Choyang’s Comments (group member since Sep 06, 2025)

Choyang’s comments from the What's the Name of That Book??? group.

Hey Sam, the one I'm talking about is 'The Last Night of the World'.
I'm guessing Bradbury had more than one ending at various times; he was known for going back and tweaking his storylines. Maybe the version you read was an earlier one?

Hey Sam, not sure because I read this when I was in high school, but it sounds like this apocalyptic story was one of the short stories in 'The Illustrated Man'.
(tell me if this sounds like what you remember?)

~~~《SPOILER》~~~
(in case anybody does NOT want to know the ending)

The premise is: there is a comet headed for Earth which will wipe out everyone & everything. No way the governments or scientists have to stop it, as it's coming too fast.

In the suburbs live this husband and wife who have two children, a boy and a girl. They don't want them to suffer during this predicted cataclysmic event, so they decide to poison them, letting them die peacefully in their sleep while the parents kneel by their bedside all night long, holding their hands.

(not enough poison for the parents, just two doses; I think it didn't even say what it was)
Morning comes:
the parents, having dozed off...awaken, raising their heads slowly as they stare into each other's eyes across their children's beds...
it's obvious no cataclysm has happened...but their children are dead.

(I'll go look up a list of the names of those short stories)
Hope that helps you.
BBL with a name, if I can find.