whatulysses's review against another edition
5.0
Not all these stories are science fiction, and I'm staggered by Bradbury's touch with more ordinary subjects.
I just love him so much.
I just love him so much.
nekoshka's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75
alibrareads's review against another edition
3.0
This anthology started off pretty strong, plus these were all easier to parse than other books by Bradbury I've read: not nearly as much purple prose, but there are definitely hints of it.
I really liked the first two stories "The Machineries of Joy" and "The One Who Waits", also really liked the fourth one "The Vacation", then it was on and off of which ones I actively enjoyed: "Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar", "Almost The End of the World" (moral of the story is: TV bad, I guess lol), "And So Died Riabouchinska".
So 6 out of 21 I actively liked, the others were just okay or even a little boring. Aside from the very first one which was contemporary, the ones I liked were either sci-fi, horror, or dystopian. There were some others that fit those categories that I didn't take to as much, but most of the ones I didn't care for could be argued as being contemporary.
Not really sure what else to say about this! It was very okay. There were a few cool stories in here, but plenty of them were forgettable in my opinion, and it's a weird mish-mash of different genres.
Check out my YouTube review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfIz8QlS2jw
I really liked the first two stories "The Machineries of Joy" and "The One Who Waits", also really liked the fourth one "The Vacation", then it was on and off of which ones I actively enjoyed: "Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar", "Almost The End of the World" (moral of the story is: TV bad, I guess lol), "And So Died Riabouchinska".
So 6 out of 21 I actively liked, the others were just okay or even a little boring. Aside from the very first one which was contemporary, the ones I liked were either sci-fi, horror, or dystopian. There were some others that fit those categories that I didn't take to as much, but most of the ones I didn't care for could be argued as being contemporary.
Not really sure what else to say about this! It was very okay. There were a few cool stories in here, but plenty of them were forgettable in my opinion, and it's a weird mish-mash of different genres.
Check out my YouTube review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfIz8QlS2jw
gladys_enmarte's review against another edition
medium-paced
"Las maquinarias de la alegría" es la novena antología -en orden cronológico- de Bradbury y fue publicada en 1964. Este libro contiene veintiún cuentos que van desde la ciencia ficción, la fantasía, el realismo y hasta dos semiautobiográficos.
En el primer cuento que abre la antología, y que le da su nombre, tenemos a tres curas viejecitos que se pelean por citar a Blake y porque uno de ellos mira televisión hasta muy entrada la madrugada. En otro hay niños que crecen hongos gigantes en el ático, en otro hay una criatura incorpórea en un pozo de agua en marte y que espera la llegada de alguien desde hace más de 10.000 años, una mujer con sobrepeso y totalmente tatuada -¿o no?- por su marido, un enano; un ventrílocuo obsesionado con su antigua asistente; un espejismo es descubierto en el medio de la nada y te muestra los lugares que siempre quisiste visitar y no pudiste, Roma, París y hasta Kubla Khan (lugar que se menciona en un poema de Coleridge). Y los mencionados semiautobiográficos, que son "El mendigo del puente O'Connell" y "Un vuelo de cuervos".
No es mi antología favorita de Bradbury, pero hubo varios cuentos que me gustaron más que el resto y son: El que espera, Un milagro raro, Y así murió Riabouchinska, El día de muerte (en español en el original).
Si ya leyeron varias antologías de Bradbury y no saben por cuál seguir explorando su narrativa es este libro.
En el primer cuento que abre la antología, y que le da su nombre, tenemos a tres curas viejecitos que se pelean por citar a Blake y porque uno de ellos mira televisión hasta muy entrada la madrugada. En otro hay niños que crecen hongos gigantes en el ático, en otro hay una criatura incorpórea en un pozo de agua en marte y que espera la llegada de alguien desde hace más de 10.000 años, una mujer con sobrepeso y totalmente tatuada -¿o no?- por su marido, un enano; un ventrílocuo obsesionado con su antigua asistente; un espejismo es descubierto en el medio de la nada y te muestra los lugares que siempre quisiste visitar y no pudiste, Roma, París y hasta Kubla Khan (lugar que se menciona en un poema de Coleridge). Y los mencionados semiautobiográficos, que son "El mendigo del puente O'Connell" y "Un vuelo de cuervos".
No es mi antología favorita de Bradbury, pero hubo varios cuentos que me gustaron más que el resto y son: El que espera, Un milagro raro, Y así murió Riabouchinska, El día de muerte (en español en el original).
Si ya leyeron varias antologías de Bradbury y no saben por cuál seguir explorando su narrativa es este libro.
mnegolf's review against another edition
2.0
There were a couple of good ones, but it was overall underwhelming, especially compared to The October Country.
vondrake's review against another edition
A great collection of stories. Some I have read before, some I have seen on Ray Bradbury Theater. I realized that watching a Ray Bradbury adaptation is like taking a snowglobe and smashing it to bits and displaying it as a sculpture.
thisdarkmaterial's review against another edition
4.0
The greatest risk with short story collections is that the mediocre or bad entries—of which there will inevitably be at least one—will outnumber the good. Thankfully only a couple failed to entertain in Machineries of Joy and hey, they're only a few pages long! It's a diverse bunch of stories running the gamut from sci-fi, to horror, to melodrama, and more. All fans of Ray Bradbury will find plenty to enjoy here. Not as strong a collection as The Illustrated Man, although that also remains my favorite group of short stories from any author.
moonlit_shelves's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury, particularly the following stories:
- "Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar!"
- "El Dia de Muerte"
- "The Illustrated Woman"
- "Some Live Like Lazarus"
- "And So Died Riabouchinska"
- "The Lifework of Juan Diaz"
- "Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar!"
- "El Dia de Muerte"
- "The Illustrated Woman"
- "Some Live Like Lazarus"
- "And So Died Riabouchinska"
- "The Lifework of Juan Diaz"
izabrekilien's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 rounded up to 5 - Reviewed for Books and livres
A sheer reading pleasure that reminds me of my teenage years, when Bradbury was one of my favourite writers - he still is. I may have read this back then - I remember the title of The illustrated woman because I'd read The illustrated man.
Of course, since it's a collection of stories, all are not equally good, but Bradbury's humour, his imagination, his writing really appealed to me.
How can everyday situations suddenly turn weird ? Priests arguing about the papal encyclical on space traveling, souls live on Mars - in wells, how to manipulate irate film directors, people disappearing from the Earth just because you wish them to, how a boy can lead a battle with a drum, how to take over the world when you can't move, how does the world survive when TV and radio suddenly disappear (by perfuming dogs and permanenting their hairs and painting everything), why does the summer end when it's just begun, are you living a legend, what happens during the Day of the dead, how to keep your husband when you're an illustrated woman, people that live forever and prevent those around them from living, how to deal with mirages and philosophy, can a soul inhabit a puppet, how do we look on beggars (this one was at the same time easy to smile at and terribly poignant), how an old woman fights death (Twilight zone anyone ?), how a situation can be reversed through the years, how to be a monogamous polygamist, how to make money for your family after your death, what will the future look like and how will we look at memories, who are the anthem sprinters and what do they do ?
You'll have all the answers reading this book.
"They had enjoyed thirty years of nonviolence together, in their case meaning nonwork. "I feel a harvest coming on," Will would say, and they'd clear out of town before the wheat ripened. Or, "those apples are ready to fall !" So they'd stand back about three hundred miles so as not to get hit on the head."
A sheer reading pleasure that reminds me of my teenage years, when Bradbury was one of my favourite writers - he still is. I may have read this back then - I remember the title of The illustrated woman because I'd read The illustrated man.
Of course, since it's a collection of stories, all are not equally good, but Bradbury's humour, his imagination, his writing really appealed to me.
How can everyday situations suddenly turn weird ? Priests arguing about the papal encyclical on space traveling, souls live on Mars - in wells, how to manipulate irate film directors, people disappearing from the Earth just because you wish them to, how a boy can lead a battle with a drum, how to take over the world when you can't move, how does the world survive when TV and radio suddenly disappear (by perfuming dogs and permanenting their hairs and painting everything), why does the summer end when it's just begun, are you living a legend, what happens during the Day of the dead, how to keep your husband when you're an illustrated woman, people that live forever and prevent those around them from living, how to deal with mirages and philosophy, can a soul inhabit a puppet, how do we look on beggars (this one was at the same time easy to smile at and terribly poignant), how an old woman fights death (Twilight zone anyone ?), how a situation can be reversed through the years, how to be a monogamous polygamist, how to make money for your family after your death, what will the future look like and how will we look at memories, who are the anthem sprinters and what do they do ?
You'll have all the answers reading this book.
"They had enjoyed thirty years of nonviolence together, in their case meaning nonwork. "I feel a harvest coming on," Will would say, and they'd clear out of town before the wheat ripened. Or, "those apples are ready to fall !" So they'd stand back about three hundred miles so as not to get hit on the head."