BOOK REVIEW !! Fahrenheit 451 , by Ray Bradbury

Readers of my blog know , I don’t generally read and review classics . Let it be known that I do read classics , however I don’t tend to review them . Why you ask? well because it’s a classic , what can I possibly say that hasn’t been said before , and if , say I didn’t like the book , would my opinions matter ? IT’S A CLASSIC GAHDAMIT!

Book Succinct:

Author: Ray Bradbury / Publisher :  Simon & Schuster/ Pages : 249 / Genres : Classic, Sci-fi, Dystopian

Fahrenheit 451 , is a classic story about a dystopian future , where normal cars travel at speeds seen in present day F1 cars , Television are a common commodity and interact with their audiences and life is generally bland . The story looks into the life of one Guy Montag, a Fireman , whose job in this futuristic world is to burn stuff instead of preventing fire. More specifically it’s his job to find people who have hid books and make sure that those books don’t see the light of day and are instantly burned down , and if necessary so shall the owner of these Contraband .

Fahrenheit 451, that’s the temperature at which the books burn , and Guy has never had troubles with that temperature before , but meeting a neighbor and listening to some of her views is soon going to make him question the purpose of that temperature .

learn more about the book at : goodreads & Amazon

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What I Liked :

Fahrenheit 451 paints a murky picture of a possible future where in attempts at making people happy , the government have gotten rid of every system that made them work hard , that made them question things , that basically made them intelligent . This involves destruction of all educational and literature works .

This book is an important piece of literature which depicts the importance books have in the growth of human from a quadruped ape to a civil biped who knows the difference between right and wrong ,strives for knowledge and questions everything .

Book Quotes:

“Stuff your eyes with wonder, he said, live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.”

― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

The author descends into countless philosophical exposition to depict how horrible an act burning of mere pages of books could be and what impact it led to the society which filled itself with mass media garbage and pushed him/herself into a world of monotony and often leading to a life of unrealized potential and lacking a sense of fulfillment leading to a high rate of suicide and road rage murders as a route to escapism.

But it’s more than just another philosophy filled piece of literature , the book works really well in creating a really good suspense story , with a brilliantly created dystopic world , in which guns aren’t a big deal , but having hid a book can lead to fatal consequences and even the closest allies or family members couldn’t be trusted if they read a book and in doing so the author not only manages to develop his protagonist as a character but also represents the naysaying side casts

Book Quotes:

“We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

The final 50 odd pages in particular make for a nail-biting read as the events go at a real fast page and keep you on your toes guessing what happens next , making for a fantastic read even for those who don’t like to go into the philosophical debates the book is mainly serving it’s reader.

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What I didn’t Like :

As I have stated before , the book is filled with Philosophical tirades from the author and if you don’t have the patience for that you may find pages after pages of long exposition and view points that really can turn you off and even in a mere 250 page book , make you wonder if those pages were necessary .

Meanwhile , I basically grew up on TV and comic books , so when this book throws some serious shade at those medias , won’t lie , it breaks my heart . And , believe me , i can understand where the author is coming from , the times when this book was published may well have been times where these other medias were just propaganda .

Book Quotes:

“If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you’ll never learn.”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

But , as I said before , I grew up on TV and Comics ,learnt what’s right and wrong , the concept of hope , heroes and even the importance of eating your greens .hence the book rubbed me the wrong way at times and it felt to me like Ray Bradbury was trying to be too pretentious and riding a really really high horse

Another thing that bugged me , but I’m not sure if this was the writing style of the author or just the book edition that I was reading , but the segue between two chapters or events in the book was very abrupt,weird and simply not smooth. This led to quite a few confusing minutes while reading .

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Verdict :

Fahrenheit 451 , is an important piece of literature , one that I feel absolutely every bibliophile should read at least once in his/her life  . Personally I don’t see much wrong with the book and I absolutely recommend this to everyone I can .

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Try some of my other reviews:

• BOOK REVIEW!! House OF Chains (Malazan Book of Fallen #4), by Stephen Erikson
• BOOK REVIEW !! The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles) , by Patrick Rothfus