[.ca] The Golden Apples of the Sun (ISBN 0380730391)

Not up to Bradbury's high standards:
Short story master Ray Bradbury presents 22 offerings variously set in ancient times, in out-of-the-way rustic hills, and in modern cities of Europe and the Americas, but never really seems to hit his stride. While best known for such science fiction classics as The Martian Chronicles and the short novel Fahrenheit 451, a significant portion of Bradbury's output is not very sci-fi, and sometimes scarcely even qualifies as fantasy. First and last, Bradbury's stories are about human emotion, and the setting (be it Mars, Hollywood, or ancient China) merely facilitates the drama for the disturbingly familiar players. The few science fiction stories in this collection are not very notable. "The Pedestrian" is probably the best, with its strong statement about the rights of the individual. "Embroidery" shows three elderly women trying to create beauty in a world that is crashing around them and so demonstrates Bradbury's penchant for female characters as well as mature ones. Women's inner strength is also the subject of "The Wilderness" which would fit nicely into the Martian Chronicles collection except that it isn't quite powerful enough. "A Sound of Thunder" is a very conventional time travel tale that reads like Bradbury imitating Asimov, while "The Golden Apples of the Sun" is the re-telling of an ancient fable in the style of Arthur C. Clarke. The few fantasies are an odd mixture, but only the lonesome sea monster of "The Foghorn" makes any real impression. Combined, the sci-fi and fantasy pieces make up only about half of this volume's 22 stories; the other half consists of Bradbury's brief glimpses of the real world. The most memorable is probably "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" in which a murderer tries to clean up the stain of his crime, but most of the others are all-too forgettable. Readers will page through tales of bureaucratic indifference, racial bigotry, the tragedy of illiteracy, but always the main theme is loneliness, loneliness, loneliness. Bradbury's hushed narrative voice is perfect for these kinds of stories, but readers of sci-fi and fantasy may come away less than delighted. This book feels like a grab bag of stories that didn't make it into any other collections, and really isn't quite up to the author's usually high standard. Devoted fans will surely enjoy these stories, but few will be impressed by the strength of this collection alone. Those anxious to discover this fine writer's work would do better to look into the above-mentioned novels, or else the wonderful Machineries of Joy, which shows the author's skill with short stories to much better advantage.

writing cannot get any greater:
Ray Bradbury is one of the few writers I have read who has been able to successfully capture or draw out emotions every time, whether it be sadness, love, excitement, fear, the list goes on... He has mastered what it takes to write a short story that will affect the reader or make them think, not only in this book, but in all other collections of his I have read. His writing style should be one that all writers of any caliber strive to achieve.

great book!!!:
i read this book so many times by now and i still fall in love with it every time i read a story in it!!! he is really one of the best writers, and this is one of his best books!! buy it and see for youself.

Strong Collection, but Not Extraordinary:
I've read mostly all of Bradbury's lengthier fiction repretoire, and have only begun dipping into his collections of short stories. As a writer during the "Golden Age" of science fiction, Bradbury is unsurpassed: All at once, he manages to show the reader a future of hope, of surprise and of brightness. His writing style is simple and terse, and it takes some time to get used to the cadance with which he writes. One of the aspects I've always appreciated about Bradbury's writing is that his stories extend beyond the "science fiction" genre. Encapsulated within the SF exterior, Bradbury manages to capture portraits of humanity - throughout all of his stories, it is apparent that he prescribes to the idea that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Thus, while he writes about space travel and other fantastical subjects, he retains a sense of humanity which transcends the differences in environment. Without a doubt, my favorite story in this anthology is "R is for Rocket." This story alone is worth buying the book for...I am enraptured with the way Bradbury tells of the carefree summers the boys enjoy, and then juxtapose it to the pressure of a career in space exploration. Generally, I find Bradbury's fantasy to be somewhat boring (though this can also be attributed to my lack of enthusiasm for fantasy as a whole). Don't let this faze you - this is a very strong collection, and excellent introduction, to Bradbury's short story abilities. About 90% of the stories in this book are really excellent..But the other 10% almost seem like simple writing exercises and are no way indicative of Bradbury's true talants as a writer.

Another Bradbury Treat:
I'll admit I haven't finished this book but what I've read has taken my breath away. The writing is classic Bradbury, poetic and enticing. The stories themselves surprised me a little since I don't think I'd yet read a Bradbury story that wasn't science fiction or fantasy. "The Fruit at the bottom of the bowel" is one of these and is fantastic. Of course, it seems to me that Bradbury's preoccupation has always been with people rather than magic or technology. Thus it makes sense that his "realistic" fiction would be just as effective as his other. In any case, Bradbury is a masterful storyteller and anyone would deprive themselves if they didn't read his work, including this collection.