And, oh, what stories are told. As a science fiction writer, it is no surprise that the majority of Bradbury's stories have to do with space and the future (heck, all of space was in the future when these stories were written in the early 50s). Additionally, the majority of the tales are pretty bleak, dealing with dark themes of revenge, futile searches for paradise, and Armageddon. However, save for their near-universal excellence, thought-provocation, and prescience, the similarities end there.

Among them: Mars is colonized by black people who have left Earth's prejudices, and await with apprehension the arrival of a white-piloted rocket ship from their former homeland; another planet's soldiers attack Earth and are surprised at the warm welcome they receive, only to learn that they can be conquered by Earth's lousy diet, sedentary ways, and shallow culture as easily as by the planet's military; an assembly of priests travels to Mars to learn about Martian sins, so as to spread God's word and earn converts of the Red plant; an entire city is built with the concept of vengeance in mind, by its citizens who were to perish before being able to exact that revenge themselves; the authors of classic tales of horror, whose works are banned on Earth, are themselves exiled to Mars and only kept alive by the few remaining copies not burned for censorship.

There are a couple of lame ducks herein, but even those are salvaged by the beauty of Bradbury's writing. His metaphors and descriptive devices flow from the pages and grant a macabre beauty to even the most desolate of landscapes.


Illustrating Human Nature   June 9, 2003
 18 out of 18 found this review helpful

Sometimes it's hard to remember that Ray Bradbury approaches the art of the short story in a very unconventional way. His collections of short stories are often tied together by common sub-themes or settings, although each story could also stand on its own. Such is the case here, though the running theme to the Illustrated Man collection is mostly an abstraction. Apparently the stories here are told by a man's haunted tattoos, but don't worry about that too much. The true theme holding this group of stories together is examinations of human nature and mankind's place in the universe. Bradbury's frequent use of Mars (and occasionally other planets) as a setting, with the obligatory spaceships and technology, is merely his method of creating alternate realities to bring human nature into bold relief.

Bradbury's classic examinations of the dark and melancholy side of humanity are well represented here as always, with his trademark poetic writing style and underlying sense of creeping dread. The classic virtual reality tale "The Veldt" is found here, with the typical misuse-of-technology theme presented in an unexpectedly haunting fashion. More evidence that the stock sci-fi themes are merely a thin backdrop can be seen in "The Other Foot," a chilling examination of race relations; or "The Rocket," which deals with the yearning of regular people to reach beyond the confines of Earth. Other winning stories include "Kaleidoscope" and "The Long Rain" which are haunting tales of how human nature can still undermine the greatest achievements of cold technology. So don't concern yourself with the typical sci-fi backdrop, and get in tune with what Ray Bradbury is really talking about.


Bradbury Strikes Again!   May 9, 2000
 7 out of 9 found this review helpful

The book I am reviewing is The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. Before I start summarizing the book, I have to say that this book was an ingenius idea for a collection of short stories. The book is about a man who meets the Illustrated man, a former circus freak who claims that his tattoos,covering him from shoulder to toe, were drawn by a woman who came from the future. He also claims that she said that each tattoo tells a story about the future. The man soon finds that this is true, seeing stories about space travel and the end of the world. This plot serves as a great way to tell the stories, with the man describing what he sees on the illustrated man1s back. The stories themselves are a great amount of fun to read and are very descriptive, in the Bradbury tradition.The stories are about everything from spaceships to Mars colonies. All in all, this is a great book


No carnival will take him   March 8, 2003
 7 out of 11 found this review helpful

"Prologue: The Illustrated Man" and "Epilogue" are used as a binding element for this short story collection, linked together by images on the Illustrated Man's skin.

The name of "The City" was and is Revenge, upon the planet of Darkness - and after 20 millennia of waiting, Earthmen have come calling.

"The Concrete Mixer" Ettil objects to the Martian invasion of Earth - he's been reading illegally imported Earth fiction, and knows how all such invasions end.

Meet "The Exiles" - the reverse image of Bradbury's "Usher II".

"The Fire Balloons" Father Peregrine and his colleagues have come to Mars as missionaries to the Martians. But there are two species of Martians - the dying race of the Martian Chronicles, and a species of fire globes that humans can't communicate with yet.

"The Fox and the Forest" Fleeing from a war-torn future, two time travellers have taken new identities in 1938.

"The Highway" provides occasional windfalls for Hernando and his family - tourists driving south into Mexico who want to photograph him as a picturesque poor farmer, for instance. The drivers always complain - until today, as they flee the atom-bombing of the cities.

"Kaleidoscope" Although the crew were spacesuited when the ship was torn open, none had propulsion units - so here they are, falling, scattered so that they mostly can't see each other, unable to do anything except talk to pass their last few hours. (One twist is that they aren't all caught by Earth's gravity - some go one way, some another.)

On "The Last Night of the World", all the adults *know*, from having had the same dream, that the end has come. 'You don't scream about the real thing.'

"The Long Rain" Bradbury's Venus is a jungle suffering near-perpetual rain - in this story, rain that *never* ceases. The planet's only continent has been seeded with Sun Domes for lost spacemen - but the natives occasionally manage to destroy them. The survivors of a rocket crash are trying to make it to shelter before the endless water torture cracks them up...

"The Man" Hart, Martin, and the crew of their rocket have discovered a new world - but none of the inhabitants take any notice, because something *really* big has just happened - a messiah appeared the day before. Hart's first reaction is to ask if his competitors have beaten him here. :) ('I sympathize, Martin. I overlook your petty insubordination.' 'I don't overlook your petty tyranny.') Hart is driven to go on and on, so much so that he can't quite recognize what he's been looking for.

"Marionettes, Inc." Unlike _I Sing the Body Electric!_, here robots are illegally sold as replicas of specific people. Braling wants to escape his marriage, but gets more than he bargained for.

Hitchcock lives only in the moment, rejecting the pain of both memory and anticipation. But in space, it's "No Particular Night Or Morning".

"The Other Foot" - In _The Martian Chronicles_' "Way Up High in the Middle of the Air", African-Americans left Earth's segregation for Mars' freedom. Now the first rocket for 20 years brings the first white men the children have ever seen, while their parents aren't feeling charitable to these survivors of an atomic war. But Hattie Johnson doesn't want to see her husband turn into everything he hated.

"The Rocket" - The Bodonis dream of Mars - but have money for only one ticket.

Doug's childhood memories of his father, "The Rocket Man", are of a man gone for months at a time without a word, for fear he'd want to be with his family, "home" for three days or so, then gone again. Doug's mother treats space as though it doesn't exist, wanting her husband to stay and have a life with his family - hard, knowing that you can see all the places where he's been, while they're forever out of reach.

"The Veldt" - The Hadleys live in the kind of automated-to-the-max house seen in "There Will Come Soft Rains" in _The Martian Chronicles_. The adults worry that the nursery, with its full-sensory storytelling experiences, has supplanted them in their children's hearts - and what with the African stories they've been reading lately, the screams coming from the lions' kills are unnerving.

"The Visitor" - Victims of 'blood rust' are permanent exiles quarantined on Mars, and they suffer most from homesickness. When a newcomer displays a gift for creating illusions of home, though, whose home will it be?

"Zero Hour" - Children under nine have suddenly taken up a new game: invasion. It's creepy how Mrs. Morris' friends across the country *all* say their kids are pretending that the Martians are coming...


One can never get bored reading Bradbury's stories   December 16, 2006
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

I have read The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury many times. I will continue to read this wonderful little book. Like most of Bradbury's work, one can never get bored reading his stories. His stories are at times terrible, dark and they are beautiful, fascinating and in many ways a portal to the future. They are also a wonderful escape from the now.

The Illustrated Man is more a short story collection woven together by a central theme. The theme is The Illustrated Man. I agree with many other persons that it is important to realize he is illustrated, not tattooed. And how did he get the illustrations? A witch did the illustrations. He has been on the road searching for her ever since she put them on every inch of his flesh. When he finds her, he plans to kill her. Why? The illustrations are magical and move on his body. They are magic. If you look at theme for a period, they will tell you a story.

The Illustrated Man moves through 18 stories. "The Veldt" is my favorite story. "The Veldt" is one of the best short stories ever written. I also enjoyed "The Long Rain" (about rain of Venus) and "Marionettes, Inc." (about an artificial intelligence body double being used where a man can go out on the town, but the double ultimately taking the man's place and wife). There are so many great stories ranging from Sci-Fi to mild horror. It is a great book I would recommend for all middle school age and older.

Read and Reviewed by Jimmie A. Kepler.