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rainjrop's review against another edition
4.0
Favorite Stories: The Haunting of the New, I Sing the Body Electric!, The Lost City of Mars, G.B.S-Mark V, and The Utterly Perfect Murder
jdhacker's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Old but good collection...some beautiful stories at the beginning, some truly great ones at the end (I'm looking at you, "Heavy Set" and "Lost City of Mars")...and some absolutely terrible stuff in the middle. Clockwork grandma's and some of the adjoining stories have some staggeringly bad dialogue and just plod. If you find yourself getting bogged down, just skip to the next one.
labunnywtf's review against another edition
I expected more from the stories of Bradbury.
Short stories are not his forte. I give up.
Short stories are not his forte. I give up.
authoraugust's review against another edition
5.0
Ray Bradbury is a clever bastard.
What can I say about a book of short stories that were chosen exceedingly well for how they flowed into one another, but were vastly different? Bradbury's charm is that he takes a ridiculous idea and plays it off as totally serious, forcing the reader to abandon all pretense of explanation and logic and enjoy the goddamn ride.
"I Sing the Body Electric!" is my favorite short story of all time as of today, by the way. Absolutely incredible. Touches me for how much it relates to what I do for a living.
I really have nothing more to say than this: read this, if you want to escape for a while.
What can I say about a book of short stories that were chosen exceedingly well for how they flowed into one another, but were vastly different? Bradbury's charm is that he takes a ridiculous idea and plays it off as totally serious, forcing the reader to abandon all pretense of explanation and logic and enjoy the goddamn ride.
"I Sing the Body Electric!" is my favorite short story of all time as of today, by the way. Absolutely incredible. Touches me for how much it relates to what I do for a living.
I really have nothing more to say than this: read this, if you want to escape for a while.
allegragreen's review against another edition
4.0
Super fun collection to read. I will say that it very much felt like a series of love letters to his favorite authors—literally the case in regards to Hemingway Dickens Dick and son Shakespeare etc. The writing itself was also very imitative of his influences. Most of the stories in this collection are attempts at exploring what Love is. And Bradbury clearly loves to read as well as write.
There is a surprising amount of Christian references and rhetoric. I’d love to look into how hard-core fire and brimstone Christians reacted to Bradbury and the sci-fi genre as a whole.
This collection also brought up many questions for me about the relationship of colonialism and science fiction. The movement of a mechanical manifest destiny, if you will. Often times horror and sci-fi are reflections of current events and the sociopolitical atmosphere of the times—and have historically been used as a method of critique and commentary without being forthright enough to garner attacks. (I will say that’s only about 50% of the time lol obviously bans and censorship are huge in both genres.) You can say examples of this in the Twilight Zone, Star Trek, and Bradbury’s own Fahrenheit 451 as well as many of his other short stories. But in this collection there were a surprisingly few examples that explored the colonial aspects found in many these stories’ topics: The need for man to leave earth. I’m just really curious to see how Bradbury and other sci-fi authors have dealt with or examined colonialism within their stories.
Anyway, all in all a great collection. Bradbury is as always a master of his craft. It’s actually disgusting how incredible he is at what he does—every word is purposeful—and his mastery of seemingly every rhetorical device makes me a wee bit upset. Love him.
Favs of the collection:
-The Kilimanjaro Device
-The Woman
-I Sing the Body Electric
-The Lost City of Mars
There is a surprising amount of Christian references and rhetoric. I’d love to look into how hard-core fire and brimstone Christians reacted to Bradbury and the sci-fi genre as a whole.
This collection also brought up many questions for me about the relationship of colonialism and science fiction. The movement of a mechanical manifest destiny, if you will. Often times horror and sci-fi are reflections of current events and the sociopolitical atmosphere of the times—and have historically been used as a method of critique and commentary without being forthright enough to garner attacks. (I will say that’s only about 50% of the time lol obviously bans and censorship are huge in both genres.) You can say examples of this in the Twilight Zone, Star Trek, and Bradbury’s own Fahrenheit 451 as well as many of his other short stories. But in this collection there were a surprisingly few examples that explored the colonial aspects found in many these stories’ topics: The need for man to leave earth. I’m just really curious to see how Bradbury and other sci-fi authors have dealt with or examined colonialism within their stories.
Anyway, all in all a great collection. Bradbury is as always a master of his craft. It’s actually disgusting how incredible he is at what he does—every word is purposeful—and his mastery of seemingly every rhetorical device makes me a wee bit upset. Love him.
Favs of the collection:
-The Kilimanjaro Device
-The Woman
-I Sing the Body Electric
-The Lost City of Mars
alienskiesabove's review against another edition
3.0
Overall amazing. Some stories better than others. Product of its time with sometimes over flowery language and a lot of religion and some sexism.
alysian_fields's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
vincentkonrad's review against another edition
2.0
What a conservative bore. I was promised imaginative sci-fi, and what I got was neither.
Not sure exactly how to read the one about the time some fags came to Ireland and everyone was suspicious of these giggly fops until someone pointed out that they’re a bit like the Irish because they both get drunk and sing songs and like poetry.
The highlight of the book is ‘Heavy-set’, about a horrible 30 year old muscle-bound baby of a man and his Oedipal reign of terror. I will never recover.
Not sure exactly how to read the one about the time some fags came to Ireland and everyone was suspicious of these giggly fops until someone pointed out that they’re a bit like the Irish because they both get drunk and sing songs and like poetry.
The highlight of the book is ‘Heavy-set’, about a horrible 30 year old muscle-bound baby of a man and his Oedipal reign of terror. I will never recover.
wintzyy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
erikaretia's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0