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Cecily's Reviews > The Martian Chronicles
The Martian Chronicles
by
by
Cecily's review
bookshelves: scifi-future-speculative-fict, humour, colonialism-exploration-empires, landscape-location-protagonist, mental-health-victorian-madness, solitary-protagonist, god-religion-faith, race-people-of-colour, survivalist
Jan 10, 2021
bookshelves: scifi-future-speculative-fict, humour, colonialism-exploration-empires, landscape-location-protagonist, mental-health-victorian-madness, solitary-protagonist, god-religion-faith, race-people-of-colour, survivalist
Forget the sci-fi label. This is magnificent, seductive storytelling that just happens to be set mostly on Mars. It’s beautiful, brilliant, startling. It drips with deliciously poetic imagery (and references great poets/poems). It raises profound questions, uses odd analogies, and features dark tragedy, comedy, big ideas, and interesting plots.
At times, the weird unreality reminded me of Jabberwocky: I understood, even when it shouldn’t quite make sense.
It comprises more than a dozen, almost self-contained, short stories that tell a broader, chronological story of human colonisation of Mars, and the consequences for individuals and societies of both species on both planets. (The practicalities of how humans settle so thoroughly on Mars, in huge numbers, in a short timeframe, are ludicrous, but irrelevant.) The broad warnings about the worst instincts of our race are still true and relevant. In addition, there is one, or sometimes two, short vignettes before each main chronicle.
Image: Panoramic version of cover art (Source.)
Ponder
Reality: How can you distinguish the extraordinary from the impossible; reality from hallucination, madness, or wishful thinking from the truth? How do you prove your sanity, your story, your existence? (Topical in a time of conspiracy theories.) If I met an alien, would I believe them or question myself?
Science and religion: What happens when science makes religion redundant?
“If art was no more than a frustrated outflinging of desire, if religion was no more than self-delusion, what good was life?”
The moral is that:
“Science ran too far ahead of us too quickly.”
Telepathy: Creative ways to use it to project alternative realities.
Colonialism: Bradbury balances the excitement of exploration and fresh starts against the dangers of colonisation: infectious disease, deadly misunderstandings, and cultural imperialism/destruction. Renaming places after the invaders’ heroes is “A kind of imported blasphemy”, where you “bludgeon away all the strangeness”. The characters of colour are most sympathetic to their potential impact on Mars and Martians.
The possibility of return has practical and psychological consequences for individuals and the extent to which they "settle". What happens if the choice is suddenly about to disappear?
Missionaries: Religion and colonialism collide in missionary work.
“Shouldn’t we solve our own sins on Earth?”
Man always makes God in his own image, or rather, the image of those to be converted, so it needs to be tweaked on a new world. That offers the exciting prospect of discovering new sins on a new planet, but is the one Truth thereby diluted and invalidated? (See also my review of Michel Faber’s The Book of Strange New Things, HERE.)
The main chronicles
I’ve omitted the short scene-setting pieces between the main ones, though they are exquisite in their own way.
The years are those in my copy (which omits Usher II), but in some editions, 31 years was added to each of them.
Ylla (February 1999)
A Martian couple live in a beautiful home, but are enduring a declining marriage on a declining planet. Her premonition of what’s to come alarms her husband.
The Earth Men (August 1999)
Humans arrive, expecting a triumphant welcome, but they’re passed from one uninterested person to another: “Maybe we could go out and come in again”. It felt like a Monty Python sketch, until the dark twist.
The Third Expedition (April 2000)
Mind games have dramatic consequences.
And the Moon Be Still as Bright (June 2001)
Tension arises when some of the fourth expedition trash cultural artefacts. Others are respectful of this new world and want to preserve it, and even go native - but at what cost?
"We Earth Men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things."
The Green Morning (December 2001)
The power of one person to make a difference. (See The forest man of India.)
Night Meeting (August 2002)
A construction worker encounters a retired man who loves what’s different about Mars.
“If you can’t take Mars for what she is, you might as well go back to Earth.”
The man also says “even time is crazy up here”, foreshadowing the worker’s next encounter, where the boundaries of before and after, alive and dead, are unclear.
The Fire Balloons (November 2002)
The dilemmas of being a missionary on an alien world, and whether you can be alive, let alone have a soul, without a corporeal body.
Way in the Middle of the Air (June 2003)
Black Lives Matter! To escape racism and bonded labour, many of the African-Americans of a southern town depart for Mars:
“Between the blazing white banks for the town stores, among the tree silences, a black tide flowed.”
Their white masters are enraged, casually express racist ideas in racist terms, and try to force them to stay.
"Every day they got more rights... anti-lynchin' bills, and all kinds of rights. What more do they want? They make almost as good money as a white man."
The black people leave their few and meagre possessions behind, "placed like little abandoned shrines", as if they had suddenly taken up in the Rapture.
Bradbury's good intent is clear, but some of his descriptions rely on stereotypes that sound offkey today ("a round water-melon head").
Usher II (April 2005)
Subversive dystopian comedy that's also a tribute to Poe's Fall of the House of Usher. I reviewed it HERE.
The Martian (September 2005)
A middle-aged couple regret that they left the body of their dead son on Earth. It's a heartbreaking story of parental grief and the power of believing what one wants to believe.
“If you can’t have the reality a dream is just as good”. But is it?
The Off Season (November 2005)
Staking everything on the imminent influx of thousands of new settlers and jumping to conclusions about a Martian’s intent. Then they see a terrible sight in the sky that will change everything.
Image: Sam's Hot Dogs by Les Edwards (Source)
The Watchers (November 2005)
Bizarre. (view spoiler). I wouldn’t!
The Silent Towns (December 2005)
Comedy (but based on unflattering gender stereotypes). If you were the only man in the world and I were the only girl… I might still prefer to be single.
The Long Years (April 2026)
The lengths people go to when surviving for years, cut off from others. Is Hathaway’s solution a sign of madness or a way of preserving a degree of sanity?
There Will Come Soft Rains (August 2026)
The title is from an anti-war poem by Sara Teasdale, here, written during WW1.
Bradbury writes an initially comic (computerised Heath Robinson) and very cinematographic scene that felt disorientingly different from the previous chronicles. But it arises from the horrific cinders of a nuclear explosion. An automated house continues its programmed routines of preparing meals, cleaning, watering the lawn, playing films, running baths, reading favourite poems - all for people who aren’t there. People whose shadows were captured on a wall, in a moment: mowing the lawn, picking flowers, tossing a ball.
Image: Shadows on the wall (Source)
It's worth browsing YouTube for the many short amateur animations this has inspired. Given that Bradbury wrote the story, afraid of nuclear war with the USSR, a Russian one was notable, and also for its imagery that might shock some Christians. Many of the others were too cutesy, and without enough humour or horror, imo. Oddly, only one of the half-dozen I watched included the most memorable image of all, but I didn't like its hybrid visuals: photos with cartoonish animation superimposed, intercut with real world video. That one is here.
The Million-Year Picnic (October 2026)
Hope for new Martians, a new Adam and Eve.
Quotes
Like Fahrenheit 451 (see my review HERE), rain, and fire recur in exquisite descriptions; wine is added to the mix here.
Beauty
• “They had a house of crystal pillars… by the edge of an empty sea.”
• “The old canals filled with emptiness and dreams.”
• "The ship... came from the stars, and the black velocities, and the shining movements, and the silent gulfs of space… It had moved in the midnight waters of space like a pale sea leviathan."
• Wouldn't you love to live in a "gentle house" or one with "whispering pillars of rain" that closes itself in “like a giant flower, with the passing of the light”?
• “The stars… were sewn into his flesh like scintillas swallowed into the thin, phosphorus membrane of a gelatinous sea-fish.”
• “The wind blew at her and, like an image on cold water, she rippled, silk standing out from her frail body in tatters of blue rain.”
• “The fire… fed upon Picassos and Matisses… like delicacies, baking off the oily flesh, tenderly crisping the canvases into black shavings.”
Analogies
• “The flame birds waited, like a bed of coals, glowing on the cool smooth sands.”
• “Up and down the green wine-canals, boats as delicate as bronze flowers drifted.”
• “Sky was hot and still as warm deep sea-water.”
• “A dead, dreaming world.”
“The dreaming dead city.”
• “Spender filled the streets with his eyes and his mind.”
• “He… listened to the peaceful wonder of the valley.”
Ideas
• “Your insanity is beautifully complete.”
• "There was a smell of Time... 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 dripping down on hollow box-lids, and rain... Time looked like snow dropping silently into a black room… Tonight you could almost touch time."
• “Who wants to see the Future?... A man can face the Past.”
Homage?
I was reminded of this book by Becky Chambers' To Be Taught, If Fortunate, which I reviewed HERE.
At times, the weird unreality reminded me of Jabberwocky: I understood, even when it shouldn’t quite make sense.
It comprises more than a dozen, almost self-contained, short stories that tell a broader, chronological story of human colonisation of Mars, and the consequences for individuals and societies of both species on both planets. (The practicalities of how humans settle so thoroughly on Mars, in huge numbers, in a short timeframe, are ludicrous, but irrelevant.) The broad warnings about the worst instincts of our race are still true and relevant. In addition, there is one, or sometimes two, short vignettes before each main chronicle.
Image: Panoramic version of cover art (Source.)
Ponder
Reality: How can you distinguish the extraordinary from the impossible; reality from hallucination, madness, or wishful thinking from the truth? How do you prove your sanity, your story, your existence? (Topical in a time of conspiracy theories.) If I met an alien, would I believe them or question myself?
Science and religion: What happens when science makes religion redundant?
“If art was no more than a frustrated outflinging of desire, if religion was no more than self-delusion, what good was life?”
The moral is that:
“Science ran too far ahead of us too quickly.”
Telepathy: Creative ways to use it to project alternative realities.
Colonialism: Bradbury balances the excitement of exploration and fresh starts against the dangers of colonisation: infectious disease, deadly misunderstandings, and cultural imperialism/destruction. Renaming places after the invaders’ heroes is “A kind of imported blasphemy”, where you “bludgeon away all the strangeness”. The characters of colour are most sympathetic to their potential impact on Mars and Martians.
The possibility of return has practical and psychological consequences for individuals and the extent to which they "settle". What happens if the choice is suddenly about to disappear?
Missionaries: Religion and colonialism collide in missionary work.
“Shouldn’t we solve our own sins on Earth?”
Man always makes God in his own image, or rather, the image of those to be converted, so it needs to be tweaked on a new world. That offers the exciting prospect of discovering new sins on a new planet, but is the one Truth thereby diluted and invalidated? (See also my review of Michel Faber’s The Book of Strange New Things, HERE.)
The main chronicles
I’ve omitted the short scene-setting pieces between the main ones, though they are exquisite in their own way.
The years are those in my copy (which omits Usher II), but in some editions, 31 years was added to each of them.
Ylla (February 1999)
A Martian couple live in a beautiful home, but are enduring a declining marriage on a declining planet. Her premonition of what’s to come alarms her husband.
The Earth Men (August 1999)
Humans arrive, expecting a triumphant welcome, but they’re passed from one uninterested person to another: “Maybe we could go out and come in again”. It felt like a Monty Python sketch, until the dark twist.
The Third Expedition (April 2000)
Mind games have dramatic consequences.
And the Moon Be Still as Bright (June 2001)
Tension arises when some of the fourth expedition trash cultural artefacts. Others are respectful of this new world and want to preserve it, and even go native - but at what cost?
"We Earth Men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things."
The Green Morning (December 2001)
The power of one person to make a difference. (See The forest man of India.)
Night Meeting (August 2002)
A construction worker encounters a retired man who loves what’s different about Mars.
“If you can’t take Mars for what she is, you might as well go back to Earth.”
The man also says “even time is crazy up here”, foreshadowing the worker’s next encounter, where the boundaries of before and after, alive and dead, are unclear.
The Fire Balloons (November 2002)
The dilemmas of being a missionary on an alien world, and whether you can be alive, let alone have a soul, without a corporeal body.
Way in the Middle of the Air (June 2003)
Black Lives Matter! To escape racism and bonded labour, many of the African-Americans of a southern town depart for Mars:
“Between the blazing white banks for the town stores, among the tree silences, a black tide flowed.”
Their white masters are enraged, casually express racist ideas in racist terms, and try to force them to stay.
"Every day they got more rights... anti-lynchin' bills, and all kinds of rights. What more do they want? They make almost as good money as a white man."
The black people leave their few and meagre possessions behind, "placed like little abandoned shrines", as if they had suddenly taken up in the Rapture.
Bradbury's good intent is clear, but some of his descriptions rely on stereotypes that sound offkey today ("a round water-melon head").
Usher II (April 2005)
Subversive dystopian comedy that's also a tribute to Poe's Fall of the House of Usher. I reviewed it HERE.
The Martian (September 2005)
A middle-aged couple regret that they left the body of their dead son on Earth. It's a heartbreaking story of parental grief and the power of believing what one wants to believe.
“If you can’t have the reality a dream is just as good”. But is it?
The Off Season (November 2005)
Staking everything on the imminent influx of thousands of new settlers and jumping to conclusions about a Martian’s intent. Then they see a terrible sight in the sky that will change everything.
Image: Sam's Hot Dogs by Les Edwards (Source)
The Watchers (November 2005)
Bizarre. (view spoiler). I wouldn’t!
The Silent Towns (December 2005)
Comedy (but based on unflattering gender stereotypes). If you were the only man in the world and I were the only girl… I might still prefer to be single.
The Long Years (April 2026)
The lengths people go to when surviving for years, cut off from others. Is Hathaway’s solution a sign of madness or a way of preserving a degree of sanity?
There Will Come Soft Rains (August 2026)
The title is from an anti-war poem by Sara Teasdale, here, written during WW1.
Bradbury writes an initially comic (computerised Heath Robinson) and very cinematographic scene that felt disorientingly different from the previous chronicles. But it arises from the horrific cinders of a nuclear explosion. An automated house continues its programmed routines of preparing meals, cleaning, watering the lawn, playing films, running baths, reading favourite poems - all for people who aren’t there. People whose shadows were captured on a wall, in a moment: mowing the lawn, picking flowers, tossing a ball.
Image: Shadows on the wall (Source)
It's worth browsing YouTube for the many short amateur animations this has inspired. Given that Bradbury wrote the story, afraid of nuclear war with the USSR, a Russian one was notable, and also for its imagery that might shock some Christians. Many of the others were too cutesy, and without enough humour or horror, imo. Oddly, only one of the half-dozen I watched included the most memorable image of all, but I didn't like its hybrid visuals: photos with cartoonish animation superimposed, intercut with real world video. That one is here.
The Million-Year Picnic (October 2026)
Hope for new Martians, a new Adam and Eve.
Quotes
Like Fahrenheit 451 (see my review HERE), rain, and fire recur in exquisite descriptions; wine is added to the mix here.
Beauty
• “They had a house of crystal pillars… by the edge of an empty sea.”
• “The old canals filled with emptiness and dreams.”
• "The ship... came from the stars, and the black velocities, and the shining movements, and the silent gulfs of space… It had moved in the midnight waters of space like a pale sea leviathan."
• Wouldn't you love to live in a "gentle house" or one with "whispering pillars of rain" that closes itself in “like a giant flower, with the passing of the light”?
• “The stars… were sewn into his flesh like scintillas swallowed into the thin, phosphorus membrane of a gelatinous sea-fish.”
• “The wind blew at her and, like an image on cold water, she rippled, silk standing out from her frail body in tatters of blue rain.”
• “The fire… fed upon Picassos and Matisses… like delicacies, baking off the oily flesh, tenderly crisping the canvases into black shavings.”
Analogies
• “The flame birds waited, like a bed of coals, glowing on the cool smooth sands.”
• “Up and down the green wine-canals, boats as delicate as bronze flowers drifted.”
• “Sky was hot and still as warm deep sea-water.”
• “A dead, dreaming world.”
“The dreaming dead city.”
• “Spender filled the streets with his eyes and his mind.”
• “He… listened to the peaceful wonder of the valley.”
Ideas
• “Your insanity is beautifully complete.”
• "There was a smell of Time... 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 dripping down on hollow box-lids, and rain... Time looked like snow dropping silently into a black room… Tonight you could almost touch time."
• “Who wants to see the Future?... A man can face the Past.”
Homage?
I was reminded of this book by Becky Chambers' To Be Taught, If Fortunate, which I reviewed HERE.
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Reading Progress
September 16, 2016
– Shelved
September 16, 2016
– Shelved as:
to-read
December 29, 2020
–
Started Reading
December 29, 2020
– Shelved as:
scifi-future-speculative-fict
December 29, 2020
– Shelved as:
humour
December 29, 2020
– Shelved as:
colonialism-exploration-empires
December 29, 2020
– Shelved as:
landscape-location-protagonist
December 30, 2020
–
71.43%
""The ship... came from the stars, and the black velocities, and the shining movements, and the silent gulfs of space."
Beautiful poetic passages, with startlingly odd analogies. A "gentle house", "whispering pillars of rain", and listen "to the peaceful wonder of the valleys".
Not much science for sci-fi, but there are interesting plots, big ideas, humour, profound questions, and dark tragedy."
page
130
Beautiful poetic passages, with startlingly odd analogies. A "gentle house", "whispering pillars of rain", and listen "to the peaceful wonder of the valleys".
Not much science for sci-fi, but there are interesting plots, big ideas, humour, profound questions, and dark tragedy."
January 1, 2021
–
100.0%
"Unexpectedly, stunningly, oddly beautiful prose, with tragedy, comedy, plus profundity. Brilliant.
"There was a smell of Time... 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 dripping down on hollow box-lids, and rain... Time looked like snow dropping silently into a black room."
Review to come"
page
182
"There was a smell of Time... 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 dripping down on hollow box-lids, and rain... Time looked like snow dropping silently into a black room."
Review to come"
January 1, 2021
–
Finished Reading
January 10, 2021
– Shelved as:
mental-health-victorian-madness
January 10, 2021
– Shelved as:
solitary-protagonist
January 10, 2021
– Shelved as:
god-religion-faith
January 10, 2021
– Shelved as:
race-people-of-colour
April 10, 2021
– Shelved as:
survivalist
Comments Showing 1-50 of 82 (82 new)
message 1:
by
JimZ
(new)
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rated it 5 stars
Jul 04, 2020 05:27PM
I just read it today Cecily....was blown away by it...it was soooo good!
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JimZ wrote: "I just read it today Cecily....was blown away by it...it was soooo good!"I have read this, more than once, but not since I've been on GR, hence no review. However, in lockdown, I find myself reading more "comfort" books (humour and/or ones I enjoyed in my twenties) and short stories, so maybe it's time to pick this up again. Not immediately, as I've only just finished rereading a Wyndham collection, but soon.
I think I read this book at the wrong time for me--I'm going to give it another try some day. Coincidentally, I'm reading a Bradbury biography, so your review seems like a sign of some kind, Cecily.
Great review! Can’t wait to read this.
Samuel wrote: "Great review! Can’t wait to read this."Thanks, Samuel. I hope you enjoy the book itself.
Wanda wrote: "I think I read this book at the wrong time for me--I'm going to give it another try some day. Coincidentally, I'm reading a Bradbury biography, so your review seems like a sign of some kind, Cecily."Timing can make a big difference to how we react to books. It's something I'm increasingly conscious of. That said, for me, I'd enjoy this almost any time, and I'm not sure why I hadn't read it before now, other than a vague idea that I already had!
If you're currently reading about Bradbury, it certainly makes sense to try this again.
Also, as 451 is such a landmark work, have a look at Tinderbox. I'm not sure if it would be your thing, but at least read the blurb and a review or two.
Good review Cecily. After reading your review, I really feel like I need to read this book. I have liked most things I’ve read by Bradbury, so I’m going to read this one too.
Hákon wrote: "Good review Cecily. After reading your review, I really feel like I need to read this book. I have liked most things I’ve read by Bradbury, so I’m going to read this one too."Thanks, Hákon. If you've enjoyed his other work, I'm sure you'll enjoy this (and quite possibly even if you hadn't).
Enjoyed the review. One of my favorite books since high school.
Cecily, I enjoyed reading your wonderful review. I ought to dust the cobwebs from my old copy of this novel and re-read it.
Ken wrote: "Enjoyed the review. One of my favorite books since high school."Thanks, Ken, and I'm glad I've done justice to a long-time favourite of yours.
TBV wrote: "Cecily, I enjoyed reading your wonderful review. I ought to dust the cobwebs from my old copy of this novel and re-read it."Thanks, TBV. I'm sure the dusty cobwebs will add atmosphere, and it's definitely worth d getting down.
Cecily wrote: "Timing can make a big difference to how we react to books...."Yes. I have noticed this as well. There’s nothing like reading the right book at the right time to make you believe in the magic of books.
Susan wrote: "There’s nothing like reading the right book at the right time to make you believe in the magic of books."Exactly, and we all need some magic at the moment.
Beautiful review. I did read it a long time ago, when I was 19 y.o. and I was blown away by the poetic beauty of this masterpiece. I will definitely read it again.
I am sad that I lost my old copy of it some time ago.
WarpDrive wrote: "Beautiful review. I did read it a long time ago, when I was 19 y.o. and I was blown away by the poetic beauty of this masterpiece. I will definitely read it again...."
Thanks, and you won't regret rereading, I'm sure.
What a wonderful review, Cecily! I’ve been mesmerized by this book ever since I first read it in my teens, and it holds up on every reread. It’s truly a science fiction masterpiece that transcends the genre.
Beautiful review, Mrs! Now I remember "There Will Come Soft Rains" is often discussed on Reddit independently of The Martian Chronicles. Bradbury's prose is poetic yet the words are oddly simple, I mean more accessible than me ol' China Miéville's.
Terrific review, Cecily! I've heard so many good things about these stories.
You've convinced me to put it on my TBR ; I'll try to read it this year. Previously, I've read Fahrenheit 451 and one of his short stories Dark they were and golden eyed (which was included in our textbook) and quite liked them. And great review, as usual. You've got an excellent way to review short story collections as well!
Nataliya wrote: "What a wonderful review, Cecily! I’ve been mesmerized by this book ever since I first read it in my teens, and it holds up on every reread..."Thanks, Nataliya, as is yours (though I note we have different feelings about the sci-fi label - and that's OK).
Apatt wrote: "Beautiful review, Mrs! Now I remember "There Will Come Soft Rains" is often discussed on Reddit independently of The Martian Chronicles. Bradbury's prose is poetic yet the words are oddly simple, I mean more accessible than me ol' China Miéville's."Soft Rains was a surprise. It didn't quite "fit" with the others in tone and style or setting, but it was brilliant. And guess what, I'm currently reading your old China!
Connie wrote: "Terrific review, Cecily! I've heard so many good things about these stories."Even if you don't normally read sci-fi, give this book a go. It's beautiful and thought-provoking, but not in any way a difficult read.
Asma wrote: "You've convinced me to put it on my TBR... Previously, I've read Fahrenheit 451 and one of his short stories..."In which case, I'm sure you'll enjoy this. It has the poetry of the first part of 451, but is chunked up into almost separate short stories.
Asma wrote: "... And great review, as usual. You've got an excellent way to review short story collections as well!"
Thank you. It's tricky to say enough to be a useful aide memoir without giving too much away. I could use spoiler tags, but generally try not to because I think a lot of people avoid the whole review if contains a spoiler tag.
Cecily, your introductory paragraph alone makes this book sound incredibly enticing. Wow!
I read a lot of the classical SciFi when I was a teenager - this one I loved but oddly I am unable to get into Fahrenheit 451...Still, one musing on the cover art you showed. It depicts two individuals sitting unprotected on some structure contemplating the beauty of the landscape beneath them. Obviously, pioneering settlers on Mars would rely on biospheres and spacesuits at all times. So I am wondering whether humanity could ever truly call another planet 'home' unless that planet supports life without the need to wear protective gear permanently.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coloniz...
Nothing to do with the book or your evocative review, Cecily. Just a thought.
Wow a other stellar review Cecily, this one looks like a really busy piece - I love the references to Jabberwocky and Python!!! The images are great too - especially the first one. Too busy for me though at the moment - need to settle my mind :)
Cecily, What an absolutely wonderful review! I loved the quotes and everything about it. I'm ordering the book now!I'm a great lover of the idea of living on another planet and your review is so apt considering that Elon Musk - such a self-effacing individual - has been in the news recently including, amongst other things, his idea of sending a million or so people to Mars by the year 2050. How exciting! Surely it's not feasible though on such a hot planet? Still the wonders of literature and the human imagination allow anything to be possible.
If I ever had the possibility of being a tourist on a space craft going to a new planet, I would be there like a shot.
Laysee wrote: "Cecily, your introductory paragraph alone makes this book sound incredibly enticing. Wow!"Excellent! I know you don't usually read sci-fi, but this is truly not what you probably expect from the label - other than Mars and Martians.
What a marvelous review, Cecily! I've considered reading this book for some years now, but have neglected it. What I have come to learn about the best sci-fi novels are that they are not so much 'otherworldly' as they are merely different settings that allow for deep contemplation of some very thought-provoking topics. I'll get to this one as soon as I can!
This is such a great book, and you really showcase it's wonders with this review!
Mark wrote: "... one musing on the cover art you showed. It depicts two individuals sitting unprotected on some structure contemplating the beauty of the landscape beneath them. Obviously, pioneering settlers on Mars would rely on biospheres and spacesuits at all times. ..."It's actually a picture of Martians. But there is no mention of biomes or oxygen problems (beyond the air being a little "thin" for someone with weak heart/lungs). No logistical or supply problems at all. Martians' being telepathic removes another potential problem (though creates others). I know less was known about Mars back then, but that's what I meant about it not really being sci-fi.
Mark wrote: "Wow a other stellar review Cecily, this one looks like a really busy piece - I love the references to Jabberwocky and Python!!! The images are great too - especially the first one. Too busy for me ..."Thanks, Mark. The Jabberwocky link is probably just me, but I think plenty of Python fans would see something of that, especially in the chronicle I mention.
As for being busy, this might actually be a good book: it's not long, and easy to dip in an out of.
Lynne wrote: "Cecily, What an absolutely wonderful review! I loved the quotes and everything about it. I'm ordering the book now!...."Great! I hope you enjoy it. (I'm a bit nervous now, as I know my enthusiasm has led you astray before.)
Lynne wrote: "... I'm a great lover of the idea of living on another planet...
Surely it's not feasible though on such a hot planet? Still the wonders of literature and the human imagination allow anything to be possible..."
No such impediments in the 1940s and 1950s, plus Bradbury wasn't writing that sort of book!
Lynne wrote: "... If I ever had the possibility of being a tourist on a space craft going to a new planet, I would be there like a shot."
Good for you. I'm not brave enough to consider it until there are established settlements. But a short stint on the ISS would be cool.
Candi wrote: "What a marvelous review, Cecily! I've considered reading this book for some years now, but have neglected it. What I have come to learn about the best sci-fi novels are that they are not so much 'otherworldly' as they are merely different settings that allow for deep contemplation of some very thought-provoking topics..."Thanks, and yes, I heartily agree with your second point. Sure, some sci-fi is space pirates, intergalactic wars, and ogling at weird monsters, but there's plenty that is far more about us as humans. The space angle just puts people in a different environment that exposes certain strengths and weaknesses that are in most of us, individually, and at a societal level.
Gabrielle wrote: "This is such a great book, and you really showcase it's wonders with this review!"Thanks, Gabrielle. I loved it and am glad you did too.
Cecily,I couldn't agree more. I LOVE this book, and I wish readers would not turn away, suspecting "science fiction." I was thrilled with your opening line here. That's exactly right.
I’m a big Bradbury fan but strangely haven’t read this book yet. To date, my favourite is Something Wicked This Way Comes - magical stuff! Have you come across his poem ‘Remembrance’? I saw him read it on an arts program many years ago and it lodged itself in my memory :) (I found it again on google recently)
Loved your review btw!
Julie wrote: "Cecily, I couldn't agree more. I LOVE this book, and I wish readers would not turn away, suspecting "science fiction." I was thrilled with your opening line here. That's exactly right."Thanks so much. And it's good to know from your own review that Bradbury agreed about not wanting the sci-fi label.
Richard wrote: "I’m a big Bradbury fan but strangely haven’t read this book yet..."Oh, do read it. It's hugely varied and enjoyable, in possibly unexpected way.
Richard wrote: "... Have you come across his poem ‘Remembrance’?..."
I hadn't, but I just found it here: http://holyjoe.org/poetry/bradbury.htm
So thank you.
Richard wrote: "... Loved your review btw!"
Thank you for that too.
What a stellar review. I just read this for the first time a few weeks ago and loved it. Bradbury is just a gorgeous—and brutal—writer. My edition has Usher II but leaves out The Fire Balloons. However, it’s in my edition of The Illustrated Man. And leaving it out is interesting because missionary work is always a huge part of any colonization enterprise. But the aliens are rather different than in most of the other stories. Anyway... love your thoughts here.
Susan wrote: "What a stellar review. I just read this for the first time a few weeks ago and loved it..."Thanks, and so I see.
Susan wrote: "... Bradbury is just a gorgeous—and brutal—writer. My edition has Usher II but leaves out The Fire Balloons. However, it’s in my edition of The Illustrated Man..."
Most of the chronicles have been published as standalone short stories, but it's odd that "The Martian Chronicles" itself is not consistent in which ones it includes. I'll have to track down Usher II.
You have me salivating for more Ray Bradbury. I read this many years ago, but would almost certainly appreciate it even more now. Crazy good review, Cecily.
Zoeytron wrote: "You have me salivating for more Ray Bradbury. I read this many years ago, but would almost certainly appreciate it even more now. Crazy good review, Cecily."Excellent. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Thanks, Zoeytron.
Swaroop Kanti wrote: "Cecily, Brilliant review - thank you! So true, this book is much more than a "Science Fiction"."I'm glad you're enjoying it too - just a shame we didn't realise in time to consider a buddy read. I look forward to your thoughts when you finish.
Thanks for pushing this to next on my tbr. I am such a fanboy of Ray, and I never read this. :(
Riku wrote: "Thanks for pushing this to next on my tbr. I am such a fanboy of Ray, and I never read this. :("If you're already a fan, it's an even safer bet. You have a treat in store.
Perfect wording to describe this book as a whole, Cecily, and also in its parts. You remind me of the progress that the stories make - the not our home that became a home, and not without its affect on others. Still thought provoking to think about.
Ron wrote: "Perfect wording to describe this book as a whole, Cecily, and also in its parts. You remind me of the progress that the stories make - the not our home that became a home, and not without its affect on others..."Thanks, Ron - though your "the not our home that became a home, and not without its affect on others" is even neater,
Excellent and most comprehensive review! Thanks Cecily. It is far too long since I read this collection (under its English title of The Silver Locusts). I agree totally with your first sentence, and could apply this to several of my favourites. But then, perhaps it shows that such labels are rarely helpful.
I wonder if you remember the TV series of this, with Rock Hudson.
