I think Ray is a good book writer, but the best in my opinion. He takes things a little to slow. I think he goes to in depth with the characters. He takes to long to explain his ideas and thoughts. In Fahrenheit 451, I think he it was okay but like I have said before it was hard to follow. The Pedestrian was good, I was able to read it and understand it very well. Just the fact that the crime was down and writing was not a occupation made me think that could happen in the future but we will have a need of books of all genres to keep us entertained even though they may be all on e-reader, you will need authors to write them.

What I think of Ray, I would not say he is my favorite. I do not really understand all his meaning's to his book's, it takes me awhile to actually understand what he's trying to explain.xXRaddMannXx I agree with you how he takes to long to explain and goes to far with character. All and All his book's are not bad, it's just the way he make's things go to slow he run's them on and on. To me it seems like he never really get's to he point!

xXRaddMannxX and schoolkid, why wouldn't you want to know more about the character in depth? I think that even though he does go on and on about the character, he does a good job at explaining them. I think Ray is an inspiring author. I like his style of writing and creativity. I like to know about the character in the book in a depth of detail. Even if it does take a long time to explain. It makes the book! But, that is my opinion.

Read more Bradbury! Read some more of his short stories before you make any final judgment of whether he is too deep or shallow, too fast or too slow.

We've mentioned a number of recommended stories in the last week or so, but here are some striking Bradbury short stories that everyone should read. You may not like them all, but there might be something that works for you:

The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl
Skeleton
A Sound of Thunder
The Veldt
The Million-Year Picnic
There Will Come Soft Rains

Where to find these stories? Go to the Short Story Finder on my website, where you can look up a story and find the titles of the Bradbury books the story is in. Then head for your nearest decent library or bookshop and read!

(You MAY be able to find some of these stories online with a bit of Googling, but none of them is officially available that way at present. You may also be able to find TV or radio adaptations of some of these online - but these will NOT be the same as the original stories. Watching Bradbury on screen is NOT the same as reading his words. It's not the STORY that matters, it's the WORDS!)

Dinosaurs17:
I agree with you one hundred percent with explaining the character in depth. When I am reading a book I like to picture an image in my mind of what the characters look like. It helps me understand the book better. I think Mr. Bradbury did an excellent job in both Fahrenheight451 and The Pedestrian explains the characters. I feel as if both of those books are very similar. I would like t try and read another of his books that is totally different from those two. Do you have any suggestions for me?

-flower03

This message has been edited. Last edited by: flower03,

It is awfully funny that for a writer who gained a vast amount of influence from cinematic images, Bradbury almost never physically describes his characters. I can't help but see a story as a movie with a clear idea of each character. As a writer I am inspired by Bradbury but wouldn't do everything exactly like him.

From the two pieces of writing that I read by Bradbury I would have to say I do and I don't like his writing. I liked the Pedestrian but I didn't like Fahrenheit. I like the Pedestrian because Bradbury was very descriptive which helped me visualize easier, and that's what kept me interested in the story. I didn't like Fahrenheit because Bradbury didn't go into a lot of detail. I thought that there could have been much more detail in the book to help me understand what was going on. I also thought Fahrenheit moved to slow. When I was reading the book there were some parts when the story completely slowed down and then I got bored and started to lose interest.

quote:

Originally posted by dandelion:
It is awfully funny that for a writer who gained a vast amount of influence from cinematic images, Bradbury almost never physically describes his characters...

That's an interesting point, which I hadn't thought much about. It may be that he was equally influenced by radio drama (another of Ray's passions) where, of course, we can't see the characters (except in our mind's eye).

It may also be that his concept of how to keep a story moving along - with simple, direct, dramatic language - causes him to avoid stopping for descriptions. (But when he DOES stop for descriptions, wow!)

And, of course, much of the time Bradbury is writing from the point of view of one of his characters, either literally by writing in the first person (I), or by "siding" with a particular character and allowing us acces to their thoughts while still writing in the third person (s/he).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: philnic,

I think Bradbury puts things in his own frame of mind. He really really thinks outside of the box and comes up with new ideas that no one else has even touched base upon. I really loved learning about Bradbury and his work. It made me realize just how many great authors are out there. Bradbury always writes about interesting things and it's interesting to me to read them. However, no author is perfect and although he may have written a few stories short of outstanding that doesn't mean he can't be praised for his other great work.