The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury's Mars is a place of hope, dreams and metaphor - of crystal pillars and fossil seas - where a fine dust settles on the great, empty cities of a silently destroyed civilization. It is here the invaders have come to despoil and commercialize, to grow and to learn - first a trickle, then a torrent, rushing from a world with no future toward a promise of tomorrow. The Earthman conquers Mars...and then is conquered by it, lulled by dangerous lies of comfort and familiarity, and enchanted by the lingering glamour of an ancient, mysterious native race.
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
Since I tag all the books I read, and I added a bunch of books I read pre-Goodreads, I know that I've read a little over a 100 science fiction books. This one had so many ideas and such a different approach than others I've read - and it was really good! I'll be thinking about many of these stories for a long time.
People rave about Ray Bradbury, and this novel in particular, so I wanted to read it. I am glad that I now have, but his writing style is not one of my favourites. This was, however, an interesting and thought-provoking read. It is true that Bradbury’s ideas and concepts were way ahead of his time. It is humorous, though, how some of his imaginings of the future are spot on (a house with an “Alexa” and robot vacuum cleaners) and some are just ludicrous (no spoilers!) His account begins in January 2030 which, at the time of writing, must have seemed so far away (but not so far off at the time of writing this). Other reviewers have mentioned that this is less of a sci-fi piece and more of a commentary on the nature of humankind. I would be inclined to agree. I would argue that Bradbury focuses more on the negatives of what might happen if humans were to settle on another planet which already contains life. However, part of me fears that would be, unfortunately, closer to the truth than my hope that love, kindness and empathy might dominate our actions and choices when dealing with alien neighbours. That made me feel quite sad. The end of the book is meant to offer a glimmer of hope for the future, but for me it did not - the devastation that has occurred beforehand is just too depressing.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.