A LIttle Nostalgic, a Little New
The collection spans several decades of the author's writings. There are a few stories that are typical, such as "Fly Away Home," which resembles the short story "Mars is Heaven" from Martian Chronicles, even in the sacred connotations of the title. The stories "Ma Parker Comes to Stay" and "Remembrance, Ohio" are variations of the theme of the blurry line separating the entertainment/fantasy world and the real world. Ma Parker is enjoyable, though dated in the use of popular radio shows and how they affect millions of households to be something like those in Stepford. Bradbury uses his Hollywood background for the fantasy of Remembrance.
Bradbury's involvement with Hollywood and other events of his real life add autobiographical aspects to the stories. The book includes the usual disclaimer about coincidental resemblances between fiction and fact, but Bradbury also states in the Preface that these stories come from his point of view as a spectator, and the first story is about a man he knew. Several of the stories read like memoirs, in part because they are not plot driven like the author's usual science fiction. Several pieces are character sketches or just scenes. There are a few surprising stories of near homosexual encounters. In other words, this is not vintage Bradbury.
My personal favorite is "A Literary Encounter," in which a wife realizes her husband is influenced by what he reads. He starts the story speaking of his excitement over the sad sweetness of an October night after reading Tom Wolfe. He has a short conversation, using short statements, with his wife while reading The Maltese Falcon. He has an affected manner of talking after reading Samuel Johnson. This makes him seem almost schizophrenic as it happens in just a couple of scenes. His wife then asks him to read what he had read when they were dating, to influence him to be the Saroyan lover he once was. Readers and writers will relate.
For me the effect of reading Bradbury is nostalgic, as I have read his stories since I was ten years old. I reminisce about growing up in a small Midwestern town, fantasizing about Mars, circuses, and such. There are a few traditional tales to remind me. This collection adds stories of adulthood, of loss and wanting to live it up, of reality with less of the fantastic elements than the quizzical.
