Green Shadows, White Whale

The fictionalized telling of Bradbury's stay in Ireland with director John Huston while writing the screenplay for the 1956 movie version of "Moby Dick". He has written several stories before based on his stay there (such as "Banshee") and these stories are incorporated into this novel. If you read many of Ray Bradbury's stories, you will recognize several of them in the book. There are not all that many parts of the novel with John Huston in them, but I think those are the most interesting parts. According to Bradbury, Huston could be quite the devil at times (not too surprising). Most of the book involves his friendships and adventures with Irish folk he met at a nearby pub. Not Bradbury's best, but certainly well worth picking up and show more reading. show less

http://nhw.livejournal.com/86784.html

It's the story of young sf writer Ray Bradbury, brought to Ireland by film director John Huston, to write a screenplay for Moby Dick. Huston comes across as a real monster, incessantly bullying his wife, Bradbury and other colleagues, with almost no redeeming features. I found Bradbury's portrayal of Ireland and the Irish irritating at first and then I realised that he was doing nothing more than writing in his usual style; it might as well have been Mars.

The short stories dropped into the narrative - including two with fantasy elements, which I list on my web page - are the best bits of a very uneven book. The only other "novel" I've read by Bradbury, To the Dust Returned, was equally uneven. show more Perhaps he is someone who needs the discipline of the short story form to write quality stuff. For €7.50 I can't complain too much. show less

This is part recollection, part fiction. Bradbury weaves some Irish-themed (which you may have read in other collections) stories into a framework about the time he worked with John Huston to write the screenplay for "Moby DIck". Lots of time is spent in the country pub, and while Bradbury's prose often runs purple here as elsewhere, the pub really is the perfect setting. Your mileage may vary, but for a film nut and Bradbury fan, this is a double treat.

DNF

Not really my cup of tea. I love Moby Dick, i like Ireland and Ray Bradbury but this is more some kind of essay collection that doesn´t feature the origin of the Moby Dick screenplay as I hoped for.
My fault - didn´t read the description in detail ;)