We'll Always Have Paris (2009)

We'll Always Have Paris (2009)

Author: Ray Bradbury |  Page Count: 210

'There was a sense of loss, a vacuum, an emptiness, a vast silence. The walls ached.'

If you're new to Ray Bradbury's work, it'd be advisable to start with one of his more famous collections, such as the sublime Dandelion Wine (1957) or, if you prefer a novel, the darker in tone Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) because I'm confident that most folks will have a more rewarding time with either of those books than with We'll Always Have Paris, a collection of twenty-two previously unpublished works that showcase the author at his less than stellar best.

Culled from a lifetime of writing (he was aged 88 at time of publication) the included stories range from familiar to surprising, frustrating to satisfying, but there's nothing offered herein that equals his earlier successes. Some of the works are little more than vignettes, borderless musings that in their brevity remind us how brief and fleeting a life can be. Most noteworthy is a Green Town story and one about Mars that may please long-time fans.

A number of them involve the giving of a gift, either given directly or transferred to the recipient(s) more subtly; e.g. the gift of joy (Massinello Pietro); the gift of life (The Visit); the gift of forewarning (Twilight Greens); etc. If you're willing to take that thought further, the book itself can be considered as such, the experiences of the author being a gift from the world, which he in turn dresses up and redistributes to readers as words and unfettered feelings.