There's nobody like Ray Bradbury. Though in general I prefer his earlier stories to those he wrote in the last couple of decades of his life, there are still wonderful gems here, like "Mr. Pale," "Thunder in the Morning," and the title story. Well worth a read.

Esta comprobado que Bradbury es un buen cuentista, de hecho, muchas de sus historias pueden encontrarse en cualquier antologia de ciencia ficcion americana.
Aca si bien no hay malos cuentos, tampoco ninguno mereceria estar en una compilación con lo mejor de Bradbury. Son muchos y muy cortos, lectura pasatista para el transporte publico.
Obviamente algunos me gustaron mas que otros, como el primero, "tren nocturno a Babilonia" que muestra como a la gente en determinado contexto le gusta que la manipulen y el que quiera evitarlo termina mal.
O "casa dividida" donde un adolescente descubre la muerte y el sexo al mismo tiempo. Y "ta ti to teja" y "a ciegas", en el primero una anciana descubre que su hijo quiere asesinarla, y en el segundo hay un conductor misterioso encapuchado.

Bradbury gets five stars from me every time.

Bradbury continues with quirky, entertaining stories. On a side note, there are enough oblique references to Verne and Melville to satisfy any aficionado. A home inspector brought in to investigate a strange thumping noise from the attic quips, "Did a sea captain ever live in this house?" And we get to spend quality time at White Whale Books where adventures abound.

I really love Ray Bradbury's short stories. The Martian chronicles are very special to me and make me feel a lot of emotions, no matter how often I ead them.
This collection was a little strange and disappointing. Some of the storie, I admit, I skimmed through. A few I liked: Fee Fie Foe Fum and The Mirror come to mind.
Glad I checked it out, being rather short it didn't take a long time to read. But I am not going to read it again, except maybe the handful of stories I liked.

This collection of short stories reminds me of a favourite rock band releasing an album of outtakes, oddities and b-sides late in their career - plenty for existing fans to pour over and appreciate but would not be a strong recommendation to introduce prospective new fans to check out first. Definitely go read Fahrenheit 451, Something Wicked or The Martian Chronicles before this one but there are still a few gems hidden in this inconsistent anthology...

И оставаш с пръст в устата в края на разказите .... изключителен разказвач!!!! <3

Driving Blind is such a disappointment. I only liked one story in this(Fee Fie Foe Fum), the rest were boring and the writing was not nearly up to Ray's usual standards. Ray is known for the nostalgic quality of his writing but it was just overwhelming in this plus i found numerous stories to be rather sexist. I don't remember thinking this about his other stories that I've read. That isn't even the worst thing about this book though. Not one but two stories have incestuous cousin relationships and he portrays this as normal, even good. And one was pretty much child molestation(the kid is 12) but since it's happening to a boy it's "ok" and "he likes it." Barf. Driving Blind was published in 1997 and most of the stories were written around then so there can be no excuse of "oh it was written a long time ago, the times were different." All I can say is I hope Ray got senile in his old age and didn't always think like this.

I can't remember much of this book as I read is 5 years ago. I think it might be time for a re-read. This was my first Bradbury although I don't remember the contents, I do remember being enamoured by Bradbudy's evocative writing and beautifully crafted characters.



Courtesy of Jen's mini reviews

Very odd, I have never read a collection of Bradbury...no, ANY Bradbury I didn't enjoy before. Puzzling to say the least. His stories tend to have a certain FEEL to them and it flickered thru a bit but just wasn't a constant. Disappointing.

3.3/5: good ideas that usually end too soon

The entire point of short stories is that they're short, but not too short. If they're too short, they're just ideas. There's a ton of ideas in this collection and not enough short stories, particularly in the beginning. Many of them feel like scenes in a play, where you get some dialogue and not enough description, or get some weird moments that Bradbury seems afraid to make more weird.

That said, while the rest are skippable, there are some amazing ones. Driving Blind itself is pretty sweet while not being diabetes-inducing. Mr. Pale is the only sci-fi in here and is a great take on death. Remember Me is a great, Seinfeldish story on a Seinfeldish situation that actually ends way more positive than I expected, an actual pleasant surprise.

And That Old Dog Lying in the Dust is classic, a great Mexican-focused Western with prose that pops off the page and makes circuses sound more grungily magical than they actually are. That particular one felt like a McCarthy novel distilled down to one small spot, and it worked...which is awkward, because it felt just about the opposite of most other stories in this one.

Hated this fucking thing and forced myself to read it cuz I love the title.