The Martian Chronicles

The classic work that transformed Ray Bradbury into a household name. Written in the age of the atom when America and Europe optimisitcally viewed the discovery of life on Mars as inevitable, Bradbury's 1940s short stories of a brutal, stark and unforgiving martian landscape were as shocking and visionary as they were insightful. 'The Martian Chronicles' tells the story of humanity's repeated attempts to colonize the red planet. The first men were few. Most succumbed to a disease they called the Great Loneliness when they saw their home planet dwindle to the size of a pin dot. Those few that survived found no welcome. The shape-changing Martians thought they were native lunatics and duly locked them up. More rockets arrived from Earth, piercing the hallucinations projected by the Martians. People brought their old prejudices with them -- and their desires and fantasies, tainted dreams. These were soon inhabited by the strange native beings, with their caged flowers and birds of flame. - Amazon

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Tue, 04/14/2009 - 08:49
#1
Mandyisahookername
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Joined: 12/04/2008
User offline. Last seen 3 years 5 weeks ago.

This novel is breathtakingThere is no other way to describe it. Bradbury's best.

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Thu, 06/11/2009 - 21:51
#2
clerval4
Joined: 06/11/2009
User offline. Last seen 2 years 48 weeks ago.

This is by far, one of the best book I ever read. I read it when I was 12 and many poignant moment are still in my mind: The deserted automatic house, the kids that wanted to see martians, all these people stranded there...
That book made me read a lot of Bradbury before I discovered Jean Ray and other europeans weird/poetic/fantastic/old world writers. That's one of the few 5 stars book I read among thousandth.

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Wed, 07/21/2010 - 06:41
#3
Cassandra
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Joined: 05/10/2010
User offline. Last seen 1 year 30 weeks ago.

This is totally worth the read, especially if you are a Bradbury fan. It's very interesting and insightful (considering how long ago it was written).
I found some of the stories only moderately enjoyable, but others had a huge effect on me, and will stay with me, and will also be the ones that I will read again and again.
The "February 1999: Ylla" story actually moved me (more so sank my heart) to the point that I felt robbed of an experience as Ylla did. which is even more depressing as the reader knowing what really DID happen, where as Ylla only knew to some subconsious degree...

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