The Martian Chronicles

I never got around to reading this genre classic when I was a teenager and perhaps I left it too late. The book comes off as very old-fashioned, even outdated as it reproduces the classical gender roles of the 50s in the US, even among the Martians. According to the foreword, Bradbury wanted to write a story with that exact old-school feel but set on Mars. He succeeded but I kind of struggled with relating to the stories and characters as a result. Nevertheless, some aspects were intriguing (the somewhat crude critique of the explorer mindset and the strangeness of the alien planet) and I really liked the melancholy vibe towards the end of the book.

Kosta zitzaidan pixka bat irakurtzea, ez dakit ingeles mailagatik izango zen. Hala ere, gomendatzen dut.

Barrua kolpatu zidan eszena batek (ez da izorrakia, baina adi, banoa eta) hildako batzuk ikusi eta benetakoak ez direla pentsatzen dutenean. Hil bezain pronto ahaztu zituzten, ez gara deus, sentsazio hori eman zidan kolpetik.

Provocative, if dated. The book's weak point is that Bradbury implicitly assumes small-town Americana and its values to be humanity's default expression, but its strong point is its bravery in challenging those values.

Amazingly enthralling, horrifying, realistic, and humerus, almost all at the same time.

I listened to this book again, suffering under the false delusion that it could not possibly be as good as I remembered. I was wrong. Soulful poetic science fiction does exist!

Sometimes the sentiment is turned up a little high, but I think it was more a matter of the times when these stories were written. It's been so many years since I first read this that I largely forgot the details." This is a review of the Audible version ten years later, a long time after the first time I read this.