Driving Blind

by Ray Bradbury
259 pgs

It’d been a long time since I read anything by Ray Bradbury. Probably because, since there’s not much left by him to read and there are no more stories to come, I’ve been rationing. I fell in love with Bradbury from reading his stories in the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres. The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, and Something Wicked This Way Comes are three of my all-time favorite books. But later on, I became aware of his works like Dandelion Wine and his stories that could be described as fictional memoirs, stories that either don’t contain any elements of science fiction or the supernatural, or that do so very subtly. These types of stories are just as entertaining and memorable. The 21 stories in Driving Blind generally fall into this later grouping.

Most of the stories have an element of romance in them. One tale is of an old spinster whose saved love letters were stolen from her home by the man who wrote them, and then resent to her one by one in an effort for a second chance. One is of a man who wonder what became of his first love. But when he tracks her down and knocks on her door, he discovers time has not been kind to her and so pretends to be a salesman. There’s a story about a pitiful one-ring circus in a small Mexican border town and one of a dead man searching for mourners.

Each story is only about ten pages long, but in those few pages, Bradbury--as few authors would be able to do--crafts a story deep with emotions, which offers a touching snapshot of humanity. This is not the book I would use to introduce someone to Ray Bradbury, but for those who know and enjoy his style of storytelling, this one is worth the read.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Ray Bradbury

"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." - Ray Bradbury

Normally when I hear about famous people dying, I hardly give it a second thought. But that hasn't been the case since I heard yesterday of the passing of Ray Bradbury. I've mentioned before that I owe my love for reading to Stephen King, but that's not entirely accurate. It would be more correct to say that King is responsible for my renewed love of reading. In elementary school I read a lot but then quit reading for a few years until my parents bought me King's Misery. My initial love for reading began when I was in third grade and as a class we read Bradbury's short story All Summer in a Day. At the time I simply enjoyed the story. But the fact that over thirty years later my mind goes back to it every time I hear in the news about kids being bullied, is a testament to the impact and power books can have.

Neil Gaiman Tribute

Death is a Lonely Business

Death is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury

It's been a long time since I read anything by Ray Bradbury. Which is kind of unfortunate because he's one of my all-time favorite authors. I think I was in the 6th grade when we studied short stories and as a class we read All Summer in a Day. That was the first thing by Bradbury I ever read and there have been very few things by him that I haven't enjoyed. And considering the number of short stories and novels he's published in his lifetime, that says a lot.

Death is a Lonely Business is a mystery. The narrator is a man in his early twenties who is a struggling science fiction writer. His identity is never revealed, nor is his name used at any time in the story, but it's pretty apparent that Bradbury uses himself as the main character and leaves it up to the reader to determine whether the story is wholly or partially autobiographical or whether he made the whole thing up.

It begins with the narrator riding a late-night commuter train on his way home. As he's sitting there in what he believes is an otherwise empty railroad car, he becomes aware that he's not alone. There's another man standing behind him in the aisle, drunk and swaying on his feet. In an effort to discourage any interaction with his traveling companion, the narrator keeps his eyes shut, and his head turned away. For the most part, his efforts are successful, but the man does say something to him before exiting the car, "Death is a lonely business." Shortly after that encounter, people in the narrator's life begin to die and the narrator believes it's the man who rode the train with him who's behind their deaths.

If you've never read anything by Bradbury, his writing style can take some getting used to. He relies heavily on the dialogue between his characters to tell his stories. And that can seem rather short and terse a lot of the times. But for me, his writing style is half of the enjoyment of reading the book.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆