The Bradbury Report

March 8, 2010
Polansky's debut features well-developed characters and strong writing, but the science is simplistic and the moral of the tale is pounded home with a hammer. In 2071, most Americans routinely use their cloned “copies” for spare parts, never thinking of them as human. Retired teacher Raymond Bradbury is contacted by his ex-girlfriend Anna, who has joined the anti-cloning underground. For the first time this group has rescued a clone from a heavily guarded government compound; by chance, it's Ray's. Anna enlists Ray to turn the copy, whom they name Alan, into an anti-cloning spokesman. As the three hide in Canada, they begin to doubt the motives of Anna's compatriots. The contrived setting will hold little appeal to genre fans familiar with Kazuo Ishiguro's superior Never Let Me Go
and other, more nuanced examinations of this morally and scientifically fraught topic.