From the Dust Returned By Ray Bradbury Discussed March 2003 Buy From the Dust Returned

Questions

1. Did you enjoy From the Dust Returned? Why, or why not?
2. Do you have a favorite story/chapter? What do you like about that one?
3. The stories that comprise this book were written over the course of 40-50 years. For example, Chapter 5 ("The Wandering Witch" – originally entitled "The April Witch") was written in 1952; but its "sequel" (Chapter 22, "The One Who Remembers") was written in 2001. Despite this long "gestation period," does it all "hang together" for you and read smoothly as one story?
4. What type of America is depicted in the stories in this book -- and, indeed, in most Bradbury stories? What does Bradbury seem to be saying in this book about the nature of America?
5. From the Dust Returned is an "ensemble piece," featuring a wide range of very distinctive members of the Eternal Family. What is your favorite character?
6. Timothy is the only "normal" human in the Eternal Family – and a foundling – and he's also the central character in the story. Why do you think Bradbury arranged it this way? Does this have any meaning for the GLBT community?
7. Toward the end of the book, Timothy realizes something important about himself. What is Bradbury's message, as delivered by Timothy?

Recommended Additional Reading

Other "classic Bradbury" collections which include stories from From the Dust Returned

• The Golden Apples of the Sun
• R is for Rocket
• The October Country
• Dark Carnival

Other "Halloween-y" works by Bradbury

• Something Wicked This Way Comes
• The Halloween Tree
• The Autumn People

And a Hugo-nominated biography about Ray Bradbury
Bradbury, An Illustrated Life: A Journey to Far Metaphor by Jerry Weist
(William Morrow, 2002)