The Last Story Told

Wow. Until I have read the first page, I had forgotten that this entire book was about an "illustrated" man, who has tattoos that tells a story of its own. The whole time I was reading it, it just felt like a collection of science fiction books rather than the story of the man. I think it would have been much better if Ray Bradbury had the main character talk about how he was affected or his horrors of the stories in between the each story. I needed space in between the stories, because each of them had mind-blowing (as in horrifying and scary and creepy) endings that I needed time to sink them in my brain. I guess for me, it was so powerful that it was hard to handle. Other than that, I think all stories had different messages and they were all powerful in their own ways. Like the last post, I want to share a story that I found particularly striking.

What I want to share the most is the "Zero Hour". It is about the Martians trying to take over the Earth, but not the way they have done in other books or stories. (Because, of course, we always crush them and send them back to their planet.) In their smart ways, the Martians have abducted the children's mind and every child in America are talking about a game they are playing with their friend, Drill. The main character, who is a mother of a girl, noticed that little kids her age are taking knives and other weapons, saying that Drill has created a game to take over the Earth. None of the adults believe what the little kids are saying.

"Mom?" A hesitation. "Dad?" A waiting, a silence. Humming. Footsteps toward the attic. Mink's first. They trembled together in silence in the attic, Mr. and Mrs. Morris...the queer cold light suddenly visible under the door crack, the strange odor and the alien sound of eagerness in Mink's voice finally got through to Henry Morris too. He stood, shivering, in the dark silence, his wife beside him. "Mom! Dad!" ... The attic lock melted. The door opened. Mink peered inside, tall blue shadows behind her. "Peekaboo," said Mink. (Bradbury, 266)

Ray Bradbury's sentence structures are so highly effective, where he does everything Mr. Perlman said about creating the intense mood, or emphasizing on a certain situation. Like the silence in the whole house, the sentence fragments almost depict the atmosphere of the house. It builds the tension. As I was reading it, I was crawling inside the blankets, knowing that something bad is going to happen. The innocent children no longer seemed innocent and they reminded me of "Where are you... I'm gonna get'cha!" And I read the word "peekaboo", I screamed. It was more horrifying than any other scary stories, because I could almost visualize the face expression of this little child, waiting to kill her own parents.

I'm kind of hesitant in recommending this book. I would recommend if to people who like sci-fi or horror stories, but for people who don't usually get sci-fi, I would recommend reading only some of the stories. There are many stories that won't confuse you with like "aliens" and such, but still, if you don't like futuristic stories, I wouldn't suggest reading it.