The Day it Rained Forever

by Ray Bradbury

One of Ray Bradbury’s classic short story collections, available in ebook for the first time.

In a ghost town hotel in a burning desert three old men await the January rains – and are visited by a strange musician. A family of colonists on Mars are homesick for Earth. Terrified, they begin to notice that each is undergoing a subtle transformation. A man seeks the forgotten scent of sarsaparilla in his attic – and passes through a window into the lost land of his boyhood. The Day It Rained Forever includes many of Ray Bradbury's most celebrated stories.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Classics, Ebooks, Collections

237 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Ray Douglas Bradbury was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and realistic fiction.

Bradbury is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). Other notable works include the coming of age novel Dandelion Wine (1957), the dark fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. Bradbury also wrote poetry which has been published in several collections, such as They Have Not Seen the Stars (2001).

The New York Times called Bradbury "An author whose fanciful imagination, poetic prose, and mature understanding of human character have won him an international reputation" and "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream".

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

We get whimsical nonsense about mermaids, Picasso, a toupee, a white suit shared by six Mexican guys, what happens when sunspots obliterate television forever (people paint their houses and get more haircuts than they really need) – some of these stories are really silly stuff. But then he can zig you a zag when you’re not looking, and write a tough story about the aftermath of a race war where the white people lost (“And the Rock Cried Out”) or one about sad alcoholics (“The Little Mice”) …

Or take the one called “The Town Where No One Got Off” – pardon me for spoiling this one – it’s remarkably nasty. It begins romantically where a salesman decides to get off the train in one of those anonymous American towns that nobody ever visits. Why not? We always zip right by these little places on our way to some big place. Let’s randomly stop and look around. He’s followed around town by an old geezer who was waiting on the platform. In the evening the old geezer explains he has been waiting 20 years for a stranger to get off the train, someone with no connection at all to the town. This is because, you see, he can murder this total stranger and get away with it. No one would ever find him, no motive to figure out. The guy would just vanish into thin air. But the salesman says actually, he got off the train so he could find some random person in the town to kill – he had the same thought!

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ad Hoc Bradbury read May 2025

Basically as the house move got into the “nitty gritty” stage, I needed something wonderful to read !

And it was wonderful, full of marvelous short stories, from Martian tales to his every day town spooky stories.

I seriously urge anyone who enjoys such wonderfully descriptive writing to try a Ray Bradbury book if they haven’t already. I know he’s not to everyone’s taste but to me he’s one of the best

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't before thought of Ray Bradbury as such a good writer -- a good ideas person, but I hadn't thought of his stories as well-crafted, tight, polished things. These ones definitely are: they held me spellbound; I read them all at once. There's the magic of the ordinary and the everydayness of technology that is almost like magic; he does all this very well. I cared less for some of the stories, but all of them kept me reading, and most of them kept me wondering... Wondering what happened before, or what will happen after, or both. I think the post-apocalyptic story set in Mexico held me spellbound most securely: there's a kind of breathless futility about it that tightens and tightens until the end of the story. Lovely.

[Chris Meger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, this is the last one I'm reviewing, but the actual story "The Day it Rained Forver" is amazing. You will feel like you are crying on another planet.

[Cliff's Dark Gems · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an imaginative, gorgeous and thought-provoking collection of short stories written by a true master of the art.

Not all the stories resonated with me, but the majority did. Bradbury has the ability to stir such a range of feeling and emotions in the reader from sadness, melancholy, longing, beauty to absolute terror.

Two huge standouts were Here There Be Tygers and Perchance to Dream. The title story is also oh so beautiful. Highly recommended!

[Héctor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me han gustado bastante tanto los relatos que tienen que ver con la vida en Marte como los más mundanos. Tengo ganas de ver cómo desarrolla Farenheit y The Martian Chronicles.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I've never read a bad Bradbury book. This is the U.K. equivalent of "A Medicine for Melancholy," and drops four stories from that collection, while adding five not found there. The same minor quibbles apply to both volumes: Some of the stories here come across as fragmentary, and, as with nearly all speculative fiction, some of them have not quite stood up to the test of time. Bradbury also has a particular penchant for portraying foolish old men wedded to world-weary, hen-pecking wives, which naturally inspires questions about his own state of marital bliss. But when Bradbury is on the mark, he's a beast. Winners here include the title story, which displays the author's unique blend of melancholy and hope at its bittersweet best; the whimsical "In a Season of Calm Weather"; the guilty, saccharine pleasure of "The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit"; the creepy, spine-tingling "The Town Where No One Got Off"; "Here there be Tygers," which could have been adapted for the original Star Trek series; and the inscrutability of "The Little Mice." Special mention goes to the penultimate piece in this volume, "And the Rock Cried Out," in which the author takes on the issue of white supremacy with surprising aplomb for a white man writing in the mid-1950s. As always, if you're a fan of Ray's work, you will not be disappointed by this import.

[James Hold · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this a long time ago in an earlier edition before the 2014 one pictured. I was a big Bradbury fan back in the late 60s and early 70s. RB had a poetic style of writing which over time grew tiresome. He later published a book of poetry that I found unreadable.

I enjoyed RB's early, dark stories best, DARK CARNIVAL for sure. With later books it struck me that RB essentially writes with the voice of an old man. He attempts some tales from a child's viewpoint but for me they never work.

I always get the idea that RB never had a childhood, that he as born an old man and stayed that way--always reminiscing about better days in the past, while at the same time leaving you to wonder if he himself ever truly experienced them.

As I said, he can be a good writer at times, and he has definitely written some classics. But too large a dose can be quite wearisome (to me anyway, and after all this is my review)) which makes him one of those authors I never return to.

[Ezgi MU · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each story is shaking me with the depth of imagination and surprising sci-fi ingredients poured into them. Each story can be remembered as if you have read a whole book and digested it. Especialy notable one is "Fever Dream" for example, with some references to the Metamorphosis.
My favourite yet, "In a Season of Calm Weather" tells the story of George Smith, a Picasso fan to death, who never had the 5000 bucks to own a painting, meeting him surprisingly in his calm summer vacation drawing a masterpiece on the sand. He can only watch that beauty, not own it, not go run and get a camera to immortalize it, but only to watch it and live it at that moment. He had nothing to tell anybody after that magical moment. Isn't it like love?

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

When young read a lot of Bradbury, and now 're-visiting him decades later am even more impressed with his imagination, future visions, and clear flowing story telling that (mostly) predicted a positive space age that opened the cosmos to adventure. Underpinning many of his tales with the myths associated with stereotypical small town America , he captures both the longing and irony of mid 20th Century " good life " . I enjoyed this so much I am off in search of some Dandelion Wine.....

[Jeff Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a four star collection, but I'm giving it an extra star because I read it now...

A collection of stories from 1959 which quite simply resonate with 2020 in a truly unexpected way - pandemics, environmentalism, race issues, crisis of identity...all the things that we are dealing with right now are here, woven into the weird tales of Mr Bradbury.

Unlike some of his other collections, there are stories here with very little narrative or structure, mere pictures of a moment. Others lend nothing to elaborate on themselves, other than what is presented - like the masterful eponymous tale which, opening the collection, sets the mood for the rest of the book. There is melancholy in these tales, a sadness and negativity that I've not really come across before in his work - although many of these are wrapped up with unexpected angles of beauty. Reading these tales has left me confused in many ways...I want to reflect on some of the wonders within, but am brought back to the sadness that underpins it all.

Quite marvellous.

[Edward Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bradbury's stories are like a glass of iced tea on a squeaky front porch swing. This book, familiar old fare to the lovers of the writer who works magic in his words, made me think of just that, ice tea. Having imbibed the tea, each of these stories was like the ice cubes that remain, hard edges melted away, still harboring the sweet taste of the tea diluted by the water of the melting cubes. Ray Bradbury will always have an avuncular appeal to me, a charming old guy that lives next door always full of anecdotes and vociferous life ponderings.

All of these stories were good, perhaps with "A Scent of Sarsaparilla" being my favorite in which Bradbury, in his eloquent simplicity declared attics to be time machines, containing items ensconced in memories of youth, Summertime and better times.

[Heather(Gibby) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very varied collection of short stories, some whimsical, some horrific, cautionary, or sscience fiction.

I think my favorite was The Wonderful Ice-Cream Suit-partly because I could really picture this happening, 6 men who are bit down on their luck and who wear the same size, pol their money to buy one wonderful white suit and they each take turns one day per week to wear the suit.

[Alonso Mitza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Don't know why it's not more popular.

[Ferson (Jefferson) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok so this book was really good! I read it in 1 day and it did not take me that long! It was a fantastic read!

Highly Recommended!
:P

[Trevor Pearson · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I remember once, when I lived in the Capital for a month and bought the paper fresh each day, I went wild with love, anger, irritation, frustration; all of the passions boiled in me. I was young. I exploded at everything I saw. But then I saw what I was doing: I was believing what I read. Have you noticed? You believe a paper printed on the very day you buy it? This has happened but only an hour ago, you think! It must be true.' He shook his head. 'So I learned to stand back away and let the paper age and mellow. Back here, in Colonia, I saw the headlines diminish to nothing. The week-old paper—why, you can spit on it if you wish. It is like a woman you once loved, but you now see, a few days later, she is not quite what you thought. She has rather a plain face. She is no deeper than a cup of water.” 

The End Of The Beginning sees a husband and wife as they await their one and only child set off to the space station in a sole occupied rocket. The anxious mother doesn’t recognize the importance while the father understands the further continuation of human development, life as a whole or perhaps something bigger than that. Story about space exploration and continuous improvement. In the Referent a boy genius is modeled and primed for a future where the goal is to be the opposite of your parents. In this world parents have little presence in their children’s lives in order to prohibit negative psychological impact. The children are essentially property of the state and are encouraged to fall in line and embrace skill development. The protagonist desires freedom and a world devoid of limitations; it would take an out of this world experience for him to see the light. Icarus Montgolfier Wright is a story about building upon the works of predecessors by utilizing certain tools, training and technology that will enable you to answer more and more important questions regardless of the field of study. The Smile is another interesting story that showcases a world ravaged by war and rather than honour the past they destroy anything that represents a world that ruined civilization for its current residents. Generations have differing opinions in a poverty-stricken world filled with hate, but do people still believe that children are the future? Perchance To Dream is about a spaceman as he deals with hallucinations, insomnia, insanity and a several day wait for help. A ghost planet may have finally found an ideal match. The Little Mice is about a landlord’s dream tenant. The secret is to leave them alone and let them enjoy their wine. The Town Where No One Got Off was one of my favourites of the collection. Every man handles anger differently but in this story it seems to be pent up. There is an argument between small city and big city living and a battle between fantasy and morality. Some characters have reached a boiling point where adventure is dead, romanticism is no longer, boredom and predictability is allowed under the right circumstances even if it means waiting decades for the moment to act on it.

“The old man was seated there with his chair tilted against the station wall, with his faded blue pants and shirt and his sunbaked face and his sunbleached eyes. He did not glance at me as the train slid past. He was gazing east along the empty rails where tomorrow or the next day or the day after the day after that, a train, some train, any train, might fly by here, might slow, might stop. His face was fixed, his eyes were blindly frozen, towards the east. He looked a hundred years old.”

In A Season Of Calm Weather a man from Ohio meets his idol serendipitously while walking on the beach in France. With no way to document this encounter he will have to rely on memory; our man should be so lucky. In The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit three young Mexican Americans with no money, no jobs, few friends have nothing going on in their collective lives, only dreams. On a typical Friday night these three boys will learn that the clothes don’t have to make the man, but more importantly they will be taught a lesson in consumerism and excess and its relation to happiness. Oh but what a night they had. The Marriage Mender reminded me of Goldilocks and turns the idea of finding something “just right" on its head in a gothic yet beautiful sort of way. Almost The End Of The World was another one of my favourites mainly because it reflects some of my own thoughts about production levels being hindered by mindless yet addicting distractions. Here There Be Tygers is a story about respecting others, respecting there power, and understanding boundaries. In a perfect world you will find your own piece of heaven on Earth, admire it’s beauty and not it’s buried wealth. The Time Of Going Away is a story of an adventurous old man who has focused more on living than dying but sees dying as perhaps life’s biggest adventure. The Sunset Harp is a story about the beautiful mystery that is the sea and giving life the pathway to fulfillment and true happiness. And The Rock Cried Out takes us to a place where money means nothing but an empty promise. A young couple travel through the jungle looking for a safe haven in a world where there is nowhere to hide. People who were once slaves to consumerism have realized that what’s most important is what you can take with you.

“He stood a moment longer by this suit which could save all the ways they sat or stood or walked. This suit which could move fast and nervous like Gomez or slow and thoughtfully like Villanazul or drift like Dominguez who never touched ground, who always found a wind to take him somewhere. This suit which belonged to them, but which also owned them all. This suit that was - what? A parade.”

In The Day It Rained Forever three older gentlemen are secluded in a hot, dark, and dank hotel in the desert waiting for the rain. While they remain optimistic, the days and weeks have worn them down, given way to pessimism and important decisions to consider. As they receive their first visitor, when all hope was seemingly lost, they realize that they needed more than rain to bring back that loving feeling in their lives. The Dragon is a story about technological advances or mental illness and brings two men with warrior spirits from the 10th century Medieval Period and inserts them in a 20th century metropolis. What could possibly go wrong? Fever Dream is about a very sick young teenage boy who suffers from hallucinations and has inflicted harm on himself due to his episodes. His body is betraying him, the disease has taken over with no doctor’s remedies or functioning antibodies, the boy sees it as a classic battle between good and evil but will it end like many of the stories before? Dark They Were And Golden-Eyed is a story about adaptation as a young family are part of a project to colonize Mars but quickly find out that it would have served them better to read the fine print. The Headpiece is a story about fantasy and reality and how it impacts the way people approach life in denial or meeting it head-on. The Gift is a story about a family’s first Christmas on Mars. A Scent Of Sarsaparilla is nostalgia to the core that utilizes an attic for traveling back to simpler times. The Strawberry Windows is a story about a husband doing his part to help his wife who is homesick on Mars.

“It's not impossible, he thought, half closing his eyes, trying to see it and build it. Consider an attic. Its very atmosphere is Time. It deals in other years, the cocoons and chrysalises of another age. All the bureau drawers are little coffins where a thousand yesterdays lie in state. Oh, the attic's a dark, friendly place, full of Time, and if you stand in the very centre of it, straight and tall, squinting your eyes, and thinking and thinking, and smelling the Past, and putting out your hands to feel of Long Ago, why, it…”

There is no questioning the imagination of the author exhibited in these stories but something about the overwhelming science fiction elements made The Day It Rained Forever one of his bigger misses for me. I have read plenty of his work and understand how far he can go in one way or the other but I was anticipating a more balanced offering that would have left a less cynical reaction. My love for intergalactic atmospheres and fantasy setting is not strong in the first place but with Bradbury you can expect beautiful writing, mental stimulation, and nostalgia but there was not enough horror elements in the stories.

[Richard Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ray Bradbury is usually classified as a writer of Science Fiction but, as this anthology shows, he was always more than that. Where outer space features in his stories it is always to explore inner space. His Mars is not the real Mars: it is a landscape where he can examine themes of belonging and loss. And his descriptions of small town America have never been beaten. Some of the tales are cautionary like 'Almost the End of the World': imagine how much more the impact of silence would be in our hyper -connected world of today. He moves from the horror of 'Fever Dream' to the realistic tension of 'The Town Where No one Got Off' to the beauty of marriage in 'The Sunset Harp'. I don't know if another writer who moves between the worlds of genre as easily as Ray Bradbury.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of short stories, and this is a real mixture, with some science fiction, some not, some good, some less so. A few of these have a kind of "literary" floweriness that for me is annoying most of the time, but they're all well-constructed, and most are interesting. The science fiction stories are, unsurprisingly, dated now, and there are a couple of quite scary horror stories that work pretty well too.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the best short story collections. Generally I find short stories very incomplete and well (frankly) meaningless and so a bit of a waste of time. Bradbury, however is a master of the art. The stories in this collection all spoke volumes, were beautifully written and were incredibly thought provoking. I have definitely become a fan.

[Mavis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bradbury is officially in my Top 5 favorite authors. Another great book by a word artist.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really great gems in here

[S.J. Townend · Rating 5 out of 5]

Six out of five stars. The man was a genius. Perfection.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

"All night, the memory of the sun stirred in every room like the ghost of an old forest fire." (loc 5)

"The last chord hung in the air like a picture taken when lightning strikes and freezes a billion drops of water on their downward flight." (loc 176)

"...those fire-squirting, thick-wormed Van Gogh sunflowers, those blooms a blind man might read with one rush of scorched fingers down fiery canvas." (loc 224)

"...there was only the shake of their horses' nervous skin like black velvet tambourine jingling the silver stirrup buckles, softly, softly..." (loc 321)

"They placed two wicker rockers in the centre of the lawn and sat quietly as the stars dissolved out of the darkness in pale crushings of rock-salt strewn from horizon to horizon." (loc 387)

"...saw trolleys loom up like thunderstorms, scatter lightning, and rumble away into silence." (loc 462)

"Someone shook his arm and it was his father saying his name and shaking away the night." (loc 1476)

"Beyond this room he felt the primed rocket glide on the desert field, its fire-wings folded, its fire-breath kept, held ready to speak for three billion men. In a moment he would wake and walk slowly out to that rocket.
And stand on the rim of the cliff.
Stand cool in the shadow of the warm balloon.
Stand whipped by tidal sands drummed over Kitty Hawk.
And sheathe his boy's wrists, arms, hands, fingers with golden wings in golden wax." (loc 1508)

"The Aegean slid away below the window, gone; the Atlantic dunes, the French countryside, dissolved down to New Mexico desert." (1528)

"'Icarus Montgolfier Wright
'Born: nine hundred years before Christ. Grammar school: Paris, 1783. High school, college: Kitty Hawk, 1903. Graduation from Earth to Moon: this day, God willing, 1 August 1970. Death and burial, with luck, on Mars, summer 1999 in the Year of Our Lord.'
Then he let himself drift awake." (loc 1534)

"And it was true, thought Willy, driving along. Set a man way out in the strange lands and he fills with wellsprings of silence. Silence of sagebrush, or a mountain lion purring like a warm beehive at noon. Silence of the river shallows deep in the canyons. All this a man takes in. Opening his mouth, in town, he breathes it out." (loc 1550)

"...and the kind of Time that just sits out there in the hills waiting for Man to go away." (loc 1554)

"They looked at the woman lying there.
Her hair was very long and it lay on the beach like the threads of an immense harp. The water stroked along the threads and floated them up and let them down, each time in a different fan and silhouette." (loc 3131)

"That isn't everyone, he thought, that isn't the whole country. That's only the surface. That's only the thin skin over the flesh. It's not the body at all. Just the shell of an egg. Remember the crowds back home, the mobs, the riots? Always the same, there or here. A few mad faces up front, and the quiet ones far back, not taking part, letting things go, not wanting to be in it. The majority not moving. And so the few, the handful, take over and move for them.
His eyes did not blink. If we could break through that shell, God knows it's thin! he thought, if we could talk our way through that mob and get to the quiet people beyond... Can I do it? Can I say the right things? Can I keep my voice down?" (loc 3762)

"Her voice was not bitter, but soft, featureless, and as uncoloured as the moonlight..." (loc 3844)

[Book Jester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another absolute belter of a short story collection by the magnificent Ray Bradbury. As with the other collections I have read so far it is hard to pick a favourite although I think if I had to it would probably be In a Season of Calm Weather which really took me by surprise - I was not expecting a story about Picasso at all but this one was so beautiful in a bitter-sweet way. I loved the line 'That old man had distilled turpentine and linseed oil so thoroughly through George Smith that they shaped his being, all Blue Period at twilight, all Rose Period at dawn.'

Other stories I really enjoyed were: The Wonderful Ice-Cream Suit (brilliant and hilarious), The Marriage Mender (a touching reminder to always be grateful for what you have), The Town Where No One Got Off (a wonderfully creepy vibe), The Smile (another story centred on the power of art), Perchance to Dream (absolutely brilliant - sort of like a sci-fi Nightmare on Elm Street), The Time of Going Away (a funny domestic skit which made me laugh).

I could go on but I think it's pretty obvious by now how much I love Ray Bradbury; the way he writes is so hypnotic and atmospheric and just so unique. This collection was brilliant partly because of the diversity of the stories - these weren't all set on Mars or in the future but spanned a variety of different eras and locations and I loved the references to certain things which weren't present in the other Bradbury short stories I have read, especially the art connections. How did I manage to live my life before I discovered Ray Bradbury?!

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author has a huge reputation as a writer. I have read some of his other works and quite liked them. I'm afraid that this collection is something of a miss for me. The collection was first published in 1959, when the author was 39 years old, but seems to represent a collection of earlier works where he was experimenting with styles and plot lines. It causes the collection to be episodic and patchy in nature. There isn't a huge degree of consistency across the collection.

I liked some of the tales. I found 'The Dragon' quite well written and well paced, even though it was very short. I could see the twist at the end from a long way off, but it was well delivered when it came. The story built the suspense quite well in a very few words. I see this as one of the better stories.

At the other end of the scale, 'Almost the End of the World' didn't seem to have much point to me. I didn't find it too well written. The suspense aspect, to me, didn't work. I think that the author could have spent visioning the mechanics of the story better. It came over as episodic and disjointed. It didn't flow at all well and was incredibly difficult to read.

I think that the book is still in print, or that second hand copies are readily available. I bought mine in a charity book shop. I bought the copy on the strength of the author's reputation. I'm afraid to say that it disappointed me.

[John Poulain · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mixture of stories in quality but none really get to a 5* recommendation. They're very short and I'd guess we're written for magazines to start off with. I do like the 50s Scifi vibe in a lot of them. A couple of them (the rock that cried out) seem to take a little bit of a racially insensitive turn where whole cultures are treated as homogenous and only the white leads are different from their own race.

Honourable mentions to
The Referent - some interesting ideas about how language defines us but idea isn't really explorerd.
The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit - clothes maketh man, although was slightly dissappointed the suit was ice cream coloured and not ice cream.
The town where no one got off - creepy atmosphere if a little contrived.
Perchance to Dream - not sure about the ending but the nightmare fuel set up gave enough false hope for the hero's struggle to really resonate with how long to stay awake.
Here there be Tygers - like a modern take on the Odyssey's island of pleasure.
The Strawberry Window - really about how to make a place a home and build foundations ina new world.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

The standard of writing in this collection is much improved from the stories in "Machineries of Joy" which I read earlier this year (although one story crosses over from that book). I don't mean just the quality of prose, but the stories are more than punchlines, hold greater depth, and contain subtle nuances. Whilst they don't meet the dizzying heights of "The Martian Chronicles" most of these stories - including some set on Mars - contain that 'nostalgia for the future' which that book contained.

I won't go through each story, but my favourites were "The End of the Beginning", "The Town Where No One Got Off", "Dark They Were And Golden-Eyed", "Here There Be Tygers", "The Gift" and "The Sunset Harp". Also, "And The Rock Cried Out", from which the title put me off, gradually builds into something quite affecting. Would have given 3.5 stars if I could, but it's not enough for 4. Above stories recommended.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bradbury likes his worlds to be deserted. He likes nothing more than apocalyptic scenarios so that it’s easier to focus on environments. It certainly creates a ghostly atmosphere with just a few characters in each story who are mostly creatures of habit who like to reminisce. But in an age where we take things for granted, there are some novel scenarios involving sharing that we might not even think to address. Others are a bit more surreal, and it’s left up to the reader to decide what’s going on. Unfortunately, some of the outcomes are very similar, making the whole compendium a bit dull. There’s some light novel moments in discoveries, and a great excuse from someone who wants to be left alone, but these moments are often rejected by the other characters and there’s often little excitement and wonder as they’re forced to carry on In their little worlds.

[Casper Franzén · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Day It Rained Forever - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In A Season Of Calm Weather - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Dragon - ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
The End Of The Beginning - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Wonderful Ice-Cream Suit - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fever Dream - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Referent - ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
The Marriage Mender - ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
The Town Where No One Got Off - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Icarus Montgolfier Wright - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Almost The End Of The World - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Dark They Were And Golden-Eyed - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
The Smile - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Here There Be Tygers - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Headpiece - ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Perchance To Dream - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Time Of Going Away - ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
The Gift - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Little Mice - ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
The Sunset Harp - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Scent Of Sarsaparilla - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
And The Rock Cried Out - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Strawberry Window - ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

[Charlotte Havercroft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ray Bradbury is the master of science fiction and also, as it seems, other genre also. 23 short stories later, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Every story had a line that you read and felt a lump in your throat. His descriptions and analogies are like no others.

My favourite stories were: the wonderful ice cream suit, referent, the town where no one got off, dark they were and golden eyed, the time of going away, the rock cried out and the strawberry window.


I always figured we were born to fly, one way or another, so I couldn't most men shuffling along with all the iron in the earth in their blood.

This was the moment Mars had waited for. Now it would eat them.