Ray Bradbury's "Invisible Boy"

One of the best investments I have ever made in my life is buying a copy of "The Vintage Bradbury", which is a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury. It isn't because I got it at a book sale for a dollar, but because it is full of amazing stories that really show what a genius Bradbury really is. A lot of his stories fall somewhere between science fiction and magic realism (although I have never heard anybody consider him in the latter category), which aren't my favorite genres, but he writes them so well that I always find myself engaged in his stories.

I am halfway into the collection--I don't read it continually--and had just finished "The Invisible Boy", a story about an old woman who wants to adopt a boy against his will and ends up tricking him into believing that she has turned him invisible. I find it a little creepy and quite endearing. Most of the story is told in scenes--that is, dialogues between characters. He jumps right into the story, giving so much back story in so few words. Within a few pages and with very minimal narrations, we get to know exactly who these characters are. The plot isn't super complex or dense; the structure is linear, and there is a clear beginning, middle, and ending. This story is a perfect example of the kind of guidance that I need when I feel lost while figuring out how to write--period. It points out the obvious answers that I find so easy to forget for some reason.

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This is the part where I summarize the story for my own personal use. ***SPOILER ALERT***

The story resembles that of the fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes" in that the boy is tricked into believing that he has something that he doesn't--invisibility. The resemblance is most obvious when the boy, thinking that he is invisible, takes off his clothes and dances around. The old lady is creepy in nature, but she is also a pitiable character because she is lonely; her affection for the boy, as she claims, is of a mother to a son. The heart of the scene is in the end when the boy is gone and she pretends like he is there, invisible. The story could be read in a controversial view as the old lady could be a representation of a pedophile.

This and That

I have spent the past couple of months being completely obsessed with the theater. I wanted to start writing for the stage, so I read a lot of plays and studied everything I could about playwriting and the theater. The downside of that is that I have become unable to accomplish anything. While struggling to write my first play, it had been impossible for me to write anything else. In an attempt to fix that, I decided to get back into writing short stories again.

In order to do so, I have to start reading short stories, so I go and check out a collection of short stories from the library. After browsing through the collection and reading some of them, I become rather disappointed. There is nothing about the stories that I find innovative. They are well written, don't get me wrong, but the stories are just not interesting. It seems to me that these writers have great ability but nothing of importance to tell. It's a wonder that they have won the notable prizes that got them into the collection. One of them, for example, is about a college student who sleeps with her professor to get a better grade and to steal his money. The main character is well developed, but there just isn't much in the story. I even find some of its elements cliche, like the professor character, for example. Many writers mention that it is important to get to know what is being published these days, what is currently considered good, but I find that most of the things that I have read that are on the market has nothing to compare to the classics, which are mostly what I read. I'm not sure what is going on in the literary world today, but I do not like it.

Putting that away, I return to my collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury, who I think is one of the best writers that ever lived, especially in America. His stories always give me inspiration; they have helped me through many writer's blocks over the years. But reading and learning from the same writer after a while can also become a bit of a bore. So I decide to pick up some new collections--ones that I have heard mentioned and recommended for so long but haven't gotten a chance to get to. These are Raymond Carver's "Where I'm Calling From," Tim O'Brien's "Things They Carried," and Lorrie Moore's "Self-Help." I have read some stories from these collections, and it is time to read all of them.

I started with Carver's story entitled "Nobody Said Anything," which is marvelous and exactly what I need. There will be some sort of an analysis on the story in a later entry.

This and That #2

It's been a while!

I have been reading, swear to god, just haven't been having much time to update this blog. Anyway, last time I intended to write about short stories, but when I sat down to do it my memory just went blank. But I remember now that I was going to recommend The Vintage Bradbury, a short story collection by the marvelous Ray Bradbury. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but I have read several stories, and so far they were amazing. People tend to call his works science fiction, but I see them more as early variations of magic realism.

Also, read immediately, Tim O'Brien's On the Rainy River. FANTASTIC writing.

More to come when I have more time to think.

This and That #1

So, I waited too long to write a post about short stories, and now I can't write about them anymore because it has been too long since I read them. I would reread them but I seriously do not have time with school going on and all the things that I have to read. But let me suggest the following:

The Enormous Radio by John Cheever
Roman Fever by Edith Wharton
How to be an Other Woman by Lorrie Moore

These are fantastic writings. Check them out.

I'm doing an independent study on modern and contemporary American drama. I just finished reading Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive, a superb play about a young girl becoming a woman while having a sexual affair with her uncle in law. It raises questions about the nature of pedophilia and statutory rape, and gives a very interesting take on a character that we might have otherwise condemned.

I also read Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, which is depressing to read, especially during the time where our economy is fucked. But it is a great play. The characters are multi-dimensional and very intriguing to study. What I love about Arthur Miller is that his works (the 4 that I have read) all have timeless qualities. These are the plays that readers and audiences will always be able to relate to. He is very Shakespearean in that way.

The rest of summer reading

When I started this blog, I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted it to be. I didn't want to write book reviews, I didn't want to praise or condemn any books, I just want to write about them. I guess what I find most fascinating are the things that I come across and decide to read, whether I enjoy them or not. I just think it's interesting why somebody chooses to read something, and I hope that my choices are interesting to you too.

These are the books that I read this summer which haven't been previously featured:

On Writing - a memoir about writing by Stephen King
Reckless - a play by Craig Lucas
Prelude to a Kiss - another play by Craig Lucas
Our Town - Thornton Wilder

"That's what it was to be alive. To move about in a cloud of ignorance; to go up and down trampling on the feelings of those...of those about you. To spend and waste time as though you had a million years. To be always at the mercy of one self-centered passion, or another. Now you know--that's the happy existence you wanted to go back to. Ignorance and blindness."

- Our Town

Currently I am enjoying short stories by Ray Bradbury, who truly is an amazing writer. I bought one of his collections, The Vintage Bradbury, a while back, and it is now one of the best books I own.

I read a lot of interesting short stories this summer, old and new. I might write about them in the next entry.