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Death Is a Lonely Business
Death Is a Lonely Business | Ray Bradbury
13 posts | 13 read | 17 to read
Ray Bradbury, the undisputed Dean of American storytelling, dips his accomplished pen into the cryptic inkwell of noir and creates a stylish and slightly fantastical tale of mayhem and murder set among the shadows and the murky canals of Venice, California, in the early 1950s. Toiling away amid the looming palm trees and decaying bungalows, a struggling young writer (who bears a resemblance to the author) spins fantastic stories from his fertile imagination upon his clacking typewriter. Trying not to miss his girlfriend (away studying in Mexico), the nameless writer steadily crafts his literary effort--until strange things begin happening around him. Starting with a series of peculiar phone calls, the writer then finds clumps of seaweed on his doorstep. But as the incidents escalate, his friends fall victim to a series of mysterious "accidents"--some of them fatal. Aided by Elmo Crumley, a savvy, street-smart detective, and a reclusive actress of yesteryear with an intense hunger for life, the wordsmith sets out to find the connection between the bizarre events, and in doing so, uncovers the truth about his own creative abilities.
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bookwyrm7
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"Her hourglass is malfunctioning, someone has put funeral-urn ashes in it instead of sand. There are odd whispers in her icebox door. The ice falls inside the fridge at midnight and sounds like the wrong kind of laughter. The toilet across the hall gargles all night. The termites under her chair are going to gnaw through and drop her to hell. The spiders in the wall are mending her shroud."

6 likes1 stack add
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bookwyrm7
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"Only the projector and the films in the parlor. Time only works well in one direction. Back. I control the past. I'll be damned if I know what to do with the present, and to hell with the future. I'm not going to be there, don't want to go there, and would hate if you made me. It's a perfect life."

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bookwyrm7
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"(...) did strangers lie there, holding on their insides as if they were broken glass?"

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bookwyrm7
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"Cal, I thought. Snip away the darkness.
Short in front. So I can see.
Short on the sides. So I can hear.
Short in the back. So I can feel things creeping up on me.
Short!"

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bookwyrm7
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"The moon broke through a rift of darkness like a great eye watching me. I walked on mirrors which showed me the same moon and clouds. I walked on the sky beneath (...)"

review
Creme_de_la_them
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Pickpick

Book #15 of 2024: “Death is a Lonely Business” by Ray Bradbury

I enjoyed this one. It‘s got a strong sense of melancholy with a whisper of hope. A good mystery that kept me engaged.

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Jari-chan
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Pickpick

What a book! Bradbury is such a diverse writer.

I love the way the author tells is his story, the words he uses, the intensity he creates. It's suspenseful, mysterious and thrilling.

Unlike anything I read by Bradbury so far, or unlike any crime novels so far.

#BookSpinBingo

@TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 4y
31 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Jari-chan
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#BookSpinBingo board all cleared! 😁

@TheAromaOfBooks

TheAromaofBooks YAY!! What a great month!!! 4y
Jari-chan @TheAromaofBooks Definitely 😁😁 4y
Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick Great job! 👏👏👏 4y
21 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Eggs
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Mehso-so

Bradbury‘s contribution to murder mystery noir—I love the setting: Venice, CA, in the 1950s! If you know Venice/Santa Monica pier, it‘s fun history and lends a spooky air (and system of canals) to the plot. However the characters left me wanting and dialogue was repetitive

#authoramonth2020 @Soubhiville

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks You're really doing great work with AuthoraMonth!! 4y
Eggs Thanks Sarah 🤗😊 @TheAromaofBooks 4y
64 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Eggs
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OriginalCyn620 👍🏻📚👍🏻 4y
54 likes1 comment
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AlaMich
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22 likes1 stack add
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AlaMich
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So who knew Ray Bradbury had written a mystery? Not me! This one is set in Venice (California) in 1949. I have been fascinated by Venice since I made my brother, who lived in LA, take me there a few years ago. RB lived there for a about a decade at that time. I have no idea what the eyeballs are about 👀

MicheleinPhilly That's so funny. I was JUST texting with my sisters about when I lived in Venice. It was only for 3 months, but it was an interesting place. 8y
8leagueboot This had better be a mystery that involves an eerie abandoned roller coaster, as this awesome cover suggests. 8y
AlaMich @8leagueboot I think you're out of luck on that score because I believe the Venice Pier was demolished right before the story takes place. 8y
See All 7 Comments
AlaMich @MicheleinPhilly Lucky!! I could've wandered around there for days... 8y
AlaMich @TobeyTheScavengerMonk I did run across that somewhere. 🕵🏻🕵🏻🕵🏻 8y
27 likes3 stack adds7 comments
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tricours
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Another bookhaul! We went to a flea market one hour before closing, when they were selling stuff by the bag ($6 per bag), but they really wanted to get rid off stuff so we didn't even have to pay for our bag 😁This is a strategy that has worked many times for me!

Suet624 Nice!!! 8y
35 likes1 comment