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Driving Blind
The incomparable Ray Bradbury is in the driver's seat, off on twenty-one unforgettable excursions through fantasy, time and memory, and there are surprises waiting around every curve and behind each mile marker. The journey promises to be a memorable one.
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1997
65 people are currently reading
1528 people want to read
About the author
Ray Bradbury
2,561 books25.1k followersRay Douglas Bradbury was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and realistic fiction.
Bradbury is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). Other notable works include the coming of age novel Dandelion Wine (1957), the dark fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. Bradbury also wrote poetry which has been published in several collections, such as They Have Not Seen the Stars (2001).
The New York Times called Bradbury "An author whose fanciful imagination, poetic prose, and mature understanding of human character have won him an international reputation" and "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream".
Bradbury is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). Other notable works include the coming of age novel Dandelion Wine (1957), the dark fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. Bradbury also wrote poetry which has been published in several collections, such as They Have Not Seen the Stars (2001).
The New York Times called Bradbury "An author whose fanciful imagination, poetic prose, and mature understanding of human character have won him an international reputation" and "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 129 reviews
May 5, 2018
Way back in 2013, Amazon put almost all of Bradbury's books on sale for the Kindle and, thinking I was a Bradbury fan, I snapped them all up. Considering how many anthologies Bradbury's put out over the decades, that's a LOT of books. I've been slowly working my way through the backlog over the last 5 years. This marks the end of the anthologies from that backlog.
Honestly, knowing that I'm all done is a huge relief.
When I first bought all of these anthologies, I WAS a Bradbury fan. I'd loved almost everything by him I'd read til that point. And starting out reading this backlog, I was still a fan.
However, the more of the backlog I read, the less I liked them. I think there's a couple of factors in this.
Bradbury does tend to be repetitive in his themes. But for the last handful of anthologies, I've been taking year-long breaks between his books to try to counteract that repetitiveness. Even this anthology, I spread out over the course of about two months so I wouldn't read more than a story or two a week. Unfortunately, that didn't help as much as I'd hoped.
But also, I really feel that these later anthologies of his genuinely aren't as good as the ones he published back in the '50s and '60s. Generally speaking, if a story sits around unpublished and uncollected for 5 decades, there's probably a reason an editor never bought it.
Some of these stories feel like Bradbury thought of something that irritated him, then rushed to his typewriter and pounded out a quick rant in story form, patted himself on the back for writing something every day, then filed it away in a drawer and forgot about it.
Unfortunately, I looked at all my reviews to see if I could find support for my "Later=worse" impression and noticed that I read his more famous anthologies first and worked my way through to the more obscure ones. But, since his famous ones were mostly written near the start of his career, and the obscurer ones towards the end, that means that I ended up reading them in something resembling chronological order. Therefore, my declining lack of interest in Bradbury could be due to either reason I've mentioned or a combination of both.
I've still got his three mystery novels left, which I'm not too enthusiastic about reading, to tell the truth. I'm highly tempted to just sample a couple of chapters and call it quits. Then, I've also got the massive "Best of" anthology, which I'm probably going to hang on to for several more years before even attempting to read it.
Honestly, knowing that I'm all done is a huge relief.
When I first bought all of these anthologies, I WAS a Bradbury fan. I'd loved almost everything by him I'd read til that point. And starting out reading this backlog, I was still a fan.
However, the more of the backlog I read, the less I liked them. I think there's a couple of factors in this.
Bradbury does tend to be repetitive in his themes. But for the last handful of anthologies, I've been taking year-long breaks between his books to try to counteract that repetitiveness. Even this anthology, I spread out over the course of about two months so I wouldn't read more than a story or two a week. Unfortunately, that didn't help as much as I'd hoped.
But also, I really feel that these later anthologies of his genuinely aren't as good as the ones he published back in the '50s and '60s. Generally speaking, if a story sits around unpublished and uncollected for 5 decades, there's probably a reason an editor never bought it.
Some of these stories feel like Bradbury thought of something that irritated him, then rushed to his typewriter and pounded out a quick rant in story form, patted himself on the back for writing something every day, then filed it away in a drawer and forgot about it.
Unfortunately, I looked at all my reviews to see if I could find support for my "Later=worse" impression and noticed that I read his more famous anthologies first and worked my way through to the more obscure ones. But, since his famous ones were mostly written near the start of his career, and the obscurer ones towards the end, that means that I ended up reading them in something resembling chronological order. Therefore, my declining lack of interest in Bradbury could be due to either reason I've mentioned or a combination of both.
I've still got his three mystery novels left, which I'm not too enthusiastic about reading, to tell the truth. I'm highly tempted to just sample a couple of chapters and call it quits. Then, I've also got the massive "Best of" anthology, which I'm probably going to hang on to for several more years before even attempting to read it.
September 29, 2019
Обичам Бредбъри. Първо, заради магическия начин по който пише, заради уникалния му разказвачески талант, който те кара не само ясно да видиш историите в съзнанието си, но и да ги вкусиш, да ги почувстваш… С него четенето се превръща в преживяване, понякога съвсем осезаемо. Малко автори могат така да те пренесат в историите си. Прочетете ревюто на "Книжни Криле": https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/201...
September 16, 2018
Driving Blind is such a disappointment. I only liked one story in this(Fee Fie Foe Fum), the rest were boring and the writing was not nearly up to Ray's usual standards. Ray is known for the nostalgic quality of his writing but it was just overwhelming in this plus i found numerous stories to be rather sexist. I don't remember thinking this about his other stories that I've read. That isn't even the worst thing about this book though. Not one but two stories have incestuous cousin relationships and he portrays this as normal, even good. And one was pretty much child molestation(the kid is 12) but since it's happening to a boy it's "ok" and "he likes it." Barf. Driving Blind was published in 1997 and most of the stories were written around then so there can be no excuse of "oh it was written a long time ago, the times were different." All I can say is I hope Ray got senile in his old age and didn't always think like this.
October 18, 2021
Bradbury's later work unfortunately offers diminishing returns. It pains me to say it because I love his earlier work - Fahrenheit 451, Martian Chronicles, Something Wicked This Way Comes, October Country, Dandelion Wine - as much as anyone can. These later collections just do not compare.
I would say half the stories are complete misfires. The title story (Driving Blind) is one of the better entries. Several others have Bradbury's nostalgia infused sentiment that can still charm. But the pervasive sense of magic or possibility or wonder that was so common in reading Bradbury, while not entirely gone, is just a lot more rare here.
This collection is really just for completists like me or those with an unusually strong attachment to Bradbury.
I would say half the stories are complete misfires. The title story (Driving Blind) is one of the better entries. Several others have Bradbury's nostalgia infused sentiment that can still charm. But the pervasive sense of magic or possibility or wonder that was so common in reading Bradbury, while not entirely gone, is just a lot more rare here.
This collection is really just for completists like me or those with an unusually strong attachment to Bradbury.
September 26, 2012
A fairly balanced later-Bradbury collection, with a few clunkers. I was happy to have another story from the October family and Heeber Finn's Pub. I only wish that the number of stories left to read by Bradbury was not limited by his recent passing. I enjoy the nostalgic, pragmatic, and naive nature of the characters he creates. It's clear, Bradbury was a responsible child at heart.
February 21, 2017
Като изключа „Марсиански хроники“ и „451 градуса по Фаренхайт“, няма нещо на Бредбъри, което да съм подхванал и да не ме е очаровало.
„Нощен влак за Вавилон“ е приятен сборник с 21 разказа. Не всеки от разказите е шедьовър, но удоволствието от вълшебното перо на автора се усеща на мига.
„Нощен влак за Вавилон“, „Здравей, трябва да си вървя“, „ Какво ли е станало със Сали“, „Онова старо куче, което лежи в прахта“, „Огледалото“, „Разделената къща“… това е Бредбъри, който познавам… това е и скелетът на този сборник. Другите разкази понакуцват малко или много, но магията е винаги някъде там.
Като чета Бредбъри никога не знам какво ме чака на завоя…то е .. и сега ще направя странното сравнение, то е като да гледаш Федерер, винаги изящно и дори топката накрая да удари мрежата си е заслужавало вниманието ти.
„Нощен влак за Вавилон“ е приятен сборник с 21 разказа. Не всеки от разказите е шедьовър, но удоволствието от вълшебното перо на автора се усеща на мига.
„Нощен влак за Вавилон“, „Здравей, трябва да си вървя“, „ Какво ли е станало със Сали“, „Онова старо куче, което лежи в прахта“, „Огледалото“, „Разделената къща“… това е Бредбъри, който познавам… това е и скелетът на този сборник. Другите разкази понакуцват малко или много, но магията е винаги някъде там.
Като чета Бредбъри никога не знам какво ме чака на завоя…то е .. и сега ще направя странното сравнение, то е като да гледаш Федерер, винаги изящно и дори топката накрая да удари мрежата си е заслужавало вниманието ти.
November 10, 2024
2 stars
Definitely not my cup of tea. Some of the stories were ok, but most of them I just didn't get. They were bland, as if Bradbury just wrote a few notes for himself, maybe ideas for stories he didn't get to write or something.
Definitely not my cup of tea. Some of the stories were ok, but most of them I just didn't get. They were bland, as if Bradbury just wrote a few notes for himself, maybe ideas for stories he didn't get to write or something.
September 26, 2023
there were maybe four stories in here that weren’t totally up my alley, but all the others were amazing, hilarious, elegant, the works. short fiction is king, okay?
May 26, 2019
De repente, me vi apurado almorzando, tratando de no quitarle más tiempo a la historia que, junto a sus personajes, se había quedado "pegada" en mi mente, con ese "frezze" tan carácteristico que aparecía en la imagen al poner pausa en ese viejo equipo VHS.
Así queda uno entusiasmado con los cuentos que trae ésta recopilación de Bradbury. Son veintiún relatos cargados de sorpresa, misterio y muchas gotas de suspenso.
Así queda uno entusiasmado con los cuentos que trae ésta recopilación de Bradbury. Son veintiún relatos cargados de sorpresa, misterio y muchas gotas de suspenso.
May 9, 2025
not the best of Bradbury. Mr. Pale is great, and most other stories were okay. I think I prefer the novels to the short stories.a bit too much of cousins kissing.
January 18, 2024
Some deep cut short stories in here, not Bradbury's best but ok after you've read the popular ones.
December 22, 2018
I can't remember much of this book as I read is 5 years ago. I think it might be time for a re-read. This was my first Bradbury although I don't remember the contents, I do remember being enamoured by Bradbudy's evocative writing and beautifully crafted characters.
Courtesy of Jen's mini reviews
Courtesy of Jen's mini reviews
January 12, 2015
The master at his best. These stories are little gems, for the most part. A few felt pedestrian and forced, thus the 4 stars. Bradbury's writing is infused with unbridled optimism, with the continually renewed joy of discovery. The best of the bunch is 'Someone in the Rain', heart-wrenching and nostalgic in the Ray Bradbury style. The other favorite of mine was 'That Bird That Comes Out of the Clock', a story loaded with humor, but rife with a truth that many a henpecking wife should heed.
If you like Bradbury, you will like this collection.
If you like Bradbury, you will like this collection.
June 19, 2012
Un libro escrito por Bradbury a la edad de 76 años lleno de nostalgia, melancolía y deseos por el pasado, son cuentos aparentemente sencillos con un final en apariencia sencillo y un desarrollo incluso más mundano pero con un toque fantástico, son el tipo de cuentos que se digieren tiempo después de leídos y dejan una sensación agradable.
Al menos Bradbury —al igual que yo— tampoco sabe conducir.
Al menos Bradbury —al igual que yo— tampoco sabe conducir.
September 3, 2019
I suspect this was a collection of short stories not purchased by the mainstream rags in Bradbury's heyday. It reminds me of conglomeration of b-sides and rarities of a favorite band's record catalog. There were tales here depicting a boy's first kiss from beautiful cousins, unhappily men courting extra marital relationships. It wasn't typical Bradbury fare to say the least. But every story was a gem. If you're a fan of his, it's a must read.
December 31, 2020
Alas, Zeus still sits on his throne but only because those who worship refuse to let him leave. His thunderbolts now sputter like spent matchsticks, and our sorrow is greater because those worshippers claim the matchsticks are thunderbolts hurled by a remembered Zeus.
One story, Mr. Pale, kept me interested but only because it was nicely styled. The story itself is telegraphic and unoriginal (to me).
One story, Mr. Pale, kept me interested but only because it was nicely styled. The story itself is telegraphic and unoriginal (to me).
February 24, 2021
Like most of Ray's short story collections, this one feels like I'm sitting around a campfire while a very prolific, spontaneous spinner of yarns hogs your attention, imagination and lifelong appreciation. A bonus: on the last few pages, Ray explains the inspirations, or sometimes the mundane reasons, on how some of these stories came to be. A book mooched from Jade of Japan.
March 9, 2015
Sweet and melancholy nostalgia embedded in gorgeous prose . .
That's how I would describe this collection of short stories from Ray Bradbury.
They're also quirky, introspective, and surrealistic, and I loved every one!
That's how I would describe this collection of short stories from Ray Bradbury.
They're also quirky, introspective, and surrealistic, and I loved every one!
December 6, 2018
4.5 stars.
December 9, 2023
Pensé que me iba a gustar mas las historias recopiladas en este libro, ya que son 21 relatos breves en esta edición , pero me gustaron solo 4.
- Hola, tengo que irme (fue mi favorita): Trata sobre un fantasma que va a visitar a su amigo, le comenta que esta enojado con su esposa porque ella ya no llora por el. Su amigo le promete que el llorará para que se sienta recordado.
- Casa dividida: unos chicos los visitan sus primas ya que un tío estaba a punto morir. los chicos están en una habitación y el mayor da su primer beso a una de las chicas al mismo tiempo se anuncia la muerte del tío. El chico tiene la metáfora de que con la muerte del tío le han quitado el cuerpo y el ha ganado el suyo.
- Que habrá sido de Sally: un hombre se encuentra bebiendo en el bar mientras suena una canción que le recuerda su primera novia. El barman le recomienda volver a contactarla. El hombre se entusiasma en el mismo momento. Logra dar con la casa de Sally al abrir la puerta, ella no lo reconoce y el se desilusiona porque ya estaba casada y tenia 6 hijos. Después el se encuentra con una señora que lo confunde con un antiguo amor. El vuelve al bar y comenta que por favor no pongan esa canción nunca mas.
- Nada cambia: un hombre revisa un anuario antiguo que le dio curiosidad, se percata que hay una foto de un chico que es igual a el, pero no es el. Al final, se entera que el del anuario es su hijo y el ha estado muerto durante años le comenta que se había ahogado.
- Hola, tengo que irme (fue mi favorita): Trata sobre un fantasma que va a visitar a su amigo, le comenta que esta enojado con su esposa porque ella ya no llora por el. Su amigo le promete que el llorará para que se sienta recordado.
- Casa dividida: unos chicos los visitan sus primas ya que un tío estaba a punto morir. los chicos están en una habitación y el mayor da su primer beso a una de las chicas al mismo tiempo se anuncia la muerte del tío. El chico tiene la metáfora de que con la muerte del tío le han quitado el cuerpo y el ha ganado el suyo.
- Que habrá sido de Sally: un hombre se encuentra bebiendo en el bar mientras suena una canción que le recuerda su primera novia. El barman le recomienda volver a contactarla. El hombre se entusiasma en el mismo momento. Logra dar con la casa de Sally al abrir la puerta, ella no lo reconoce y el se desilusiona porque ya estaba casada y tenia 6 hijos. Después el se encuentra con una señora que lo confunde con un antiguo amor. El vuelve al bar y comenta que por favor no pongan esa canción nunca mas.
- Nada cambia: un hombre revisa un anuario antiguo que le dio curiosidad, se percata que hay una foto de un chico que es igual a el, pero no es el. Al final, se entera que el del anuario es su hijo y el ha estado muerto durante años le comenta que se había ahogado.
July 27, 2023
Have I ever mentioned that I love Ray Bradbury? In this collection, I loved that I didn't love every story! There were some that just fell flat for me, some that I disagreed with, and some that just didn't have "it." But isn't it amazing that no one always hits home runs??!! Don't get me wrong, even the stories I didn't particularly enjoy were still of good quality and writing; just didn't connect.
But the ones that did--and they were many--were amazing. Some familiar faces, places, and summer vibes. Some new and fresh. All of them dealt with Life--love (emerging, waning, breaking, straining), death (and new life that comes with death), pubs, men and women, doing what we want to do and don't because we feel the constraints of "ought to." He gets it.
I really enjoyed "Driving Blind"--clear, humorous, painful look at self-acceptance; "Fee, Fie, Foe, Fum"--dark comedy about distrust; "Grand Theft" and "I Wonder What's Become of Sally"--sweet "what if" romantic explorations; "The Mirror"--a rogue twin finding herself; "Mr. Pale"--death and space travel; and "That Bird That Comes Out of the Clock"--keeping marriage fun, or someone else will.
But the ones that did--and they were many--were amazing. Some familiar faces, places, and summer vibes. Some new and fresh. All of them dealt with Life--love (emerging, waning, breaking, straining), death (and new life that comes with death), pubs, men and women, doing what we want to do and don't because we feel the constraints of "ought to." He gets it.
I really enjoyed "Driving Blind"--clear, humorous, painful look at self-acceptance; "Fee, Fie, Foe, Fum"--dark comedy about distrust; "Grand Theft" and "I Wonder What's Become of Sally"--sweet "what if" romantic explorations; "The Mirror"--a rogue twin finding herself; "Mr. Pale"--death and space travel; and "That Bird That Comes Out of the Clock"--keeping marriage fun, or someone else will.
February 18, 2025
3.3/5: good ideas that usually end too soon
The entire point of short stories is that they're short, but not too short. If they're too short, they're just ideas. There's a ton of ideas in this collection and not enough short stories, particularly in the beginning. Many of them feel like scenes in a play, where you get some dialogue and not enough description, or get some weird moments that Bradbury seems afraid to make more weird.
That said, while the rest are skippable, there are some amazing ones. Driving Blind itself is pretty sweet while not being diabetes-inducing. Mr. Pale is the only sci-fi in here and is a great take on death. Remember Me is a great, Seinfeldish story on a Seinfeldish situation that actually ends way more positive than I expected, an actual pleasant surprise.
And That Old Dog Lying in the Dust is classic, a great Mexican-focused Western with prose that pops off the page and makes circuses sound more grungily magical than they actually are. That particular one felt like a McCarthy novel distilled down to one small spot, and it worked...which is awkward, because it felt just about the opposite of most other stories in this one.
The entire point of short stories is that they're short, but not too short. If they're too short, they're just ideas. There's a ton of ideas in this collection and not enough short stories, particularly in the beginning. Many of them feel like scenes in a play, where you get some dialogue and not enough description, or get some weird moments that Bradbury seems afraid to make more weird.
That said, while the rest are skippable, there are some amazing ones. Driving Blind itself is pretty sweet while not being diabetes-inducing. Mr. Pale is the only sci-fi in here and is a great take on death. Remember Me is a great, Seinfeldish story on a Seinfeldish situation that actually ends way more positive than I expected, an actual pleasant surprise.
And That Old Dog Lying in the Dust is classic, a great Mexican-focused Western with prose that pops off the page and makes circuses sound more grungily magical than they actually are. That particular one felt like a McCarthy novel distilled down to one small spot, and it worked...which is awkward, because it felt just about the opposite of most other stories in this one.
February 28, 2022
ncore du Bradbury ! j’avais trop envie de retrouver cette extase que j’avais ressenti à la lecture de ses nouvelles [du recueil : Le meilleur des mondes possibles], j’ai eu une petite larme de déception, me disant, merde j’ai commencé par le meilleur, et que plus jamais je ne pourrais retrouver ce que j’avais éprouvé lors de ma découverte de cet auteur. Alors, Train de nuit pour Babylone, est un recueil de nouvelles (18 ou 22 nouvelles je sais plus), très très courtes pour la plupart, même j’admire toujours autant Bradbury pour sa putain de créativité, a priori « inépuisable », mais aussi et surtout, cette capacité à vous entrainer là où il veut, néanmoins, je reproche à ces nouvelles, ce que je reproche généralement à ce genre littéraire, c’est qu’on reste sur sa faim. Je n’ai pas retrouvé ces fins surprenantes, grâce auxquelles, les nouvelles deviennent inoubliables, là en l’occurrence, j’en ai oublié la plupart, c’était une chouette lecture, quelques-unes m’ont énormément plu de par la psychologie qui en émane, c’était une bonne lecture mais loin de combler mes attentes.
September 24, 2022
This collection is a real mix of some stories that are quite dull, but there are seven that I would rate as four or five when looked at individually and are as good as when he was writing at his pinnacle.
The excellent stories, for me, were the black comedy "Fee Fie Foe Fun", the heartbreaking "I Wonder What's Become of Sally", "Madame et Monsieur Shill", "The Mirror", "End of Summer", "Thunder in the Morning", "The Highest Branch on the Tree", and "Mr Pale".
A cover Washington Post review gushes, "These tales are more sophisticated in their presentation, more intoxicatingly unputdownable, than anything he wrote in his prime." Wow! Other than the exceptions noted above I couldn't disagree more. The majority are really rather boring. And yet, the good stories are EXCELLENT so of course the fans will want to read this, and -- of course -- tastes vary.
For Bradbury fans, you will find here at least one of the following: Mexico stories, Paris stories, Green Town stories, Ireland stories, and a late Martian chronicle.
The excellent stories, for me, were the black comedy "Fee Fie Foe Fun", the heartbreaking "I Wonder What's Become of Sally", "Madame et Monsieur Shill", "The Mirror", "End of Summer", "Thunder in the Morning", "The Highest Branch on the Tree", and "Mr Pale".
A cover Washington Post review gushes, "These tales are more sophisticated in their presentation, more intoxicatingly unputdownable, than anything he wrote in his prime." Wow! Other than the exceptions noted above I couldn't disagree more. The majority are really rather boring. And yet, the good stories are EXCELLENT so of course the fans will want to read this, and -- of course -- tastes vary.
For Bradbury fans, you will find here at least one of the following: Mexico stories, Paris stories, Green Town stories, Ireland stories, and a late Martian chronicle.
February 7, 2023
This is an odd collection of short stories. Some are amusing, entertaining, and even turn out to be a fable. Others finish short and abruptly, and you wonder where the rest of the story has gone. It’s fine to ponder on musings, but you do feel a bit robbed, and perhaps sometimes an exercise to hone the writer’s craft shouldn’t really be published. It’s the little things that inspire you to write a story, and sometimes the truth needs to be exaggerated to make it entertaining and grip the reader, but there are some questions that remain unsolved. Still, it just goes to show that Bradbury takes a dab at everything from affairs to childhood heroes and even a bit of sci-fi. Whatever he writes, he manages to build up a little bit of suspense in each scene, and encourages the reader to think about the people living around them.
October 6, 2025
A collection of 1, 2, and 3 star stories.
Most of the stories in this collection have a folksy, small-town feel, frequently with a very Bradbury-ish aura of nostalgia about them. A few, such as Driving Blind, Hello, I must be going, Nothing changes (the title story), have a disturbing, eerie edge which reminds me of his wonderful Martian Chronicles masterpiece. Others, such as I wonder what became of Sally, Remember me?, Madame and Monsieur Shill hark back to O. Henry's bittersweet irony or, like The highest branch on the tree reach for Ring Lardner's satirical directness.
This book is one of the author's less successful ventures, recommended only for diehard Bradbury fans with a taste for an occasional but infrequent flash of the uncanny, the poignant, or the wistful.
Most of the stories in this collection have a folksy, small-town feel, frequently with a very Bradbury-ish aura of nostalgia about them. A few, such as Driving Blind, Hello, I must be going, Nothing changes (the title story), have a disturbing, eerie edge which reminds me of his wonderful Martian Chronicles masterpiece. Others, such as I wonder what became of Sally, Remember me?, Madame and Monsieur Shill hark back to O. Henry's bittersweet irony or, like The highest branch on the tree reach for Ring Lardner's satirical directness.
This book is one of the author's less successful ventures, recommended only for diehard Bradbury fans with a taste for an occasional but infrequent flash of the uncanny, the poignant, or the wistful.
September 25, 2019
Esta comprobado que Bradbury es un buen cuentista, de hecho, muchas de sus historias pueden encontrarse en cualquier antologia de ciencia ficcion americana.
Aca si bien no hay malos cuentos, tampoco ninguno mereceria estar en una compilación con lo mejor de Bradbury. Son muchos y muy cortos, lectura pasatista para el transporte publico.
Obviamente algunos me gustaron mas que otros, como el primero, "tren nocturno a Babilonia" que muestra como a la gente en determinado contexto le gusta que la manipulen y el que quiera evitarlo termina mal.
O "casa dividida" donde un adolescente descubre la muerte y el sexo al mismo tiempo. Y "ta ti to teja" y "a ciegas", en el primero una anciana descubre que su hijo quiere asesinarla, y en el segundo hay un conductor misterioso encapuchado.
Aca si bien no hay malos cuentos, tampoco ninguno mereceria estar en una compilación con lo mejor de Bradbury. Son muchos y muy cortos, lectura pasatista para el transporte publico.
Obviamente algunos me gustaron mas que otros, como el primero, "tren nocturno a Babilonia" que muestra como a la gente en determinado contexto le gusta que la manipulen y el que quiera evitarlo termina mal.
O "casa dividida" donde un adolescente descubre la muerte y el sexo al mismo tiempo. Y "ta ti to teja" y "a ciegas", en el primero una anciana descubre que su hijo quiere asesinarla, y en el segundo hay un conductor misterioso encapuchado.
December 30, 2020
Most of these stories were written in the 1990s and Ray Bradbury stays true to himself through-out. To me they are not short stories so much as vignettes. There are a few proofing errors in the copy I have, but nothing takes away from his ability to paint a picture.
Here are a few beautiful sentences:
"May others see in us only what we see in them, perfection and beauty beyond telling."
"The warm dust blew us around a corner. The little one-ring Mexican circus lay there: an old tent full of moth holes and half-sewn wound, propped up from within by an ancient set of dinosaur bones."
"...and bushes that shook like startled dogs when you passed, showering you with a fresh burst of cool and odorous rain."
"Thunder, as you know, occurs when lightning sucks back up its track and lets two handfuls of white-hot air applaud."
What's not to love?
Here are a few beautiful sentences:
"May others see in us only what we see in them, perfection and beauty beyond telling."
"The warm dust blew us around a corner. The little one-ring Mexican circus lay there: an old tent full of moth holes and half-sewn wound, propped up from within by an ancient set of dinosaur bones."
"...and bushes that shook like startled dogs when you passed, showering you with a fresh burst of cool and odorous rain."
"Thunder, as you know, occurs when lightning sucks back up its track and lets two handfuls of white-hot air applaud."
What's not to love?
November 30, 2022
I've enjoyed almost everything I've read by Bradbury over the years, but this collection left me a little cold. It's from the tail end of his career and, unfortunately, most of the stories just didn't really click for me. Most of them were non-genre and a lot of them I just didn't get. There was an uncomfortable degree of sexism in some of the stories (I don't know how to read The Bird That Comes Out of the Clock in a non-misogynist manner) and more "kissing-cousins" than is strictly necessary (ie greater than zero). Bradbury's writing always had a strong streak of nostalgia running through it, but it felt very strong in this one, to the point that I was rolling my eyes at times.
Not a great collection, to be honest. This may well not be a keeper.
Not a great collection, to be honest. This may well not be a keeper.
March 12, 2025
An extremely poor collection of stories by one of my absolute favorite authors. Would be a one star but for years and years of prior good will and my affection for the man. While I respect his story-creation process, the results of these late-in-life stories are very often floating verbal exchanges between under-described, disembodied individuals, meant to be witty but which lie flat on the page, unrealistic and perplexing. I frequently ask myself, “Who is speaking here?” When Bradbury does narrate, the results can be pretty good. The Devotee of Metaphor does in these stories now and then produce an evocative turn of phrase, but there are not nearly enough of them here to recommend this book to any but the most ardent Bradbury completists.
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