconnected stories about Mars. Human missions to Mars, religious missions to Mars, nervous breakdowns on Mars, etc... Even though some of the tales are outdated by today's views, the underlying values and messages remain the same; they are timeless.

Some of the stories have been released previously, and some have been changed over the years. I discovered, thanks to Wiki, that one tale having to do with race relations, was not included in this ...more

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Jan 18, 2017 José rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Todo el mundo

Shelves: clásicos, sci-fi, favoritos

Podés encontrar esta y otras reseñas en mi blog.

Este año me propuse comenzar a leer a Ray Bradbury, un autor que tenía pendiente desde hace un montón de tiempo. Por suerte me encontré con un autor maravilloso y por fin pude ver por qué sus obras son consideradas grandes "clásicos modernos".

Crónicas Marcianas es, junto a Fahrenheit 451, el libro más conocido de Bradbury. Se trata de un libro que no sigue una estructura narrativa convencional, sino que está compuesto por varios relatos (o crón Podés encontrar esta y otras reseñas en mi blog.

Este año me propuse comenzar a leer a Ray Bradbury, un autor que tenía pendiente desde hace un montón de tiempo. Por suerte me encontré con un autor maravilloso y por fin pude ver por qué sus obras son consideradas grandes "clásicos modernos".

Crónicas Marcianas es, junto a Fahrenheit 451, el libro más conocido de Bradbury. Se trata de un libro que no sigue una estructura narrativa convencional, sino que está compuesto por varios relatos (o crónicas) que transcurren entre 1999 y 2026, y nos cuentan cómo los terrícolas llegan a Marte, los primeros contactos con los habitantes del planeta rojo y nos describen cómo era la vida en dicho planeta antes y después de la llegada de los seres humanos.

A pesar de ser una serie de crónicas independientes, siempre hay alguna pequeña referencia a eventos narrados anteriormente y se mantiene cierto hilo conductor a lo largo de todo el libro.

Lo que más disfruté de este libro fue lo variados que son las diferentes crónicas. Si bien todas giran en torno al mismo tema (cómo reaccionan los seres humanos ante lo desconocido y lo propensos que somos a la violencia), la forma en la que Bradbury lo trata es brillante: vas a encontrar relatos con cierto toque humorístico, otros bastantes macabros, relatos verdaderamente hermosos que son más que nada descripciones de Marte, crónicas en las que abunda la ironía y también otras que son bastante trágicas.

La prosa de Bradbury me pareció fenomenal. A pesar de haber leído Fahrenheit 451 (que también me gustó mucho), creo que Crónicas Marcianas está mucho mejor escrito y refleja verdaderamente las capacidades narrativas de este gran autor. Es por esta razón que recomiendo que lo lean en el idioma original, si tienen la oportunidad.

A pesar de tratarse de una novela que se ubica dentro del género de la ciencia ficción, considero que es un libro que tiene más de ficción que de ciencia. No te vas a encontrar con largas descripciones científicas acerca de los dispositivos tecnológicos y tampoco vas a encontrar alienígenas cabezones y de ojos enormes (de hecho, los marcianos que aparecen en este libro no son muy diferentes a los seres humanos), sino que la mayoría de los relatos exploran diferentes aspectos de la conducta humana ante lo desconocido y cómo siempre terminamos tomando el camino de la violencia.

Otra cosa que me fascinó de este libro fue encontrar varios relatos que homenajean a diferentes autores. El caso más notorio es una crónica titulada «Usher II» que es un enorme homenaje a las obras más emblemáticas de Edgar Allan Poe, fue mi relato favorito. También pude apreciar referencias a las obras de Asimov y Lord Byron, e incluso «Usher II» está directamente relacionado con Fahrenheit 451.

Te preguntarás qué tienen que ver Poe y Lord Byron con Marte, pero la forma en la que Bradbury se las ingenia para homenajear a estos grandes autores es brillante y no resulta disparatada en ningún momento; mientras leía «Usher II» no pude dejar de sonreír debido a la enorme cantidad de referencias ingeniosas que hay desde el principio del relato hasta la última frase. A pesar de que el resto de las referencias son más difíciles de apreciar (e incluso seguramente haya pasado unas cuantas por alto), me encanta ver cómo un autor rinde homenaje a sus ídolos o fuentes de inspiración, en especial cuando lo hace de una forma tan original y entretenida.

Calificación 10+:
Crónicas Marcianas es un libro brillante y se convirtió en uno de mis favoritos. A pesar de ser una novela de ciencia ficción, no se parece en nada a otras novelas del género; es más que nada una historia acerca de la naturaleza humana y cómo siempre terminamos optando por la destrucción y el enfrentamiento en vez de intentar trabajar juntos. Es por eso que la recomiendo incluso si no te gusta la ciencia ficción, pues no es tan "densa" como otras novelas del género.
La prosa de Bradbury es impresionante y la variedad de estilos de las diferentes crónicas hacen de este libro una lectura sumamente entretenida y amena. Encontrarás referencias a grandes autores, humor, ironía e incluso algunos relatos macabros.

Ya no me quedan más palabras para expresar lo genial que es este libro. ¡LÉANLO! ...more

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Dec 29, 2006 Elizabeth rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I vividly remember reading this book. I was in 8th grade and I read it in Mrs. Zimmerman's class. She was this bizarre ageless woman who wore her jet-black hair in a crusty bee-hive and had gobs of pastel green eye shadow on her eyelids. She also had a rusty voice-like an ex-smoker, and spoke really slowly. She could have been a character in Martian Chronicles. I still kind of wonder if she was human.

Anyway, I read this book over and over. There was something so pristine about the world that Br ...more

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Jan 19, 2018 George rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi

How wonderful, strange and poetic this book was.

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Jun 26, 2015 Susan Budd rated it it was amazing

Shelves: english-literature-usa, favorites

The Martian Chronicles is a book in a class all by itself. It is a work of visionary science fiction, a Winesbergian short story cycle, and a mythopoeic masterpiece. Ray Bradbury has created and peopled a Martian landscape that neither NASA nor the most brilliant science fiction writers of the future will ever supplant. Mars, to me, will always be Bradbury’s Mars.

This unique book is a collection of short stories connected by a series of vignettes which link the stories, advance the plot, and se ...more

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Mar 05, 2018 Gabrielle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, sci-fi, short-stories, own-a-copy, used-bookstore-finds, read-in-2018, speculative-fiction, mandatory-reading, ouch-my-feels, reviewed

4 and a half stars.

My husband ruined reading Ray Bradbury for me when he showed me this video : www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IxOS4VzKM . Now I can’t pick up any of his books without that ditty getting stuck in my head, and if you click the (not really safe for work) link, the same thing will happen to you. You’re welcome.

I found “The Martian Chronicles”, “The Illustrated Man” and “October Country” at my favorite used bookstore, all the same edition, all in perfect condition. When that happens I oft 4 and a half stars.

My husband ruined reading Ray Bradbury for me when he showed me this video : www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IxOS4VzKM . Now I can’t pick up any of his books without that ditty getting stuck in my head, and if you click the (not really safe for work) link, the same thing will happen to you. You’re welcome.

I found “The Martian Chronicles”, “The Illustrated Man” and “October Country” at my favorite used bookstore, all the same edition, all in perfect condition. When that happens I often wonder who had the heart to sell these books off… while simultaneously being very grateful because I now have them on my shelf. It’s a complicated feeling.

Having only read "Fahrenheit 451" (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), I wasn’t really sure what Bradbury’s other work would be like, but I had a feeling I’d like it because I have always enjoyed golden age sci-fi (I am a bit of a sucker for nostalgia), and the clean and evocative prose that Bradbury is often praised for.

This book is a collection of related vignettes chronicling the colonization of Mars by humans in the 21st century and it is poetic, nostalgic and heartbreaking. It is a very quietly thought-provoking book, even when there is what we normally think of as “action” taking place. It’s all about subtle things happening under the surface – in a very 1950’s way, I suppose. Thoughts about loneliness, grief, colonialism and faith are explored through the story of humanity’s settlement on the Red Planet. Would moving to a whole new planet fix the problems we have left behind on Earth? Or would we take the dark side of human nature along with us everywhere? Bradbury’s longing for a simpler, better time – that probably never existed outside of his prodigious imagination – is what these settlers are trying to capture by setting up shop away from the threat of the atom bomb, from racism, from environmental decay… From all those things that made life on Earth feel intolerable.

The wish for a better world is universal and timeless, so no matter how dated some elements of those stories can seem to a modern eye, their spirit still resonates very strongly. Sure, his Martians are a lot like Midwest Americans from the 50’s, but I don’t think that can be chalked up to a lack of imagination. Rather, I think it’s Bradbury’s way of saying that if there is life on other planets, why should we assume the beings there would be that different from us? Maybe we are much, much more alike than we can imagine…

Lyrical, sad, haunting and lovely. No other works of this genre that I have read so far feels quite the way this one does. A must-read for sci-fi fans and fans of good writing in general. ...more

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Jun 17, 2018 Timothy Urges rated it it was amazing

4.5

The Martian Chronicles is a connected collection of awe- and fear-inspired stories about Martian and human existence.

Wonder glazes the sky with sparks and lines of light, while dread permeates as an undercurrent.

There is a touch of racism in one story. Seriously, what’s up with all the watermelon references? But if you manage to ignore that and see it as a “product of its time,” then you will find a rather marvelous collection of short stories.

I’m still taking off half a point because, you ...more

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Jun 04, 2014 Duane rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2015-book-challenge, american-classics, rated-books, reviewed-books, short-stories, science-fiction

.

I've seen this referred to as a masterpiece of science fiction, but it's less about the science and more about the faults and failures of humanity, in this case Americans. He delivers a sharp slap to the face of American racial prejudice, aggressive colonization, wastefulness and disregard of the environment. I think Bradbury would be shocked to see the same conditions existing in the 21st century. He would also be shocked to see we haven't sent any humans to Mars yet.

This is a collection of sh ...more

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Nov 07, 2014 William rated it really liked it

I read this so very long ago, decades, almost into the Martian past, the past of the book.

It's part of me in ways I feel, but can see only in glimpses. Bradbury was my father in so many ways, along with Heinlein and Clarke and Asimov.

And my dreams are coloured by theirs.

Exquisite.

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Jun 08, 2012 Owlseyes rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Owlseyes by: well sians & buryans

Shelves: sci-fi, colonization, mars

UPDATE

This recent study published in Science*, gives some reason to the imagined Dead Sea of Mars, by Ray Bradbury.

(NASA scientists have determined that a primitive ocean on Mars held more water than Earth's Arctic Ocean and that the Red Planet has lost 87 percent of that water to space. NASA/GSFC)

Prologue

Back in the late nineties I was a member of The Planetary Society. I used to receive, at home, their magazine. I always took notice of that name: Ray Bradbury, among the long list of other fam ...more

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Jun 01, 2015 Carmine rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: indimenticabili, raccolte-di-racconti, fantascienza

Pronti per un nuovo pianeta da distruggere?

Fantascienza che diventa poesia; sci-fi che si tramuta, quasi impercettibilmente, in una sorta di fiaba dalla morale semplice e diretta.
Il genuino spirito della scoperta, l'amore per l'ignoto e il desiderio di sconfiggere la solitudine, motori trainanti della progressiva colonizzazione di Marte, lasciano posto all'insofferenza da parte di un'umanità sempre più in balia dei propri limiti, tristemente incapace di districarsi dalla scarsa lungimiranza.
Ma ...more

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Oct 16, 2017 Jonathan Ashleigh rated it it was amazing

Shelves: recent

I wish there were more books that told a story though many short stories the way this book does (or just more that I were privy to). I would have never thought that I would enjoy this book more than Bradbury’s most famous book, Fahrenheit 451. I guess that book is more widely read because it is focused for children and they apparently read more. Everyone should read The Martian Chronicles, not just those who like science fiction.

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Jan 07, 2010 Dirk Grobbelaar rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites, science-fiction, books-i-own

There's not a lot more to add to all the positive reviews already here. I too found this book thought provoking, provocative, profound. It's an inspiring piece of work; there is a reason why this is a classic.

Some people criticize the science. However, Mr. Bradbury himself admitted that this was more a work of Fantasy than Sci-Fi. Who am I to argue?

The book concerns the colonization of Mars and the implications on both Humans and, yes, Martians. At this stage in time, I suppose it reads more l ...more

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Mar 20, 2008 Werner rated it liked it

Recommends it for: Science fiction fans

Shelves: science-fiction, short-stories

Note, Nov. 2, 3017: I edited this just now to correct a minor typo.

Though the 16 stories that comprise this collection are fitted into a super-imposed chronological framework, and are joined by some short units of bridging material, they were originally composed as stand-alones, not part of any larger unity. Bradbury was primarily a writer of short fiction, the main medium for his characteristic supernatural and science fiction in the era when he started writing; this book simply collects most o Note, Nov. 2, 3017: I edited this just now to correct a minor typo.

Though the 16 stories that comprise this collection are fitted into a super-imposed chronological framework, and are joined by some short units of bridging material, they were originally composed as stand-alones, not part of any larger unity. Bradbury was primarily a writer of short fiction, the main medium for his characteristic supernatural and science fiction in the era when he started writing; this book simply collects most of the stories he composed in the 1940s set on, or related to, Mars. Several of them have totally conflicting or contradictory premises and features, and they vary wildly in tone and effect. (They're uneven in quality as well, as noted below.) But that said, there are certain recurrent themes that bind them. Bradbury envisioned Mars colonization as a kind of re-enactment of the settling of the American frontier, a new New World with the same pitfalls and the same potential promise. He also was haunted, as were most post-World War II SF writers working in the long shadow of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by the threat of nuclear war, and that concern is reflected in a number of the stories.

Some reviewers, both on and off of Goodreads, have faulted Bradbury for a drastic lack of scientific accuracy in his portrayal of Mars, which he pictures as much more hospitable to humanoid life than it actually is. (His ascription to his Martians of psi powers --the possibility of which, to say the least, is undemonstrated-- also doesn't please hard SF purists.) To a degree, those criticisms miss the point, however: Bradbury isn't trying to write scientifically accurate, hard SF, and failing at it; rather, he's writing from the standpoint of the genre's "soft" tradition (of which he was always an exponent, even in the days when the U.S. pulp SF ghetto was rigidly dominated by the hard school). He simply posited the kind of Mars he wanted for the kind of stories he wanted to tell, knowing full well that it was fictional and invented; if we take his "Mars" on those terms, the stories work as he intended.

Criticism has also been directed at these stories on the grounds of an alleged anti-American agenda. His space explorers/colonists are all Americans; they invade and occupy Mars, inadvertently bringing disease germs that virtually annihilate the native Martians, who are portrayed in "Ylla" as an aesthetic, artistic race. "Way in the Middle of the Air" is openly critical of white racism in the segregated U.S. South of the 1940s. And several of the stories posit a nuclear war on Earth, with the penultimate story, "There Will Come Soft Rains," graphically portraying the wanton total destruction of life and negation of human science and achievement that such a war would entail. These features, however, do not add up to or prove a root-and-branch essential hostility to America and its values. (Bradbury is actually a product of a small-town America that he often evokes with an affectionate nostalgia that's obviously genuine.) The parallel between the fate of Bradbury's Martians and our Indians is real and historically grounded; you can't re-tell American frontier history without facing it --and at least here, the Martians die only of unintentionally-borne disease; they aren't victims of deliberate genocide. (It could also be questioned whether the portrayal of Martian attitudes is intended as glowingly positive --Yll, as his wife recognizes, is a cold-blooded xenophobe and murderer.) But the promise of the frontier as a place of new beginnings, new possibilities and a second chance is also evoked here; one could view that as a positive take on the meaning of the American experience. Criticism of the treatment by some Americans of blacks (who are also Americans) isn't in itself anti-American; it echoes the sentiment of the song "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," where it says, "God mend thine every flaw." And to view nuclear war as immoral idiocy is not a position of disloyalty to America or American principles, unless we assume that mass genocide and mass suicide have always been intrinsic American ideals (they haven't). "Usher II" expresses a libertarian cultural attitude that's arguably quintessentially American; and "The Million-Year Picnic" brings a family of American nuclear war survivors to Mars as agents of a new beginning, where they finally have a chance "get it right."

There are certainly merited criticisms that can be made of several of these stories. The only one with any religious message, "Fire Balloons," is simply a wooden preaching of the "gospel" according to Gnosticism: "salvation" through evolving away from icky physicality. (The apostles Paul and John, judging from their letters, would have puked over it. :-)) The conclusion (not the climax) of "Mars Is Heaven!" is supposed to be dramatically effective, but doesn't make sense in the context. IMO, the poorest story in the group is "The Silent Towns," which showcases the sexism of Bradbury's generation at its worst; it has no message, except ridicule of overweight females and an attempt to generate "humor" at their expense.

Overall, though, I liked this collection; obviously, some stories are better than others, but I thought that most worked artistically. For me, Bradbury's style is a plus; it's lyrical and evocative, and full of appeals to all of the senses. My favorites in the group are "There Will Come Soft Rains" and "Way in the Middle of the Air," which I think are masterpieces. (Either would have been better selections for the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, IMO, than "Mars Is Heaven!"). ...more

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About Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury

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Ray Douglas Bradbury, American novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and poet, was born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. He graduated from a Los Angeles high school in 1938. Although his formal education ended there, he became a "student of life," selling newspapers on L.A. street corners from 1938 to 1942, spending his nights in the public library and his days at Ray Douglas Bradbury, American novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and poet, was born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. He graduated from a Los Angeles high school in 1938. Although his formal education ended there, he became a "student of life," selling newspapers on L.A. street corners from 1938 to 1942, spending his nights in the public library and his days at the typewriter. He became a full-time writer in 1943, and contributed numerous short stories to periodicals before publishing a collection of them, Dark Carnival, in 1947.

His reputation as a writer of courage and vision was established with the publication of The Martian Chronicles in 1950, which describes the first attempts of Earth people to conquer and colonize Mars, and the unintended consequences. Next came The Illustrated Man and then, in 1953, Fahrenheit 451, which many consider to be Bradbury's masterpiece, a scathing indictment of censorship set in a future world where the written word is forbidden. In an attempt to salvage their history and culture, a group of rebels memorize entire works of literature and philosophy as their books are burned by the totalitarian state. Other works include The October Country, Dandelion Wine, A Medicine for Melancholy, Something Wicked This Way Comes, I Sing the Body Electric!, Quicker Than the Eye, and Driving Blind. In all, Bradbury has published more than thirty books, close to 600 short stories, and numerous poems, essays, and plays. His short stories have appeared in more than 1,000 school curriculum "recommended reading" anthologies.

Ray Bradbury's work has been included in four Best American Short Story collections. He has been awarded the O. Henry Memorial Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America, the PEN Center USA West Lifetime Achievement Award, among others. In November 2000, the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters was conferred upon Mr. Bradbury at the 2000 National Book Awards Ceremony in New York City.

Ray Bradbury has never confined his vision to the purely literary. He has been nominated for an Academy Award (for his animated film Icarus Montgolfier Wright), and has won an Emmy Award (for his teleplay of The Halloween Tree). He adapted sixty-five of his stories for television's Ray Bradbury Theater. He was the creative consultant on the United States Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair. In 1982 he created the interior metaphors for the Spaceship Earth display at Epcot Center, Disney World, and later contributed to the conception of the Orbitron space ride at Euro-Disney, France.

Married since 1947, Mr. Bradbury and his wife Maggie lived in Los Angeles with their numerous cats. Together, they raised four daughters and had eight grandchildren. Sadly, Maggie passed away in November of 2003.

On the occasion of his 80th birthday in August 2000, Bradbury said, "The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me. The feeling I have every day is very much the same as it was when I was twelve. In any event, here I am, eighty years old, feeling no different, full of a great sense of joy, and glad for the long life that has been allowed me. I have good plans for the next ten or twenty years, and I hope you'll come along." ...more