All Summer in a Day

Oh my goodness, this short story!

‘All Summer in a Day’ was written by Ray Bradbury, and when I tell you that it is absolutely stunning - I truly mean it!

The story is about a girl named Margot who is an outcast within her class. You see, everyone else grew up on Venus while Margot came from Earth… She remembers the sun, she misses it oh, so dearly.

Have I spiked your interest? I hope so, because this is a very strange and fascinating story to unravel.

The sci-fi genre is conveyed perfectly through the dreary atmosphere and use of pathetic fallacy (which is actually a very important aspect of the short story).

The characters have been thoughtfully created, with all of them varying uniquely and possessing their own flaws.

In some ways, I suppose that most people could be able to relate to Margot. Anyone who is foreign, anyone who is an immigrant, has moved to a new school, struggles to fit in with a new friendship group, is new to a workplace or exploring a new interest of theirs (literally anyone who is new to anything) can relate to Margot as a character. Being an outsider isn’t bad. Sure, there are negative preconceptions associated with the word, but being an outsider can be good - great, even! The audience sees this through Margot who is clearly a good outsider - us Earth people need to stick together!

Now, the imagery within this text is absolutely gorgeous and a line that appealed to me was:

‘... with the sweet crystal fall of showers and the concussion of storms so heavy they were tidal waves come over the islands.’

There isn’t much to cover in this review since it’s a short story, but I highly recommend this to everyone. Even those of you who are busy, for goodness sake! This is a short story!

P.S: After you have read the short story, you can also watch the short film (though, we all know that the films are never as good as the books)

Keep reading, lovelies!

-K Randall, Year 11