After reading such pleasant novels and anthologies by Ray Bradbury as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man, I was excited to pick up a copy of the Bradbury anthology The Golden Apples of the Sun from my library. While I had found some of the short stories in the previous books I had read slightly boring, the majority of them were good, Twilight Zone-type stories. I was expecting The Golden Apples of the Sun to please me just as much.
Sadly, this was not the case.
Most of the stories in the book were quite drab, with no interesting plot or twists that many of The Illustrated Man's stories had. Some of the stories seemed to have a lot of potential for a science fiction author like Bradbury to write something exciting, but they fell quite short of the cut. Regardless of many of the stories' lack of enthusiasm, three stories that I found quite appealing were "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl," "The Murderer," and "Hail and Farewell."
In "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl," Acton is at Huxley's house because he thinks the latter is cheating on his wife. The story opens with Acton standing over Huxley's corpse, shot by Acton's gun. As Acton is cleaning up the evidence, he notices some fingerprints on the house--fingerprints of his. He sees himself surely being caught and condemned for the murder if any of his fingerprints were found, so he starts polishing them off. And he does not stop. He keeps polishing, polishing, polishing....
The way Bradbury writes this story, it truly makes it seem like Acton is a normal man who was pushed to his limits by Huxley one time too many, and was not a cold-blooded murderer. The way he describes Acton's actions after the death is thrilling and chilling.
"The Murderer" is another great story. A psychologist walks through a large, clean office building while being serenaded by the sounds of today: telephones, music, computers, or other electronics. When he reaches a small room where his patient is waiting, he sees that the radio has been removed from the wall and broken. His patient, who calls himself "The Murderer," has not killed a single person. Rather, he has destroyed numerous technological items. The Murderer was upset with modern society's constant need for communication, where some of his friends call him for no apparent reason except to talk. So, he decided to destroy technology.
One of the reasons "The Murderer" stands out from the others is that Bradbury's portrait of a completely sane, normal man who suddenly has reached his point of intolerance with society is so realistic. The Murderer gave his rationale for each vandalism of his calmly and coolly, to the point where he is actually the hero of the story, and not the innocent psychiatrist.
"Hail and Farewell" concerns Willie, a young boy of twelve years old living in a Southern town. He has only lived there a few years, Willie never stays in one place for very long. In fact, one of the only things consistent with Willie is his age. Willie does not grow older. He stays in a town with a nice family for just as long as it takes for people to start talking about how the other boys grew right past him, and then he walks away, with barely anything at all.
This story is a great one because it shows the trouble with having one of the most-wished for blessings: the ability to never age. Willie can never have good friends because he has to move away very quickly. Bradbury describes well Willie's internal pain and grief, and also his physical conditions and needs.
Despite the fact that these three stories were great, many of the other nineteen were not very good or intriguing at all. The anthology fell short of Bradbury's ability, and should not be used as a judge for his prowess with writing.
Grade: 5
Sadly, this was not the case.
Most of the stories in the book were quite drab, with no interesting plot or twists that many of The Illustrated Man's stories had. Some of the stories seemed to have a lot of potential for a science fiction author like Bradbury to write something exciting, but they fell quite short of the cut. Regardless of many of the stories' lack of enthusiasm, three stories that I found quite appealing were "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl," "The Murderer," and "Hail and Farewell."
In "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl," Acton is at Huxley's house because he thinks the latter is cheating on his wife. The story opens with Acton standing over Huxley's corpse, shot by Acton's gun. As Acton is cleaning up the evidence, he notices some fingerprints on the house--fingerprints of his. He sees himself surely being caught and condemned for the murder if any of his fingerprints were found, so he starts polishing them off. And he does not stop. He keeps polishing, polishing, polishing....
The way Bradbury writes this story, it truly makes it seem like Acton is a normal man who was pushed to his limits by Huxley one time too many, and was not a cold-blooded murderer. The way he describes Acton's actions after the death is thrilling and chilling.
"The Murderer" is another great story. A psychologist walks through a large, clean office building while being serenaded by the sounds of today: telephones, music, computers, or other electronics. When he reaches a small room where his patient is waiting, he sees that the radio has been removed from the wall and broken. His patient, who calls himself "The Murderer," has not killed a single person. Rather, he has destroyed numerous technological items. The Murderer was upset with modern society's constant need for communication, where some of his friends call him for no apparent reason except to talk. So, he decided to destroy technology.
One of the reasons "The Murderer" stands out from the others is that Bradbury's portrait of a completely sane, normal man who suddenly has reached his point of intolerance with society is so realistic. The Murderer gave his rationale for each vandalism of his calmly and coolly, to the point where he is actually the hero of the story, and not the innocent psychiatrist.
"Hail and Farewell" concerns Willie, a young boy of twelve years old living in a Southern town. He has only lived there a few years, Willie never stays in one place for very long. In fact, one of the only things consistent with Willie is his age. Willie does not grow older. He stays in a town with a nice family for just as long as it takes for people to start talking about how the other boys grew right past him, and then he walks away, with barely anything at all.
This story is a great one because it shows the trouble with having one of the most-wished for blessings: the ability to never age. Willie can never have good friends because he has to move away very quickly. Bradbury describes well Willie's internal pain and grief, and also his physical conditions and needs.
Despite the fact that these three stories were great, many of the other nineteen were not very good or intriguing at all. The anthology fell short of Bradbury's ability, and should not be used as a judge for his prowess with writing.
Grade: 5
No comments:
Post a Comment