Review of the Day: A Medicine for Melancholy and Other Stories by Ray Bradbury

A Medicine for Melancholy by Ray Bradbury is a collection of 22 stories, originally published in 1959.  My personal favorite story in the collection is “Dark They Were and Golden Eyed.” The plot of the story goes something like the following. Fleeing a possible war on Earth, the Bittering family moves into a colony on Mars, though the father, Harry, never feels comfortable there. One day, they are told that Earth has been devastated by atomic bombs, the stranded colonists begin to change physically, developing golden eyes and darker skin while they also lose interest in regular human activities. Harry desperately tries to build a rocket to return home, but he eventually gives in to the planet's slow, transformative influence and moves his family into the ancient Martian hills. Years later, when rescuers from Earth finally arrive, they find no humans remaining—only a race of "Martians" who have no memory of their previous lives.

So why did I like this story? I like how Bradbury uses the Martian landscape as a metaphor for how identity is connected to our environment. In this story the villain is not an alien monster, but the slow movement of time and the environment. Ultimately, the story argues that identity is not permanent but a temporary reflection of our surroundings. The final disappearance of the "Bittering" family is not a death, but a total immersion into a new reality where the old world is forgotten. 

Have you read any of Ray Bradbury’s work recently?

kindle and Audible audiobook. 308 pgs. 13 January 2026.

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