The Cat's Pajamas

Bradbury is the best. A few of these in particular were the author at his finest. His stories, some of them especially, really make you think about things, perspective--"A Matter of Taste" being one of the best in this category.

Home sweet home, There is something magical about his, They don't age no matter what time you read them.

Откровенно говоря, я не люблю короткие рассказы. Да и вообще считаю, что кроме Сомерсета Моэма, О.Генри и Эдгара Алана По они редко кому удаются не скучными огрызками прозы. Словом, выбрала я эту книгу не из-за рассказов, а из-за названия, в силу своей великой любви к семейству кошачих.
Но после этой книги Рей Бредбери пополнил мой маленький список мастеров коротокого жанра. Каждый рассказ - отдельный целый мир на разные темы - от любви к кошкам до ненависти к политикам, от странностей мужской дружбы до рецептов семейного счастья. Но всех их объединяет великолепная откровенность о человеческой природе, в самых низменных и в самых возвышенных ее проявлениях.
Рекомендую читать всем, каждый найдет что-то для себя.

I was expecting only one book, but all the short stories were 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11878 characters left to go 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the end.

This is a collection of 21 previously uncollected stories, released late in Ray Bradbury's life. A little over half of these stories were written in the late 1940s or early 50s, while the rest were written approximately 2003. Very few of them are of the science fantasy sort that I love best from Bradbury's work - some of them seeming to be little more than writing exercises. There is not a great deal of change between the early stories, and those written a half century later. Bradbury still knows small towns in the Midwest and Hollywood - but never seems to get a feel for any of the other settings or cultures he works with here. In the end, I was disappointed, with the exception of a very small number of these short stories. Highlights, in my mind, were "We'll All Just Act Natural", "Chrysalis", "Sometime Before Dawn", and "A Careful Man Dies". Here's my quick thought on each story...

“Chrysalis”, 1946-47 ****
This previously unpublished very early story is different from the Chrysalis that is collected in S Is For Space; he just like the title so much he used it twice. The story is based on his experience at the beach near the Santa Monica pier and deals forthrightly with issues of race in America, before the civil rights era.

“The Island”, 1952 **
A family of adults gets freaked out by an intruder. It seems more like a practice piece than a story.

“Sometime Before Dawn”, 1950 ****
The only explanation for the odd behavior of the new boarders is that they must be time travelers from a tragic future. Classic Bradburyesque science fantasy.

“Hail to the Chief”, 2003-04 *
Some US Senators have gone on a gambling binge at a casino in North Dakota, and lost ownership of the United States to the Chief of the Iroquios Waukesha Chippewa Council. Waukesha? I live in Waukesha. Did Ray Bradbury think nobody will recognize it to be a place and not a tribe name? I can acknowledge the sentiment he is trying to express, but in many ways he demonstrates here that he has no actual knowledge of native peoples. It’s embarrassing.

We’ll All Just Act Natural”, 1948-49 *****
Ray uses this fictionalized account to exercise his own guilt at never re-contacting the black maid from his grandmother’s house, who he loved and loved him.

“Ole, Orozco! Siqueiros, Si!”, 2003-04 ***
Ray Bradbury pays homage to graffiti art.

“The House”, 1947 **
A man buys an old house, but his wife Maggie is unenthusiastic about fixing it up, until another woman comes to visit and starts working on it with him. Since Ray Bradbury’s wife was named Maggie, it seems possible this story is really about her.

“The John Wilkes Booth / Warner Brothers / MGM / NBC Funeral Train”, 2003 ***
The magic of time travel brings the Lincoln funeral train, as well as old movie producers together in an unlikely ensemble.

“A Careful Man Dies, 1946 ****
A character study of a hemophiliac and his emotional and physical vulnerabilities. The story is intended to induce a sense of horror, I think, but that bar has been raised significantly since 1946.

“The Cat’s Pajamas, 2003 ***
A chance meeting of a young man and young woman who both desire to keep the same kitten. Kind of a sweet story.

“Triangle”, 1951 **
Unrequited love in a gentler time. Yawn.

“The Mafioso Cement-Mixing Machine”, 2003 ***
A man makes use of a time machine to change the past, in order to enable more great works of literature to be created. Somehow, science fantasy time travel always works in the hands of Ray Bradbury. But the references to the mafia are clumsy.

“The Ghosts”, 1950-52 ***
The children imagine ghosts, until the magic is taken away.

“Where’s My hat, What’s My Hurry?”, 2003 *
A man’s wife never made love to him on any of their trips to Paris, so now he announces he will go with another woman. What is up with this story? Ray Bradbury had a discipline of daily writing, and I don’t doubt that he occasionally vented through his writing, but why publish things like that?

“The Transformation”, 1948-49 **
A man expects to get away with murdering the young woman he got pregnant, because she was black, and he was among fellow-Southerners. The story felt inauthentic. Southern Whites are another group, that I do not think Bradbury “gets” from the inside.

“Sixty-Six”, 2003 ***
The modern day murder of Okies along Route 66 is crazy, except through the eyes of mental illness

“A Matter of Taste”, 1952 ****
The peace-loving aliens just do not understand why humans are terrified of them. Kind of cheesy, but fun.

“I Get the Blues When It Rains (A Remembrance)”, 1980 **
A peak moment cannot be recreated. Mood moment, but no story.

“All My Enemies Are Dead”, 2003 **
A true friend gives the gift of himself to keep Walter Gripp alive.

“The Completist”, 2003-04 **
Yes, there are more important things in life than material possessions.

“Epilogue: The R.B., G.K.C., and G.B.S. Forever Orient Express”, 1996-97 **
The point here is that authors always live on, so long as their work is read. I’m afraid poetry almost always falls flat for me. This one too.

Though I am a big Ray Bradbury fan, this just wasn't a collection of his strongest work.

Collection of Bradbury's later odds and ends. Some of them feel like retreads of stories he would have written years ago, like pieces of Dandelion Wine or bits that would fit into From the Dust Returned. A few of them are standouts, a few are sort of yes, yes, classic Bradbury, one or two are . . . just not great.

Ray Bradbury rarely misses so far. Themes of carnivals and trains and dead authors— as it seems to be in a lot of his stories. I like that these ones weren’t all space themed, as I feel like the illustrated man was. Some of these were kind of straight up horror (like The Island) while some were more about people (like Triangle). I think the best one in here was Hail to the Chief, which is pretty funny. Also the story titled The Cats Pajamas is a cute one.
Some of these read in bradburys voice without so much being his thematic usual.

Also I finished two books in one day! Go me!