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Summary: Cecy and Einar and the rest
Review: From the Dust Returned: One of Bradbury's two greatest families (the other being the Green Town Spauldings) now under one cover. Here's Cecy, traveling mentally from mind to mind; Uncle Einar flying with and without restrictions; Timothy feeling left out with his absence of powers. Even the couple from On the Orient, North get thrown in. There is no truly unifying plot line, which usually in the case with this kind of composite. But there is a thematic unity in a sense. And of course Ray Bradbury prose poetry. Read out loud and get swept into the sky with Cecy and the others. It took me only two days (probably less than three hours) to read this: less than a Harry Potter novel. Not much really profound and deep: Just flights of fantasy with a word trip to go along with them. A chance to get away from more ponderous fiction and nonfiction.
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Summary: Bradbury's Written Better
Review: He's done better. I thought it was empty.
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Summary: A manifesto for keeping life¿s mysteries alive.
Review: Hidden within this fantastical tale of spirits, ghosts, and surreal happenings, is a message that speaks directly to the soul--a message so timely, so heartfelt, and so broad in its applications that it feels like the culmination of everything Bradbury has learned and wanted to say during his lifetime. With a lyricism and warmth which never become precious, he issues a manifesto for keeping life's mysteries alive, for celebrating the world of the spirit, for reaching and stretching and never taking anything for granted, and most of all for understanding and staying connected, lovingly, with the past and its wisdom--not just the recent past, but a past going back beyond the ancient Egyptians to the beginning of time. "Would you not admit," he asks, "that forty billion deaths [represent] a great wisdom, and those forty billion who shelve under the earth are a great gift to the living so that they might live?" Centering the action around the House, a huge dwelling created from "tumults of weather and excursions of Time" in Green Town, Illinois, Bradbury creates a fanciful population from the spirit world, and one young, human boy, who loves them and whose job it is to record this Family's history. With Cecy, a goddess of wisdom who is "all the senses of all the creatures in the world," acting as his mentor, Tim, the young boy, shares the spirit world and their history, and searches for insights into the future. Both innocent and enthusiastic, Tim's life with the spirits is full of wonder and hope--sometimes funny, sometimes frightening, sometimes touching, and always enlightening. Bradbury's urgent tone, his chant-like repetitions of sentence patterns and phrases, his lively descriptions, and his compelling narrative make this a fast read, and the ironic "humanity" of his spirits engages the reader emotionally. Without being didactic, Bradbury manages to convey a strong message. I began the book as a reader/critic. I ended as a disciple.
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Summary: I finished this book on Halloween....
Review: I finished this book on Halloween night in a house in Northern Illinois very much like the House of this story. Having grown up with Mr.Bradbury's books it felt very much like a Homecoming to me also. Besides tieing together most of the tales of the Elliot family in one narative, you also find echoes of everything from the Halloween Tree to Something Wicked this Way Comes.
I have always felt a special connection to the author's work. You see, like Will Halloway in Something Wicked This Way Comes, I was born on the day before Halloween. And very near Green Town. Thank you for another wonderful birthday present Mr. Bradbury.
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Summary: It was stupid
Review: I have been a Ray Bradbury fan since I was in high school with reading such classics as Farenheit 451, Martian Chronicles and The October Country. But I couldn't make any sense of this book. It didn't have a plot nor a story line. It was just a jumble of boring short stories. It was a waste of money and time.
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Summary: Bradbury's finest.
Review: I have only read a couple of Ray Bradbury's books, most notably Farenhight 451 and R is for Rocket, and was very impressed by the style of writing.
'Dust Returned is undoubtably his best work so far. Apparently he has been working on the stories for almost fifty years, and it shows. While reading, he puts an incredible amount of detail in just a couple of sentances and words, truly making a masterpiece out of writing. For example, take a look at the first paragraph of the first chapter:
-At first, A Thousand Times Great Grandmère said, there was only a place on the long plain of grass and a hill on which was nothing at all but more grass and a tree that was as crooked as a fork of black lightning on which nothing grew until the town came and the House arrived.
This is just part of the book, only a small piece and from that, one can see how good this long antisipated book really is.
The book is about the Elliot family, and they are all gathering together in a homecoming to share emotions and stories.
A wonderful book.
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Summary: As good as I remember him
Review: I haven't read Bradbury in over 25 years, and reading From the Dust Returned really brought back good memories. It does not disappoint!
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Summary: Ectoplasm over Illinois
Review: I like Cecy. I really do. She is young and beautiful and can turn amazing tricks. Like entering through the ear of any living being and looking out through its eyes. And all that without leaving her sandbox in the attic of the house. But Uncle Einar is quite something, too. With his gigantic wings he can fly around. But at times he gets hung up in a tree. For the Homecoming on Halloween, the whole Elliot tribe gathers. They come through squeaky doors, fly in through the windows, howl down the chimneys and even travel long distance on the Orient Express. Mr. Bradbury has written a ghost story of very special dimensions. Exquisite language with stunning imagination make for a book that will haunt you for some time to come.
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Summary: Prose that is typically, beautifully Bradbury
Review: I love passionately the incomparable writing style of Ray Bradbury. His imagery and descriptions are always unique in a way that no other author has been able to approach. It's like comparing a dense fudge to plain, cakey brownies; hey, you gotta love brownies but the fudge will blow them out of the water every time.
The Elliot family is a motley collection of supernatural beings from every corner of the planet. For whatever reason, they have picked a house out in the middle of Nowhere, America to collect and settle in for their regular (once or twice a century) gatherings. The core family, Mother, Father, Grandmere, Grandpere, Cecy and Tommy, remain to hold the fort in between. Little mortal Tommy is the only one who doesn't fit in, but only because he was adopted; and oh, what he wouldn't give to be able to fly like Uncle Einar or change bodies like Cecy! For the enchantment he feels when listening to Grandmere's stories of the Family is made up of good old-fashioned wonder and love.
Bradbury's recent book From the Dust Returned is exactly as rich and magical as I would have expected from this author. Small wonder, as he has had decades to perfect every well-honed metaphor. This slow is apparently an advantage to character development and visualization, but a plot cobbled together of several previously published short stories does leave the storyline weakened. Still, for Bradbury devotees like me it is not to be missed. Would you pass up a chocolately ganache torte just because somebody left out the pecans? I would hope not.
-lil' readin' sprite
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I was very disappointed by this set of short stories by Ray Bradbury. It was basically a re-write of the October Tree with two or three newer tales to tie up "loose ends" about this family. I was very disappointed by this book, especially after reading his newest - "One for the Road".
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