Reviews

Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales by Ray Bradbury

cj_jones's review

3.0

I should not have tried to read this all at once. "100" is a lot of stories, and I should have done it in 20 story bursts. As it is, I feel a little bloated.

ailurolily's review

Meh. I read the first 13 stories and just couldn't really get into it. I'm not going to give up on him entirely just yet, though. Tons of people recommend reading his other collections like Dandelion Wine or Illustrated man before this one so I'll definitely give those a try before forming an opinion of him as an author.

booksaremyjam's review

4.0

I adore Bradbury. If you don't, don't bother. But the future he has dreamed up is chilling, and I eat up every word.

bufally47's review

3.0

I'm thinking now that this wasn't the best Bradbury option to start with. Some of the stories are (of course) phenomenal but some were so bad they made me blush -- very hit and miss. I liked that even his science fiction stories were about human behavior and by no means over-the-top. He writes a lot about mania, the virtue of superstition, and (less to my intrigue) literary characters in anachronistic settings. I'm jealous that his prose, despite seeming almost minimalistic, is often rich and searing, cutting right to the heart of the sentiment described.

My favorites: The Visitor, By the Numbers!, The Square Pegs, A Far-Away Guitar, A Blade of Grass, June 2001: And the Moon Be Still as Bright.

melancholymegs's review

challenging dark inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Violence

hjswinford's review

5.0

This is a astounding collection of bRAdburY's short stories. One of the most amazing writers of our time. Everyone should read him. And that is what I think.

buttchinbookchin's review

5.0

This book is what sold me on short stories. While I would not recommend this anthology for a first-time reader of Bradbury's works, as their anachronistic presentation of stories apart from their larger subtext is confusing, it does portray them as the standalone masterpieces they are. I spent a month reading this book two years ago, and the stories are still as vivid in my mind as they were then. Although these stories may appear as science fiction at face value, Bradbury proves himself to be a true master of depicting the chaos and decadence of the time of the Silent generation, with the ceaseless war and omnipresent terror of nuclear Armageddon.

Be sure to read Edgar Allan Poe and Ernest Hemingway before this. There's a lot of allusion to them you won't catch, and they're what started me down the rabbit hole.

scarlettletters's review

4.0

I like a lot of Ray Bradbury's stories. What I didn't realize is that he had so many that weren't really science fiction. He has a lot of childhood/summer type stories that really evoke nonexistant memories. My favorites will always be the ones included in the Martian Chronicles, but this book had a good mix of several different genres.

bleap's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

tesskt's review

adventurous challenging inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective slow-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? It's complicated

4.0