lilnoto's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
“…she had always dreamt that one day the miracles might start functioning, might spring up in crimson flowers and silvers starts to prove that God hod forgiven her for her pink body and her pink thoughts and her warm body and her warm thoughts”
karagee's review against another edition
3.0
The Golden Apples of the Sun is a collection of 22 short stories by science fiction legend Ray Bradbury. The last collection I ready by Bradbury was The Illustrated Man, and this collection feels very similar for a number of reasons:
- The majority of the stories were written between the mid-40s and the early-50s.
- Bradbury's unique infatuation with rockets and space exploration are frequently touched upon.
- It explores themes of racism between white and black or Hispanic characters.
- They tend to be more pessimistic.
The last is interesting, because I've always felt that Bradbury must have vacillated wildly between optimism and pessimism. On the one hand, he has envisioned a future of technological advances and space exploration that sadly never quite came to pass, and his characters always see the glory and the beauty in those advances. On the other hand, humanity's own folly usually seems to ruin anything they touch, and Bradbury has always been superb at rooting out the dark corners of men and presenting it to readers through his unique vision.
- The majority of the stories were written between the mid-40s and the early-50s.
- Bradbury's unique infatuation with rockets and space exploration are frequently touched upon.
- It explores themes of racism between white and black or Hispanic characters.
- They tend to be more pessimistic.
The last is interesting, because I've always felt that Bradbury must have vacillated wildly between optimism and pessimism. On the one hand, he has envisioned a future of technological advances and space exploration that sadly never quite came to pass, and his characters always see the glory and the beauty in those advances. On the other hand, humanity's own folly usually seems to ruin anything they touch, and Bradbury has always been superb at rooting out the dark corners of men and presenting it to readers through his unique vision.
dfarhany's review against another edition
4.0
I love The Fog Horn, The April Witch, The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl, The Murderer, The Golden Kite and The Silver Wind, I See You Never.... Oh that's almost everything! Basically I just enjoy these short stories. Very much entertaining and intriguing.
rafternorth's review against another edition
4.0
“That's life for you," said McDunn. "Someone always waiting for someone who never comes home. Always someone loving some thing more than that thing loves them. And after a while you want to destroy whatever that thing is, so it can't hurt you no more."
The monster was rushing at the lighthouse.
The Fog Horn blew.
"Let's see what happens," said McDunn.
He switched the Fog Horn off.”
Even though I would say I didn’t enjoy this collection of stories from Bradbury as much as I did from Medicine for Melancholy, I still had a great time. Maybe they’re aren’t as many “5 Star” stories here, but there aren’t any duds either. Ray still kicks some serious ass in about 30 pages or less.
The issues in these stories seem heavier. The Racial discrimination and tension in “The Big Black and White Game” hits you like a baseball bat…or rather like a baseball. And “A Sound of Thunder” makes me never want to time travel ever. Coming from a girl who’s dearest dream was to run off with an alien in a blue police box growing up, the way this story scared me was incredibly impressive. Talk about “Butterfly Effect” huh? How would you like to be that guy? No Thanks.
Ratings for individual stories below to be added shortly.
The monster was rushing at the lighthouse.
The Fog Horn blew.
"Let's see what happens," said McDunn.
He switched the Fog Horn off.”
Even though I would say I didn’t enjoy this collection of stories from Bradbury as much as I did from Medicine for Melancholy, I still had a great time. Maybe they’re aren’t as many “5 Star” stories here, but there aren’t any duds either. Ray still kicks some serious ass in about 30 pages or less.
The issues in these stories seem heavier. The Racial discrimination and tension in “The Big Black and White Game” hits you like a baseball bat…or rather like a baseball. And “A Sound of Thunder” makes me never want to time travel ever. Coming from a girl who’s dearest dream was to run off with an alien in a blue police box growing up, the way this story scared me was incredibly impressive. Talk about “Butterfly Effect” huh? How would you like to be that guy? No Thanks.
Ratings for individual stories below to be added shortly.
wmank's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
meidayy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
colinmeldrum's review against another edition
3.0
The version I got a hold of seems to be the earlier version with fewer stories, only 22. Bradbury's prose is always pleasant at worst, beautiful and even engrossing at best. This is the strength of this collection, in my opinion. By contrast, most of these stories are very short and merely present an idea, and the ideas were undoubtedly fresher to its first audience 60 years ago than they were to me, so I hesitate to rate this higher than merely a "good read." The stories where I felt myself absorbed in more depth were Invisible Boy, Powerhouse, and The Garbage Collector. This collection also includes The Sound of Thunder, a memorable classic.
opheliapo's review against another edition
3.0
This collection was as I expected it to be, par one.
Not, perhaps, the ‘beautiful and wonderfully improbable’ stories it promised on the cover, but this is likely due to the dated nature of a lot of these perspectives. It’s fatal flaw is that it is not ‘timeless’.
In some cases this was laughable. Nowadays, the idea of the sun only being 40,000-70,000 degrees, of television brainwashing the nation, of large boxes on our wrists that we use to communicate like telephones (oh, he was so close!), and of 2005 being a relatively distant future, are all pretty outdated. Furthermore the twists of a lot of these stories are now cliches, having been repeated over and over in sci-fi, in the near 70 years since this book was first published.
That being said, I still enjoyed the experience of reading The Golden Apples of the Sun, and it gives a great perspective on the philosophy of the 50’s. In fact, ‘The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl’ has become one of my new favourite short stories, and it was interesting to read ‘A Sound of Thunder’ knowing that it was the first ever published reference to the butterfly effect in relation to time travel.
Not, perhaps, the ‘beautiful and wonderfully improbable’ stories it promised on the cover, but this is likely due to the dated nature of a lot of these perspectives. It’s fatal flaw is that it is not ‘timeless’.
In some cases this was laughable. Nowadays, the idea of the sun only being 40,000-70,000 degrees, of television brainwashing the nation, of large boxes on our wrists that we use to communicate like telephones (oh, he was so close!), and of 2005 being a relatively distant future, are all pretty outdated. Furthermore the twists of a lot of these stories are now cliches, having been repeated over and over in sci-fi, in the near 70 years since this book was first published.
That being said, I still enjoyed the experience of reading The Golden Apples of the Sun, and it gives a great perspective on the philosophy of the 50’s. In fact, ‘The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl’ has become one of my new favourite short stories, and it was interesting to read ‘A Sound of Thunder’ knowing that it was the first ever published reference to the butterfly effect in relation to time travel.
anna_c's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5