Fahrenheit 451
Published: 19, October 1953
Author: Ray Bradbury
Genres: Children's, Classic, Fiction, Literary, Movie Tie-In, Politics, Satire, Science Fiction
Rating: 95/100
Recommended: 100/100 Yes.
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Fahrenheit 451 (1966):
Fahrenheit 451 (16+) (2018):
Check the summary of this book here:
The Review:
The story depicts a future American society in which books are illegal and those that are discovered are burned by "firemen." The autoignition temperature of paper, as defined by the book's tagline 451, is "the temperature at which book paper catches fire and burns." Guy Montag, the main character, is a firefighter who grows disillusioned with his profession of censoring books and destroying information, finally leaving and dedicating himself to the preservation of literary and cultural texts. This book is considered the best work of Mr. Ray Bradbury and after reading it, you’ll say the same for sure.
The first thing that springs to mind is that the future Bradbury envisaged has arrived. I'm not referring to real book burning, but to the mind-numbing effect of social media, the hollow diet of visual junk and meaningless tripe that many of us refer to as "entertainment." So many situations in this novel stand out; hit you across the face for being deliberately ignorant about crucial topics; for being politically indifferent. Let us pray that we are spared the horrific finale that Bradbury foresaw. The writing style is functional rather than poetic, yet the cerebral substance is amazing.
I must implore every book lover and reader to read this book if they have not already done so. Because the dystopian future depicted in this novel is "now," I believe it is one of the most necessary books to read if you want to comprehend today's media and censorship concerns.
It's a short novel and a quick read, and it sparks a spark of thought about the power of literature, but it's all so hurried, so rapid to build and accelerate, that many possibilities to go deeper are wasted. Nonetheless, it was sufficient to convey its intended point in a short amount of pages and it proved to be accurate in many ways that we can see around us now.
The first half of this book shows a shift in the main character, and the second half shows what he does to repair the flaws he notices in the first half. And that's all I can say so as not to ruin anything for the first-time readers.
Although this was written during the McCarthy era in the 1950s, it still holds up today. Unfortunately, many of the predictions made in the book came true, but not all.
I watched the 1966 adaptation of this book when I was very young and had no idea why the books were being burned and was so upset because I consider all the books to be treasures from the time I could read, and the image of books being burned is still etched in the back of my mind. Now I understand why the books were being burned, and I realize it is still happening today, albeit metaphorically, and I believe I am one of the very few people who can see it. If anyone sees what I'm referring to, please leave a comment or message.
The characters are brought to life through well-written dialogue that gives each one a distinct voice. And, despite the futuristic setting, the representation of life in an unfamiliar world is so well done that it's frequently difficult to remember this isn't how life really is. But when you do, you can't help but feel fortunate.
Final Thoughts:
Some of these legendary authors must have time machines since most of the time when they wrote about the future, it was right, such as when Mr. Ray Bradbury predicted ear pods and wall-to-wall informative TVs that broadcasted information 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The most troubling thing I read was one of the reasons for burning the books in this novel, which reminded me of the period and age we are currently living in. According to the book, the people wanted the offending things gone. Because everyone is upset by something, everything is objectionable, therefore everything must be destroyed.
The story rings true for me in terms of how readily individuals are offended by another person's ideas, attitudes, behaviors, or beliefs. In the novel, those things are still permissible; they can't restrict what you think, but without the ability to write them down, ideas and thoughts die quickly. That is absolutely correct and horrifying.
Synopsis:
“Nearly seventy years after its original publication, Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Today its message has grown more relevant than ever before.
Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.”
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