The Golden Apples of the Sun: And Other Stories
By: Ray Bradbury / Narrated By: Michael Prichard
Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
Gosh, how magnificent!
Lemme just get the weakest part of The Golden Apples of the Sun out of the way: Michael Prichard. Jeez Louise! I mean, can the man sound any much MORE like a narrator of cinema WWII war reels? No, I don’t think it’s possible. So when you look at, say, the fact that this is 12 hours long, that’s a long time to wanna be ramming an ice pick in your ear, right? Well, hold on. (Thankfully!) the man can do dialogue like nobody’s business, really throws himself heart and soul into the oh so telling dialogue that author Ray Bradbury crafts; truly much needed relief and wonderful to hear.
Now lemme get onto just what beautiful words Bradbury, what heartbreaking, what telling stories he writes. Some that make you weep with nostalgia for a time that maaaay’ve existed for him but sure as heck doesn’t now. Some that make you want to soar to the stars like the men and boys who are obsessed with the skies and the great unknown of space.
Whether Bradbury is telling a story of a man who seeks solace in a safari hunt that takes place millions of years ago, or he’s telling a story of women who are softly embroidering even as they understand chaos and devastation is on its way, ya gotta admit: The man has a way with words!
The first half (The first Part if you download in parts instead of a single download of a whole), has mostly the tales of nostalgia, of daily life, of summers long gone, and interspersed through these are folktale-like stories, and stories of dawning horror. Of a garbage collector, who generally doesn’t think about life, who likes this job out in the open—But pair that with the terrors of the Cold War, and you have haunting literature. Add to that a story of Negroes (This story was first published in 1945) facing paternalism and outright hate, and you have haunting literature that also shows our country’s history at its most frightened, least admirable.
The second half is more in the vein of science fiction (Tho’ I hear tell Bradbury called it science fantasy—which totally messes with our Indexing system!), and is a collection of wayward rocket men, of young boys being groomed for a space they’ve spent their young lives yearning for, of pioneers on other planets who are ready to die with their longing for Earth, of planets that lure, entice, and ultimately turn on space pioneers, just as a woman scorned turns deadly.
Honestly, there’s such a variety of stories in this collection, all of which would mess with our Indexing system, (so I’m glad it’s all drawn together into a single book that can be tagged as: Sci-Fi/Classics). I enjoyed dipping into a little space exploration here, a little illegal immigrant is finally seen there. SUCH a blend of genre-bending stories!
All magnificent!
I was late to getting into the whole Ray Bradbury Cult. But gosh, he’s so good, you’ll be seeing more reviews of his works as time goes on. I like him that much.
Then too? His Amazon profile picture is of him holding a cat… What’s NOT to love?!?
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