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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
This collection of short stories opens with Bradbury's trademark theme of unsettling circumstances at circuses. But where Something Wicked and The Illustrated Man are tautly terrifying, The Dwarf is something more domestic, human and almost warm...
Warm in the way that microwaved food sometimes is, with cold spots that sneak up on you and make you feel just a little aghast.
This is not a criticism but a commendation. Bradbury writes some of the neatest and most nuanced little tales of vague horror stirred into varying degrees of natural human experience. There is a lovecraftian sense of existential dread in many of these tales, but like the characters this dread preys upon, you're not quite sure whether there's a real menace in the story or whether it's all in your head.
The scenes are simple but uncanny; graveyards, dinner parties, and entire worlds in elevators and children's bedrooms are all equal candidates for the creeping misgivings Bradbury so deftly suggests and then leaves our minds to spin into full-fledged terrors. While the character of these terrors may hint at Lovecraft, the mode of these stories invokes Hitchcock as you are left to wonder if the reality can really be so dark as your worst imaginings seem to make it.
The humanity of these tales isn't limited to the dark, depressing, or demented. There are humorous moments where boys mimic their grandmother's traditions to unexpected results, literally uplifting tales of winged men rediscovering lost joys, and many beautiful depictions of scenery that does its autumnal title justice. If you are looking for a satisfying halloween read, sit yourself down with a mug of hot cider and a copy of this book.
Warm in the way that microwaved food sometimes is, with cold spots that sneak up on you and make you feel just a little aghast.
This is not a criticism but a commendation. Bradbury writes some of the neatest and most nuanced little tales of vague horror stirred into varying degrees of natural human experience. There is a lovecraftian sense of existential dread in many of these tales, but like the characters this dread preys upon, you're not quite sure whether there's a real menace in the story or whether it's all in your head.
The scenes are simple but uncanny; graveyards, dinner parties, and entire worlds in elevators and children's bedrooms are all equal candidates for the creeping misgivings Bradbury so deftly suggests and then leaves our minds to spin into full-fledged terrors. While the character of these terrors may hint at Lovecraft, the mode of these stories invokes Hitchcock as you are left to wonder if the reality can really be so dark as your worst imaginings seem to make it.
The humanity of these tales isn't limited to the dark, depressing, or demented. There are humorous moments where boys mimic their grandmother's traditions to unexpected results, literally uplifting tales of winged men rediscovering lost joys, and many beautiful depictions of scenery that does its autumnal title justice. If you are looking for a satisfying halloween read, sit yourself down with a mug of hot cider and a copy of this book.
Ray Bradbury, master of the dark fantastic, compiled a collection of short stories written in the same vein as Something Wicked this Way Comes. Though it was a perfect read for October, it can be enjoyed in any season, as it mostly centers around stories dealing with death and the supernatural, not necessarily Halloween. Most of the stories feel like Twilight Zone episodes (which makes sense seeing as he wrote some episodes himself), if you're into that sort of thing. In essence, every story is extremely original and most intriguing, and some with a philosophical twist ending. My favorites were "The Emissary," "Next in Line," "Jack in the Box," and "The Scythe," all of which had good twist endings and a fascinating plot. The ones that were really good were really good, and some of the others didn't grab my attention as much but were certainly still interesting. Overall, it evens out to be a solid four stars.
To give context, and also a warning, I entered this book having incredibly high expectations for these stories due to my prior Bradbury readings, so I can’t entirely say that my review is unbiased, but I’ll try to remain true to my thoughts.
To start off with, this book has some great heavy hitters. A few of my favorite short stories are as listed:
The Lake
The Small Assassin
The Crowd
Jack-in-the-box
The scythe
Uncle Einar
Homecoming
Skeleton
I found myself completely captivated and moved by them with a special mention for The Lake, The Small Assassin, The Scythe and Jack-in-the-box. Bradbury has such a strong and detailed narrative, that transforms even the most ordinary of things into the extraordinary. He works incredibly well with infusing darker elements into his pieces without it feeling ham-fisted, so to speak.
My honorary mentions that didn’t make it into my favorites list are:
The Next in Line
The Wind
The Next in Line had dragged on a bit for me, and I was on pause for some time after reading Mexican people be described as ‘baked brown people’, but the dialogue that occurs at the end of the story regarding religion and faith was so profoundly deep and heartbreaking that I couldn’t in good faith not mention it. It was such a parallel between faith and love, all connected to a loss of belief in a relationship with a man who is at best, emotionally stunted, or worse, purposefully cruel. Pages 53 to 55 are so powerful, and one of my favorite lines written is, “It’s really nice the way I can make you hold my hand in my mind.” (Pg.54). The context behind it, the underlying meaning, the response to this confession- absolutely heart wrenching. I think I must have read just this scene over 10 times.
The Wind also was an interesting concept to me, but I’ll be honest, I was less interested in the cognizant, revengeful wind as I was in the very gay coded relationship between Allin and Herb. The beginning dialogue sounds almost verbatim like a love affair, and the suspicious wife adds a cherry on top. Sure the wind has it in for Allin, but what exactly is his relationship to Herb? I guess we’ll never know.
Now while there are many stories I enjoyed in this book, there were some that outright bored me or didn’t interest me. It felt like I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop in some of these stories and it just refused to do so. I noticed this was especially true for many of the beginning stories of the book. At some point I thought I had made the wrong decision buying this book, but I’m happy that many of the later stories proved me wrong.
I will add too that certain stories are definitely a product of their era and the normalized racism embedded in American culture during that time. The very obvious tone and grammar change when a black person is talking as opposed to his white peers (The Jar) and the line “sprinkled Indian bones”?? (The Man Upstairs) made me cringe while reading it.
So to reiterate, I liked a lot of the stories in this book, and wasn’t a huge fan of some others, hence 3/5 stars.
To start off with, this book has some great heavy hitters. A few of my favorite short stories are as listed:
The Lake
The Small Assassin
The Crowd
Jack-in-the-box
The scythe
Uncle Einar
Homecoming
Skeleton
I found myself completely captivated and moved by them with a special mention for The Lake, The Small Assassin, The Scythe and Jack-in-the-box. Bradbury has such a strong and detailed narrative, that transforms even the most ordinary of things into the extraordinary. He works incredibly well with infusing darker elements into his pieces without it feeling ham-fisted, so to speak.
My honorary mentions that didn’t make it into my favorites list are:
The Next in Line
The Wind
The Next in Line had dragged on a bit for me, and I was on pause for some time after reading Mexican people be described as ‘baked brown people’, but the dialogue that occurs at the end of the story regarding religion and faith was so profoundly deep and heartbreaking that I couldn’t in good faith not mention it. It was such a parallel between faith and love, all connected to a loss of belief in a relationship with a man who is at best, emotionally stunted, or worse, purposefully cruel. Pages 53 to 55 are so powerful, and one of my favorite lines written is, “It’s really nice the way I can make you hold my hand in my mind.” (Pg.54). The context behind it, the underlying meaning, the response to this confession- absolutely heart wrenching. I think I must have read just this scene over 10 times.
The Wind also was an interesting concept to me, but I’ll be honest, I was less interested in the cognizant, revengeful wind as I was in the very gay coded relationship between Allin and Herb. The beginning dialogue sounds almost verbatim like a love affair, and the suspicious wife adds a cherry on top. Sure the wind has it in for Allin, but what exactly is his relationship to Herb? I guess we’ll never know.
Now while there are many stories I enjoyed in this book, there were some that outright bored me or didn’t interest me. It felt like I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop in some of these stories and it just refused to do so. I noticed this was especially true for many of the beginning stories of the book. At some point I thought I had made the wrong decision buying this book, but I’m happy that many of the later stories proved me wrong.
I will add too that certain stories are definitely a product of their era and the normalized racism embedded in American culture during that time. The very obvious tone and grammar change when a black person is talking as opposed to his white peers (The Jar) and the line “sprinkled Indian bones”?? (The Man Upstairs) made me cringe while reading it.
So to reiterate, I liked a lot of the stories in this book, and wasn’t a huge fan of some others, hence 3/5 stars.
This is the second amazing collection of Stories I read this year after Collected Ghost Stories By M. R. James. ❤
dark
emotional
reflective
Banger of a pulp, gothic/horror short story collection but prolly best to take your time reading this. Otherwise, the stylistic devices bradbury employs might get repetitive. But nonetheless, I found this incredibly enjoyable, hyper imaginative, strange, poetic, eerie. a masterclass in how to spin a good yarn by leveraging subtlety and the show not tell.
Top five stories in no particular order: The dwarf, the next in line, jack-in-the-box, the scythe, the cistern
Top five stories in no particular order: The dwarf, the next in line, jack-in-the-box, the scythe, the cistern
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Spooktober read #2!
I always make sure to have a Bradbury book or two at hand for October, because nothing goes better with his stories than trees slowly blushing red and gold, a hot whiskey toddy and a blanket scarf (and perhaps Rachel Bloom singing her masterpiece: www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IxOS4VzKM). “The October Country” is obviously the perfect short story collection for the first crisp autumn days (or evenings), as it is stuffed with creepy and macabre settings and characters. The magic of Bradbury’s prose works its spell from the first page, and sent more than a few chills down my spine as I traveled through this country “where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist”.
Something about Bradbury’s stories gives me the kind of sharp little pain that only the very best writers can make their readers feel, a quick cut that will leave us changed. But there is also a gentle warmth that keeps that pain from being too much: you might be unsettled reading some of his stories, but you also trust that he will keep you safe. As I explored this collection, I went from smiling, to wincing, to wide-eyed shock, to tears, and then back to smiling.
“The Jar”, “The Lake”, “The Emissary” and "The Scythe" are stand outs that contain humor, terror, loss, love and wistful longing for the past in equal parts. I was surprised by “The Small Assassin” which is the creepiest post-partum depression story I have ever read, and really freaked me out. The little ambiguous note with which each tale concludes feels like Bradbury giving me a wink and a self-satisfied giggle as I hide my face behind my scarf after reading the last sentence. The man was a truly virtuoso at playing with his readers’ emotions.
There are some weaker stories in there, but not a bad one as far as I am concerned. I will be revisiting this one, and I will always save it for this time of the year.
I always make sure to have a Bradbury book or two at hand for October, because nothing goes better with his stories than trees slowly blushing red and gold, a hot whiskey toddy and a blanket scarf (and perhaps Rachel Bloom singing her masterpiece: www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IxOS4VzKM). “The October Country” is obviously the perfect short story collection for the first crisp autumn days (or evenings), as it is stuffed with creepy and macabre settings and characters. The magic of Bradbury’s prose works its spell from the first page, and sent more than a few chills down my spine as I traveled through this country “where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist”.
Something about Bradbury’s stories gives me the kind of sharp little pain that only the very best writers can make their readers feel, a quick cut that will leave us changed. But there is also a gentle warmth that keeps that pain from being too much: you might be unsettled reading some of his stories, but you also trust that he will keep you safe. As I explored this collection, I went from smiling, to wincing, to wide-eyed shock, to tears, and then back to smiling.
“The Jar”, “The Lake”, “The Emissary” and "The Scythe" are stand outs that contain humor, terror, loss, love and wistful longing for the past in equal parts. I was surprised by “The Small Assassin” which is the creepiest post-partum depression story I have ever read, and really freaked me out. The little ambiguous note with which each tale concludes feels like Bradbury giving me a wink and a self-satisfied giggle as I hide my face behind my scarf after reading the last sentence. The man was a truly virtuoso at playing with his readers’ emotions.
There are some weaker stories in there, but not a bad one as far as I am concerned. I will be revisiting this one, and I will always save it for this time of the year.
So incredibly imaginative and well written. While often clearly written by a straight white guy from another era, the prose, the poetry of his mind, fleeting strange thoughts become stories. He found his calling. A must read author for anyone who loves to read. Also, it's sci-fi horror, FYI. :)
I should have come to expect it by now, but the consistency of Ray Bradbury's work always surprises me. I'm still waiting to run across a bad book by him. The consistent quality of Bradbury's writing is well illustrated by this collection which, among its 19 stories, includes very few weak spots. As is always the case, Bradbury is a poet at heart, but the concise forms he works in preclude any meandering, thus broadening his appeal. The loose themes around which most of these stories revolve are decay and death, but Bradbury has the inexplicable gift of imbuing his subjects with a striking amiability. And he knows just when and how to pepper the grotesque with the humorous.
This collection of short stories from 1955 does, however, illustrates how frustrating it can be to track down all of Bradbury's works. Of the 19 stories contained in "The October Country," 15 of them were drawn from "Dark Carnival," a collection published in 1947. (Some of these stories were purportedly revised, although I haven't attempted a comparison.) In addition, four more previously unantholgized stories were also included in "The October Country." As a result, Bradbury's short story collections can, on occasion, seem a bit scattershot. But this is a minor quibble, since I can generally pick up Bradbury's works in excellent condition for a pittance at the local used book store.
This collection of short stories from 1955 does, however, illustrates how frustrating it can be to track down all of Bradbury's works. Of the 19 stories contained in "The October Country," 15 of them were drawn from "Dark Carnival," a collection published in 1947. (Some of these stories were purportedly revised, although I haven't attempted a comparison.) In addition, four more previously unantholgized stories were also included in "The October Country." As a result, Bradbury's short story collections can, on occasion, seem a bit scattershot. But this is a minor quibble, since I can generally pick up Bradbury's works in excellent condition for a pittance at the local used book store.