The Bradbury Report

By: Steven Polansky

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

The year is 2071. It is very recognizable world, only now the United States has implemented a wide-scale, government-run cloning program that is tied directly to health insurance. Each U.S. citizen has a “copy” living separately in a cleared zone in the Midwest. If an “original” is sick or injured and requires surgery, whatever he or she needs is taken from their clone.

In the two decades since the program’s inception, no person outside the government has ever seen their copy or been inside the Clearances, and no clone has ever successfully escaped—until now.

The Bradbury Report is a fascinating meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of as a race and society. It is a powerful work of speculative fiction, beautifully written, about love, identity, free will, aging, and intelligence that will linger with you long after listening.

©2009 Steven Polansky (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Polansky's debut features well-developed characters and strong writing.” ( Publishers Weekly)

“An inventive, cerebral thriller….Polansky does a fine job of wrestling with the moral dilemmas posited by writers like Philip K. Dick….Sublimely witty and soulfully sympathetic.” ( Kirkus Reviews)

The inspiration for the movie The Island

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This book was definitely time well spent. The ethical questions raise by having a clone for spare parts how one would treat such a clone once met, and at a time when spare parts are needed to live, make the an engaging read.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The best description of my reaction to the ending would be conflicted.

What three words best describe Stefan Rudnicki’s performance?

These word describe nearly all of Stefan Rudnicki's performances: powerful, engaging, hypnotic.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes. As stated above this book is easily the inspiration of the film The Island. While the film has more action that this book they are both well worth experiencing.

Weak

The Story and the reader need a shot of espresso, I even tried reading the actual book and it was not good

Appalling and disturbing book

Any additional comments?

The book is very difficult and unsettling - I may say evil almost. There are no explanations, happy endings and no answers to the horrible problem the author creates within the world of his book. The book itself is one big unpleasant question.

In some way the subject may remind of Kazuo Ishiguro's "Never Let Me Go": clones, created only to be a spare-parts containers for theirs' "originals", have no rights, they are helpless and have no hope for better future. And a whole system is created to supress even thinking of change. But also these books are very different. The only clone we see in "Report" does not have the air of painful lightness, resignation and devotion of Ishiguro's heroes. He is angry, full of protest and willing to live. He tries to struggle against the system, condemning him to death - even if his ways of doing it are very limited.

The narrator is brilliant. His voice is perfect for the first-person story, told by very old, ill and desperate man. His tragic story stayed with me long after the book was over.