Customer Reviews

Quicker Than the Eye

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This compilation of stories is outstanding by normal standards and so-so by Bradbury's. There are some highlights, inculding "The Finnegan," "Once More, Legato" and "Exchange," but "Quicker than the Eye" does not quite measure up to previous Bradbury works such as "The October Country." One cannot help but notice the recurring theme of death in this book. Nary a story is written without Grim Reaperish-like sentiment. Nevertheless, Bradbury remains a foremost romantic in the world of fiction. You could do worse than picking up "Quicker than the Eye" and reading it. One gets an enriched view of life, especailly after reading the Afterword.

After nearly a decade since his last short story collection (and about FIVE since his first), it's very nice to see the master back on the new book shelves. Longtime fans will recognize familiar themes such as time travel of one sort or another to make amends ("That Woman On the Lawn," "Last Rites,"), fairly old fashioned horror tales ("The Finnegan," "The Witch Door," "Free Dirt"), the never-forgotten carnival characters ("The Electrocution"), and the elegiac yearning for the old and familiar amid the shock and speed of the new ("The Other Highway," which seems to pick up where "Yes, We'll Gather at the River" in _I Sing The Body Electric_ left off). But there are no mind-blowing stories in this bunch, nothing on the order of "A Sound of Thunder," "The Utterly Perfect Murder" or "I Sing the Body Electric" -- pick your own favorites. It's just lovely to see the master still at it after all these years

Typical of Bradbury's collections, this one can not be categorized as horror, sci-fi, fantasy or reality...but as a melting pot of all of them. With nine original stories in this collection, it should definitely find its way onto the bookshelf of any Bradbury fan. While not every story is a standout, he's got enough here to satisfy anyone who enjoys the short story format. Highlights include "The Finnegan", one of the few out-and-out horror stories; the title piece, which packs a punch while remaining firmly grounded in reality, and "The Very Gentle Murders" a completely twisted and funny tale about an elderly couple competing to do each other in. With stories ranging from the gentle ("Last Rites") to the brutal ("Electrocution") it ultimately satisfies in a number of genres. Hopefully, it won't be another decade before his next collection

It's odd for me to feel so drained after reading a book of short stories. After a novel, sure--after investing one's attention into four hundred pages of characters and their coarse plot, but not after a collection of unconnected stories.

Each story in this book is a jewel. There is horror, and there is fantasy. Comedy paired with romance. There are some that are as tender as a whisper, and I won't spoil a one.

Bradbury writes with a delicacy: symmetric majesty. Every word fits, every image is fresh and new, every metaphor perfect. Stories born of prosaic ideas are sheathed in lovely new flesh; the innovative ones dazzle and delight.

I missed Metro stops, engrossed in this ink. Bring your heart; you'll need it.

"Quicker than the Eye" is a short story collection from Ray Bradbury, published originally in 1996. It consists of twenty-one short stories, most of which were published between 1994 and 1996. The one exception to this is "The Electrocution", which was first published in August of 1946 in "The Californian". Fourteen of these stories were published before, in a variety of magazines, and the other 7 are published for the first time in this collection. There is also an afterword, in which Bradbury discusses where his stories come from, and how he writes.

Although often considered Science Fiction, most of these stories would fall into the Fantasy/Supernatural or Horror categories, rather than Science Fiction, and some would not be put into any of the speculative fiction categories were they not written by Ray Bradbury. Bradbury is a master storyteller, and while I would not consider this collection on the same level as "The Martian Chronicles" or "The Illustrated Man", it is not far behind. Some of the stories in this collection that I like best include: "Last Rites", "The Witch Door", Once More, Legato", "Exchange", and "The Other Highway". However, all these stories are told as only Bradbury can.

In his rather indulgent afterword, Bradbury hints that he dashes off many of his short stories in two hours or less. What's this mean for the reader? It means that, in general, the stories are short, even for the genre of short stories. It means that many of them are almost like little sketches of a single, simple idea rather than well-polished texts that contain many conscious layers. It also means that many of the stories are fun and quirky.

Bradbury isn't afraid to take a chance on a notion, and this bravado leads to some misses, but it also leads to some hits that you wouldn't find in a more thoughtfully-screened author's collection.

Fans of Bradbury will already be prepared for his odd take on dialogue, which is sometimes realistic, but more often riddled with philosophical musings that sound like they are being performed for the sake of an audience.

Another interesting feature of Bradbury is his versatility. Going into a story, we never know whether we're going to get science fiction, horror, comedy, or drama. Sometimes, when we get to the end of the story, the classification is likewise elusive. This unpredictability really gives the genre elements more of a punch when they do come up. If we were to get a shambling monster at the end of every story, it would soon lose its power to affect us. But when a monster appears only twice or so throughout the course of the entire book, we really feel the horror.

I highly recommend this collection, simply because the writing is unique and thought-provoking.

There are 22 stories in all. The ones that I found to be good were:

"Remember Sascha," a story that manages to be both creepy and heartwarming, draws a brilliant contrast between the affection that a loving couple shares, and the dialogue they maintain with their nervous unborn baby.

"The Finnegan" is a great parody of an old Sherlock Holmes story, in which an old man plays detective concerning the disappearance of some young children in the woods.

"The Very Gentle Murders" is an amusing farce about an elderly couple that mutually decides that the only satisfying past time each spouse's attempted murder of the other.

"The Witch Door" draws some parallels between a futuristic world in which political trends have continued to the point of the absurd, and the Salem Witch Trial era.

"At the End of the Ninth Year" is a bizarre dialogue between a dissatisfied husband and wife, who find an unexpectedly warm and happy resolution to their problems.

"Bug" is a great story about a high schooler who can dance so well that he clears the dance floor every night, but gives up dancing as he enters middle age. This might be the best story in the collection.

"Once More, Legato" is about a man who seems to read a symphony into the chirping of the birds outside his home.

"Exchange" tells the story of a librarian who gets an after-closing visit from a man who used to visit her at the library when he was a boy. This has a great, creepy beginning that makes every turn of the page suspenseful. It is also, along with the equally good "Last Rites," a celebration of reading and literature.

"Free Dirt" is a great story about some graveyard dirt that the old graveyard owner is giving away. An innocent beginning gets more and more frightening. This is another contender for best story in the book.

A final contender is "The Other Highway," which tells the story of an American family that goes off he beaten path to discover a hidden road to small town America. This has some great quotes and images in it that touch on some of the same themes as Fahrenheit 451.

The stories of Quicker Than the Eye tend to be entertaining and will hold your attention. However, there is little here that can compare to his classics of the past. It is also interesting to note how Bradbury seems to have an interest in writing stories in which people of yesteryear (writers, movie stars, moms, librarians, old friends) are visited and reminded, or told, that they have not been forgotten ("Another Fine Mess," "Last Rites," "That Woman on the Lawn," "Bug," "Exhcange") . One has to wonder Bradbury fears that people will no longer remember him 100 years from now. Fortunately, Bradbury should have nothing to worry about.

Except for "The Halloween Tree", Quicker Than the Eye" is my all time favorite of Ray Bradbury's works! Every story is full of wonderful descriptive language and stimulating plots. This is the first anthology I have read in which I loved every story!

The book Quicker Than The Eye by Ray Bradbury is a collection of short stories. Written by the critically acclaimed author of such books as Farenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and The Martian Chronicles, this book continues Bradbury's outstanding tradition of phenomenal writing. In Quicker Than The Eye, Bradbury shows us the fine literary elements in his stories, from setting and plot to character development. In such stories as "If MGM Is Killed, Who Gets The Lion?", Bradbury immediately develops a rich setting and time-frame, as well as characters and their personality traits. While reading this book, I was thoroughly impressed with the diverse nature of his writing. Some of his stories can be dark and macabre, while the next story is lighthearted and witty. Some of his stories simply leave us with a smile on our face as we finish them. Bradbury exhibits knowledge of many different subjects, such as marine technology in "Underderseaboat Doktor", of music in "Once More, Legato", and also much more in the many stories to come. He even delves into fantasy, leaving a sort of feeling that jumps at the edge of our perception. Clearly, it seems as though Bradbury has taken all of his knowledge from the best of his writing and expanded it, refined it, and delivered it in a book that is almost sure to please the reader. To put this book on a scale of 1-10, I would rate this book a 9.5. Don't get me wrong, I would recommend this book thoroughly, however, if one is a long time fan of Bradbury, one might find his writing to be just a small bit repetitive, all in spite of it`s descriptive nature. However, one might be pleased as this book offers a lighter approach as opposed to some of his darker writing, such as The Halloween Tree, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. The descriptiveness is most captivating, however, as well as his extreme diversity of writing, so should one get bored of one story in the book, there is ample selection of other stories to choose from. In conclusion, I should say that from my perspective, this is a must read book. It has something almost for everyone. Unlike some stories, his are captivating from the first few words, and are nearly sure to hook the reader, making this a very hard book to put down.

At the time this was published (around 1996/97) it was noteworthy to see any kind of Bradbury short story collection, as his output had fallen off somewhat. It's hard to say whether he's better known to the general public as primarily a short story writer or a novelist, the stories that have penetrated into the main consciousness ("Fahrenheit 451", stories like "The Sound of Thunder") are so well known that it really doesn't matter what the format is. I tend to see him as someone who's early work generated an eerie pull, a strange mix of nostalgia for days that never were and a creeping notion that the world as it is, is slightly askew from the world you know.

This collection works more or less in that vein, but without any outright classics of the type that we know from those early days. Which isn't exactly a problem since the majority of them are good in that simple, say what they have to say and get out kind of fashion. Like a good punk song, except instead of "God Save the Queen" it's more Husker Du's "Celebrated Summer" played on old-timey bluegrass instruments. People in here will probably quickly sort through which ones are new favorites and which ones are merely pleasant but chances are the stories will be playing mostly to Bradbury fans who already enjoy his style and the wistful vein he's capable of tapping into.

Science-fiction tends to co-opt him, but he doesn't really belong to the genre. As much as we point out the stories that take place on other planets, for the most part it's a gentle take on fantasy, at times coming close to the lyrical/magical style of a Lord Dunsany, depicting worlds where the magical and the mundane sit side by side, with the story coming in at the moment where the line becomes blurred, or the person in the story realizes there is no line. The few of these that might count as SF merely use the trappings to tell us a story about nostalgia ("Last Rites", which is more a love letter to old authors, or "Zaharoff/Richter Mark V", about the calculated rise and fall of cities), using the idea of the technology to reach into the past and pay homage to what has gone before.

I think Bradbury does better when he works in doing outright fantasy not being welded to any kind of nostalgia because too quickly it dissolves into just pure sentiment for The Way Things Were (whether that's how he personally feels or just the point of view of the characters, it's a recurring theme) and leaves many of the stories feeling slight, especially when you get a bunch of them in a row. Most of the time he does it well enough that it straddles the line between decent and sticky sentiment (both "Another Fine Mess" and "Bug" come very close to the latter, with "The Other Highway" and "Exchange" falling over into it entirely . . . "That Woman on the Lawn" marks a weird middle ground and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet) but it's easier if you're already inclined toward that tone and by the third or fourth tale (especially when you do like I did and read them all very quickly straight through) it starts to feel repetitive.

Some of the remainder take what are very clever ideas but he gives them very quick and slight treatments so that you wind up thinking to yourself "Oh, how clever" but the story never really stays with you beyond that initial read. He's probably just doing them on a lark but a lot of times you can see the resolutions of "The Very Gentle Murders" or "Remember Sascha?" or "At the End of the Ninth Year" coming right from the get-go. It doesn't stop them from being enjoyable because they're told in a warm and familiar fashion, with a matter of fact magical tone that rubs away some of the strangeness and helps you accept it. It doesn't make them very deep, however.

I don't think I would be saying anything radical in noting that a lot of these tales are stricken with a sense of mortality, not surprising for a man pushing eighty when this collection was published and for whom the world of the 1930s must feel like another country entirely. It's been a concern of his since at least "Dandelion Wine" but it becomes more explicit sometimes here ("No News, or What Killed the Dog", the aforementioned "Last Rites" or even "Free Dirt") . . . the best treatment of it is probably the graceful metaphor that marks "Hopscotch". It's certainly not buried deep but there's a perspective to it that I didn't expect. He's looking back, surely, although there's very rarely a sense that he's looking back with the mind of a man who realizes he has more to look back toward than forward. Most of the time the notion never cuts deeply, it vacillates between that sentimental streak I mentioned earlier or gets buried in that whimsical fantasy tone, but it definitely crops up more than once.

So what worked best for me? "The Finnegan" is probably the take away story for me here, a horror tale that unfolds slowly in its limited space and actually manages to create a sense of creeping dread. There are some unclassifiable ones here that I found interesting purely because they were so different ("Dorian in Excelsus" and whatever the heck is happening in "Unterderseaboat Doktor" or even "The Electrocution", where the metaphor just eludes me) but they don't jump to the level of classic. It is a nice variety overall, even if he does hit the same themes time and again, and manages to have no less than three stories that involve a woman screaming/crying that nobody can see ("Free Dirt", "The Witch Door", "That Woman on the Lawn") which I'm sure isn't a motif he really ever expected to have. I don't want to say something trite like "We should be glad he's still producing stories at his age", we should be glad we're getting a good short story collection from anyone, and this is a solid collection with no outright clunkers. Yes, it's marching down well-trodden ground to some extent but when you've helped blaze the path, it's certainly understandable if you want to linger on it for a bit longer before moving on.