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Ray Bradbury Message Board


Bethany T. UMD posts on 5/16/2008 4:04:47 PM I, along with almost everyone else, was also surprised at how well I liked the book. At first it was a struggle for me to understand, as the storyline covers a great deal of time, with many gaps in between described events. They seemed entirely unrelated, which I am not used to when reading an author's work. The scene that perhaps caught my attention the most, was the scene described as the "intelligent house" tried to keep itself from being destroyed, while maintaining the daily program. The descriptions were so vivid that I could see the scene play out in my mind with such detail that it was almost like watching it happen in person. I am interested to know which parts caught others attention. Is there a favorite that we all might agree on?
Meghan posts on 5/16/2008 12:56:20 AM Like others who have posted about how surprised they were in how much they liked the book, I must agree. I thought that Bradbury's writing was something quite beautiful. He has a sense of brevity and solemnity that I've never quite encountered before. The settings of these stories, the overwhelming sadness and truth that exists in the plight of each characters, and the overall tone of the book is very moving and quite deep. I think that the main thing I've gained in reading my first science fiction book is that science fiction is actually very much a representation of true life. In fact, it's exactly that. The characters in science fiction can be a million lightyears away or a different being than a human in every way, but the writers still convey the same types of saddening realities that are so common in our own world. For me, personally, these realities strike closer to home for me than other types of writing (non-science fiction, like regular fiction). I was quite intrigued by Bradbury's writing.
Ana Curkovic posts on 5/12/2008 5:42:26 PM Not having read the Martian Chronicles before I was really skeptical going into the book. I was surprised with how much I actually liked the book. I thought the stories were a forewarning for the possible future of our planet but I also thought that the problems in the book that humans face parallel issues that we have in our world today. Nuclear weapons are very much a reality in our society and they are an issue that could ultimately destroy our planet.



shauna posts on 5/12/2008 4:52:56 PM I really enjoyed "The Martian Chronicles". It brought into perspective the greediness and lack of empathy that humans can portray. Many of the humans who landed on Mars were afraid of the Martians and wanted to kill them off. Instead of learning from them, they feared their intelligence and did not consider trying to live in peace with them. I think many of the Martians felt the same way about the Earth men; they feared that they would take over and destroy their planet. And ultimately, that is what happened. I think this book really brings light to the fact that humans can get too caught up with ruling their land and obtaining great wealth. For example, Sam did not care that his wife and he were alone with their hot dog stand once the Martians gave him half their land. All he cared about was that he was going to be rich once the Earth men came and saw his hot dog stand. Overall, I think Bradbury did a wonderful job of portraying today's man's desires.
dfdfh posts on 5/6/2008 3:43:10 PM people go on erin hunter which you can pretend your a cat and you are in a clan which there is only four clans so ya
Cindy H posts on 5/6/2008 1:34:52 PM Like some other posters, I was at first put off by the conglomeration of stories that didn't quite match up, and I was just confused in general about what was happening in the very beginning. The Martian Chronicles was written at a time when so little was known, and the possibilities were endless. For all anyone knew, Bradbury could have been unintentionally writing a history book for Mars, besides of course the Earth and human aspect. Life on Mars could have been exactly as he described it, and we just had no idea. I also find it interesting that, as time went on, humans had less and less regard for the Martians. At first, we tried to make contact, to say "hey, we're from earth, let's learn about each other!" But the Martians thought the earthlings were crazy, and there was the end of that expedition. By the next one, most of the Martians seem to be dead, and it's our fault - they couldn't deal with the chicken pox the previous expedition apparently brought with them. But no one seems to really care. It seems more of an attitude of "oh well, now the planet is empty and we can do with it what we want!" Why is it that we almost always try to eradicate whatever alien species we encounter? For that matter, why are most alien species portrayed as evil and in need of eradication? The Martians certainly were not deserving of their fate, but it seems we're always killing aliens off in science fiction, whether they deserve it or not.
toone003 posts on 5/5/2008 9:34:14 PM I think that this book really is almost a history of our own country. There are many relations between the what happened with the Native Americans and the Aliens on Mars. The humans seemed very peaceful that were going to the planet and had good intentions but in the end they killed off the aliens. I only wonder if like at the end of the book will earth go down like it does in this book.
Ryan Vuchetich posts on 4/29/2008 4:31:16 PM I was a little confused when I first began reading this book. I didn't know a single thing about the book and was thrown off by how it jumped around and so often. At points in the beginning I wasn't sure what was really happening in the book and what wasn't actually happening. Once I realized what was going on I thought the book was an excellent story to read about what they thought it would be like in the year 2000. It would be a very interesting world if Ray Bradbury's book had actually come true.
Clay Sharkey posts on 4/25/2008 11:16:46 PM When I started reading this book, I was a little thrown off by the many vantage points the book used. Almost every chapter displayed the story of the colonization of Mars from different view point. At the beginning, I did not like it, because it was difficult to sort things out and know which people felt which ways, but as I neared closer to the end of the book my view also changed. The format of the book showed how many ways the same event can be viewed. In the case of the coin toss, one side of the coin faces up into the bright world; whereas as a result of the same toss, the opposing side of the coin is in complete darkness. In most books the audience acts sort of like a ghost that follows one single character around. In Martian Chronicles, the audience acts like the ghost I just discussed, but instead of following one particular character around, they get to follow many different characters from many different, and sometimes apposing, views. The format of this book really displays why Ray Bradbury is considered one of the top science fiction authors of the last century.
palaz010 posts on 4/22/2008 11:27:51 PM I can't believe how much I enjoyed reading The Martian Chronicles. Nothing that I expected. A lot of the issues we are still faced with today. Some of the issues that Bradbury brings up are censorship, colonization, and bureaucracy. I really liked "June 2001: -and the Moon Be Still as Bright." Spender felt that the Martian's were living in an almost Utopian Society, and he didn't want to see Earthlings come and ruin it. I felt sorry for the Martians just as another who posted. Why does it seem that Americans just want to take everything and change everyone so that they will gain the most benefit no matter who is harmed? I was surprised that a Martian could be killed with a gun.
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