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whats_margaret_reading's review against another edition
3.0
Ray Bradbury is one of my favorite short story authors, and while there is a nice continuity by having the same interviewer in each of these, there just feels like there is something missing and too insider for Ray Bradbury to say anything too new or revolutionary. It's the final victory lap of a strong and hugely influential modern American writer.
alinaborger's review against another edition
4.0
Disclaimer: I love FAHRENHEIT 451. I teach with this book in my current position, which means I've been reading it annually for the last eight years with the kind of attentiveness most people reserve for their holy books. I've scribbled and crafted and mapped--the kind of marginalia that reveals a smitten reader. And this love, naturally, has extended to Ray Bradbury. I've listened to interviews (thanks NEA Big Read) and read astonishing reflections (Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, and others). When Bradbury passed away in 2012, I cried for a week.
When I saw that our library had an e-copy of Ray Bradbury: The Last Interview and Other Conversations available right as I was teaching F451 (and that an indie press had published it), I checked it out and read in two big gulps (it's a small book, 90 pages or so).
And I loved "hearing" Bradbury's voice again, telling stories I hadn't yet heard. I took screen shots of his exhortations to write for love, to write what's inside, to pull out ideas like a magician's empty hat full of scarves. I laughed. I cried. I read great swathes of it all aloud to my husband and my students.
I also loved how much of an old man he had become by the time Sam Weller had these conversations with him--I could tell he didn't really give a damn about a lot of things (mostly what other people thought). He was more emphatic than necessary at times, and at other times gave answers that seemed more pat or proud than would typically be "polite."
Sam Weller navigated this with a strange kind of biographer's privilege. At times, he'd try to ameliorate the effect or steer the conversation in a different direction, and it came off as sweet--a sort of earnest protecting Dad's reputation while he's drunk on his own age. At other times, though, it felt like Weller was staging a question to display his own (admittedly extensive) knowledge of Bradbury's life, and I found myself annoyed.
Still, when Bradbury told the story of Mr. Electrico, a circus performer with an electrified sword, I held my breath. And when Mr. Electrico pointed it into the audience at the twelve-year-old Ray Bradbury and said "Live forever!" -- I let out that breath. Because I believe he will.
When I saw that our library had an e-copy of Ray Bradbury: The Last Interview and Other Conversations available right as I was teaching F451 (and that an indie press had published it), I checked it out and read in two big gulps (it's a small book, 90 pages or so).
And I loved "hearing" Bradbury's voice again, telling stories I hadn't yet heard. I took screen shots of his exhortations to write for love, to write what's inside, to pull out ideas like a magician's empty hat full of scarves. I laughed. I cried. I read great swathes of it all aloud to my husband and my students.
I also loved how much of an old man he had become by the time Sam Weller had these conversations with him--I could tell he didn't really give a damn about a lot of things (mostly what other people thought). He was more emphatic than necessary at times, and at other times gave answers that seemed more pat or proud than would typically be "polite."
Sam Weller navigated this with a strange kind of biographer's privilege. At times, he'd try to ameliorate the effect or steer the conversation in a different direction, and it came off as sweet--a sort of earnest protecting Dad's reputation while he's drunk on his own age. At other times, though, it felt like Weller was staging a question to display his own (admittedly extensive) knowledge of Bradbury's life, and I found myself annoyed.
Still, when Bradbury told the story of Mr. Electrico, a circus performer with an electrified sword, I held my breath. And when Mr. Electrico pointed it into the audience at the twelve-year-old Ray Bradbury and said "Live forever!" -- I let out that breath. Because I believe he will.
plaidbrarian's review against another edition
4.0
Bradbury was one of those authors whose talent I'm always in awe of even if every story or novel he wrote (even some of the big ones) didn't always land for me the way they seemed to for others. It's always fascinating to get a look into his ideas and process, though, and this does a good job of that. My only complaint is that all the interviews are conducted by the same person, and his official biographer at that, so they feel a little "samey" after a while, and you can never shake the feeling that you're coming into a conversation that already started before you got there. Except that this conversation began in, like, the early 90s.
bzzlarabzz's review
5.0
This slim volume is filled with charm, wit, advice, and most of all, personality. All I can really say is that I heart Ray Bradbury and Sam Weller seems pretty okay, too.
curiousreader's review
The Last Interview and Other Conversations with Ray Bradbury, is really a mishmash of interviews with Sam Weeler and a handful of short essays Bradbury narrated while Weeler wrote them down. They all share the distinct nature of a man late in his life, as Bradbury was more than 80 years old in the earliest of these pieces - and as such, we see a man who has had a life-time's worth of re-writing his ideas and opinions over and over again so as to reach a certain level of refinement, and in so doing, a ring of falsehood in the simplicity through which they are presented. As such an example, we see how the story of Fahrenheit 451 as a work of passion and the hurried nature of its origin, is repeated time and again - as there is a sense of his adding emphasis to the 'real' writing as the 'natural' writing. The words that come first to mind must be its truest form, most valuable of all. I am not so sure Bradbury had such a strong conviction that this was the only way a work of literature could be created or gain value, but it seems rather as if he has talked about the same topics and voiced the same opinions so many times over a long period of time so that all nuance that would otherwise take shape is muddled in these conversations.
On the other hand, the relationship between the interviewer and Bradbury too is slightly distracting. Sam Weeler opens the book by saying how he became quite close to Bradbury over a number of years, and that their relationship was as a father and son, therefor intimate - and because of that, Weeler has gotten 'access' to a Bradbury that might otherwise not be available for just anyone. However, the fact that he knows so much about Bradbury seemed to me to get in the way of the interviews, as rather than asking questions he often fills in the blanks of Bradbury's own memories and thoughts, like a family member might in an elderly relative's storytelling, adding little details and reminding the storyteller of this and that fact. While this relationship works well enough in the last interview that is a private one, the ones that have an audience create this sharp contrast between the interviewer and Bradbury, vs. the reader/the audience. At times, it simply seemed that Weeler stood too close to his subject, unable to ask certain questions and at the same time unable to avoid sharing his personal wealth of information about Bradbury, that seemed almost a break of trust - as Bradbury himself was not the one giving out the information to the audience, therefor not truly giving consent to this and that being shared in the set place.
All this said, I think the collection of conversations and short essays are interesting and in particular show Bradbury's endless love for libraries. He talks about books, and literature, his own creative process and his lifetime's work, as well as some of his influences and inspirations. I especially liked the part that focused on his writing, as they both seemed to give a valuable layer to understand his prose and bibliography, while at the same time finding that there were nuggets of writing advice interspersed in the book. While Bradbury at times is critical of the progression of technology, the educational system as it is, and even makes statements that seem both outdated and small-minded; in general, what struck me was the theme of truly and fully engaging with the world - whether it be with books, other forms of media, or other people. There seems to be a certain fear in Bradbury for a future were we grow more and more apart from each other, lost in our wealth of entertainment and news and people, losing ourselves -and our active participation in the world. Through his talk of everything from philosophy to technology, there seems to be a red thread of a call for critical thinking. For actively thinking about what we consume, to deconstruct the endless stream of information thrown at us daily, to actively work to be part of this world and in making it what we want it to be.
On the other hand, the relationship between the interviewer and Bradbury too is slightly distracting. Sam Weeler opens the book by saying how he became quite close to Bradbury over a number of years, and that their relationship was as a father and son, therefor intimate - and because of that, Weeler has gotten 'access' to a Bradbury that might otherwise not be available for just anyone. However, the fact that he knows so much about Bradbury seemed to me to get in the way of the interviews, as rather than asking questions he often fills in the blanks of Bradbury's own memories and thoughts, like a family member might in an elderly relative's storytelling, adding little details and reminding the storyteller of this and that fact. While this relationship works well enough in the last interview that is a private one, the ones that have an audience create this sharp contrast between the interviewer and Bradbury, vs. the reader/the audience. At times, it simply seemed that Weeler stood too close to his subject, unable to ask certain questions and at the same time unable to avoid sharing his personal wealth of information about Bradbury, that seemed almost a break of trust - as Bradbury himself was not the one giving out the information to the audience, therefor not truly giving consent to this and that being shared in the set place.
All this said, I think the collection of conversations and short essays are interesting and in particular show Bradbury's endless love for libraries. He talks about books, and literature, his own creative process and his lifetime's work, as well as some of his influences and inspirations. I especially liked the part that focused on his writing, as they both seemed to give a valuable layer to understand his prose and bibliography, while at the same time finding that there were nuggets of writing advice interspersed in the book. While Bradbury at times is critical of the progression of technology, the educational system as it is, and even makes statements that seem both outdated and small-minded; in general, what struck me was the theme of truly and fully engaging with the world - whether it be with books, other forms of media, or other people. There seems to be a certain fear in Bradbury for a future were we grow more and more apart from each other, lost in our wealth of entertainment and news and people, losing ourselves -and our active participation in the world. Through his talk of everything from philosophy to technology, there seems to be a red thread of a call for critical thinking. For actively thinking about what we consume, to deconstruct the endless stream of information thrown at us daily, to actively work to be part of this world and in making it what we want it to be.
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