Goodreads | Fahrenheit 451 (Ave Fenix)

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She-Who-Reads rated it:

(review of isbn 0345342968)

07/11/07

bookshelves: booksaboutbooks, sciencefiction, thoughtprovoking

Read in August, 2005

Somehow, I have gotten through life as an English major, book geek, and a science-fiction nerd without ever having read this book. I vaguely remember picking it up in high-school and not getting very far with it. It was an interesting premise, but far too depressing for my tastes at the time.

Fast-forward 15 years later. I just bought a copy the other day to register at BookCrossing for their Banned Books Month release challenge. The ALA celebrates Banned Books Week in September, so on...more Somehow, I have gotten through life as an English major, book geek, and a science-fiction nerd without ever having read this book. I vaguely remember picking it up in high-school and not getting very far with it. It was an interesting premise, but far too depressing for my tastes at the time.

Fast-forward 15 years later. I just bought a copy the other day to register at BookCrossing for their Banned Books Month release challenge. The ALA celebrates Banned Books Week in September, so one BXer challenged us to wild release books that had at one point or another been banned in this country during the entire month. Fahrenheit 451 fits the bill -- an irony that is not lost on anyone, I trust. (Everyone knows Fahrenheit 451 is about the evils of censorship and banning books, right? The title refers to the temperature at which paper burns.)

I didn't intend to start reading it. I really didn't. Somehow it seduced me into it. I glanced at the first page and before I knew it, it was 1:00 in the morning and I was halfway through with the thing. It's really good! No wonder it's a modern classic. Montag's inner emotional and moral journey from a character who burns books gleefully and with a smile on his face to someone who is willing to risk his career, his marriage, his house, and eventually his life for the sake of books is extremely compelling. That this man, product of a culture that devalues reading and values easy, thoughtless entertainments designed to deaden the mind and prevent serious thought, could come to find literature so essential that he would kill for it...! Something about that really spoke to me.

It raises the question: why? What is it about books, about poetry, about literature that is so essential to us? There is no doubt in my mind that it is essential, if not for all individuals (although I find it hard to imagine life without books, I know there are some people who don't read for pleasure, bizzare as that seems to me), then for society. Why should that be? Books don't contain any hard-and-fast answers to all of life's questions. They might contain great philosophical Truths, but only subjectively so -- there will always be someone who will argue and disagree with whatever someone else says. In fact, as Captain Beatty, the evil fire chief, points out, no two books agree with each other. What one says, another contradicts. So what, then, is their allure? What is it that made Mildred's silly friend start to weep when Montag read the poem "Dover Beach" aloud to her? Where does the power of literature come from?

I think the reason that books are so important to our lives and to the health of our society -- of any society -- is not because they give us answers, but because they make us ask the questions. Books -- good books, the books that stay with you for years after you read them, the books that change your view of the world or your way of thinking -- aren't easy. They aren't facile. They aren't about surface; they're about depth. They are, quite literally, thought-provoking. They require complexity of thought. They require effort on the part of the reader. You get out of a book what you put into the reading of it, and therefore books satisfy in a way that other types of entertainment do not.

And they aren't mass-produced. They are individual, unique, gloriously singular. They are each an island, much-needed refuges from an increasingly homogeneous culture.

I'm glad I read Fahrenheit 451, even if the ending was rather bleak. It challenged me and made me think, stimulated me intellectually. We could all do with a bit of intellectual stimulation now and then; it makes life much more fulfilling....less

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Chris rated it:

(review of isbn 0345342968)

08/02/08

Read in July, 2008

It’s time to do it, isn’t it? You know it is. We’ve all done it before, no sense in resisting the temptation to do it yet again. The sun has set, the skies have turned a sensational shade of indigo, the interior lighting is seductively dimmed. The house is otherwise empty, and not expecting additional occupancy any time soon. The blinds are down, curtains drawn tightly. The stereo is playing softly; isn’t that your favorite slow-jam? Of course it is.

Thwart all possible inte...more

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Laura rated it:

(review of isbn 0307347974)

01/25/08

bookshelves: january2008, randomfiction, readforschool

Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: anyone who enjoys thinking

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I have technically read this, but it was forced in the 10th grade, and remember nothing. So adding it to the list.

After reading this, there are bits that sounded kinda familiar, but overall I think I managed to not really "read" this in school. I think they should never force you to read any specific book in school, as it more often than not just makes you hate it on principle. But on to my review...

This book actually led to an hour long phone conversation with my mom (a sci...more I have technically read this, but it was forced in the 10th grade, and remember nothing. So adding it to the list.

After reading this, there are bits that sounded kinda familiar, but overall I think I managed to not really "read" this in school. I think they should never force you to read any specific book in school, as it more often than not just makes you hate it on principle. But on to my review...

This book actually led to an hour long phone conversation with my mom (a sci-fi fan, Ray Bradbury fan, and just an intellectual in general) before I was even done. I stuck lots of little sticky notes (a la my mother) making references to modern society. Even though it's a sci-fi book, because it was written 55 years ago, I anticipated at least some of the themes being dated. But I am disturbed that his social commentary in 1953 is still very much a social commentary on 2008.

I found what I consider to be direct references to ipods, Wikipedia, the Never ending movie quiz on Facebook, Who wants to be a millionaire, giant wide screen/flat screen/hi-def TVs, and Barack Obama. I just skimmed an article the other day about the overuse of c-sections, and there was even a mention of that (like why would you do it any other way). The idea of children being in school more days than not, and on the not days, basically plunked in front of the TV. People filling their lives with fluff, never having a spare minute, yet never doing anything that matters. I'm disturbed by the fact that in at least the last 55 years, nothing seems to have changed, we don't appear to have learned anything. Much like the point at the end of the book. We are a race of phoenixes. Stupidly driving ourselves into the ground, destroying ourselves (directly or indirectly), rising up, only to do it all over again. This isn't news, in one sense, but for some reason, the 55 years is what's bothering me. This book was possibly meant to be a warning (I have not yet read the introduction, as I thought I should wait until after), but we seem to have fallen into the story like it was a prophecy.

Ok, I know I'm all getting "philosophical," though I use the word cautiously. I guess if I were dumber, I would be more like Millie, and think the book was crap, and the warning was crap. So the fact that I don't makes me feel like there is some hope for me. Even just to remind me every week to read the news magazine that is delivered to my door, rather than seeking out supermarket tabloid trash as a way of making myself falsely happy and oblivious.

If you haven't read this book, or did in school like I did and don't remember it, I would definately recommend it....less

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Lindsay rated it:

(review of isbn 0307347974)

10/14/07

bookshelves: currently-reading

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: fellow students

Lindsay Jones

Ms.Kuhn

October 7,2007

Hour 6

Interview with Guy Montag

1. How do you feel about your job as a fireman?

Im very confused about the obligations of a fireman. It feels as though helping people is not my job anymore. The only thing this city seems to worry about is the situation dealing with books and literature. Our job know is to burn any type of writing found,and I do not believe in what we are doing.

2. According to the First Amendment, ...more

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Alison rated it:

(review of isbn 0345342968)

04/26/08

bookshelves: classics, rgbookclub

Read in April, 2008

recommends it for: book-lovers, everyone!

Guy Montag, the book-burning fireman from Farenheit 451 is a dystopian Jerry Maguire of sorts. After years of burning books and living with an overly-medicated wife in a society that focuses on distraction, entertainment, and "happiness", he doesn't write a mission statement...he decides to start reading banned books on his search for something *real*.

Bradbury claims that it's not about censorship here. Rather, it's about a society that asks "how" over "why".....more

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Brian Hodges rated it:

(review of isbn 0307347974)

07/14/08

bookshelves: classics

Read in July, 2008

Believe me, I'm not the kind of guy who gushes over classics simply by virtue of the fact that they are classics, but this one was worth all the legend that it carries with it. I'm glad I never had to read this book in highschool. First of all, we would have ruined this truly awesome story by overanalyzing every mundane literary aspect, detail and device. Second, the story is SO much more profound in the year 2008 at the age of 30 than it could have been at 17 in 1995.

I always thought t...more Believe me, I'm not the kind of guy who gushes over classics simply by virtue of the fact that they are classics, but this one was worth all the legend that it carries with it. I'm glad I never had to read this book in highschool. First of all, we would have ruined this truly awesome story by overanalyzing every mundane literary aspect, detail and device. Second, the story is SO much more profound in the year 2008 at the age of 30 than it could have been at 17 in 1995.

I always thought this was a book about the evils of government and how the folks in charge will try to restrict thought. After all, as the title of the book indicates, this is that story about "burning books." But Bradbury goes way deeper than some mere indictment of fascism. Taking place in the future, people of society have withdrawn from each other, focusing all their attention on mindless entertainment in the form of giant TV rooms and earphones. Books in this society are banned and "firemen" are put to work burning down the houses of anyone caught in possession of them. But as one character points out, government doesn't do anything that the people aren't already calling for and this assault on books is really just the natural byproduct of a society full of self-absorbed people who are pulling away more and more from any kind of thought deeper than what their television asks of them.

Reading this book in a year where reality TV, a thousand different video game consoles and half a billion mindless internet sites provide a good chunk of our mental stimulation, and where people routinely drown the world and everyone in it out via their iPod headphones, it's eerie just how prophetic this story is... considering it was released in the 1950's.

But this book isn't merely some kind of morality play. The story itself follows the transition of Guy Montag, from a book-leery, burn-happy "fireman" into a man who is on the run for not only possessing books, but killing a fellow fireman to protect them. There's action. There's intrigue. Ther's violence. There's character development. There's a story that you can actually follow and stay interested in. There's one particularly vivid and chilling description of a woman's final moment of life before a nuclear bomb goes off over her head. And yes, woven seamlessly into the exciting narrative are plenty of ideas to ponder regarding our direction as a society and the danger of never pursuing knowledge deeper than who got booted off 'Big Brother'....less

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Michael rated it:

(review of isbn 0345342968)

03/10/08

Read in March, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

One of the classics. First of all, I had heard from a source or two that this book is a dystopian novel prior to reading it, and I wish to stop this here: this book, as Bradbury himself says, is about censorship and book-banning. It has slightly dystopian elements, but it is far from that. A primary part of a dystopian novel is a certain social order or hierarchy whereby one groups tries to maintain order. This is not apparent in 451 - the only kind of social groups one learned about is the ...more One of the classics. First of all, I had heard from a source or two that this book is a dystopian novel prior to reading it, and I wish to stop this here: this book, as Bradbury himself says, is about censorship and book-banning. It has slightly dystopian elements, but it is far from that. A primary part of a dystopian novel is a certain social order or hierarchy whereby one groups tries to maintain order. This is not apparent in 451 - the only kind of social groups one learned about is the firemen, whom have no special ranking, and book-readers, whom there is no discrimination about, so anyone, even, one would presume, a high-ranking government official.

The only reason this novel did not receive a five from me is because it does not pick up until the second part. Part one essentially sets up the story and lays the groundwork for all of the action that is to follow. Although some would say that Guy's conversations with Clarisse are the most important part of the part one, possibly even the book, I put higher importance to his discourse with Captain Beatty about there society came to be the way it is. It has shaped my views on censorship more than any other part in this book or anything elsewhere, because it's true. I can see it in my day. I do not know if Bradbury was making a prediction or looking around his world, but this book speaks to me on that level. The minorities must not be upset at risk of upsetting them. one must censor words out of books for children lest there simple minds become oh so corrupt!

The book is about the characters. Not their environment or anything like that, but just who each person is as an individual. First you have Guy, whom is struggling to accept the fact that books must be burned, even though so many people want to possess and read them. As the main character he obviously changes as the story progresses - going from someone who is weary of even hiding a book in his house to going on the wrong for killing a fire chief. Then there is the fire chief, Captain Beatty, whom is supposed to be the embodiment of the antagonist in the book - censorship. While he does fill this role quite well, I think there's more to him than that. He is Guy's pusher; if it weren't for Beatty being the type of scary and powerful man he is, Guy would never have been able to work up know just how much gutso he needed to achieve. Next there is Mildred, or 'Millie,' whom is the wife of Guy, even though it's clear that the two have no physical passion. She spends her time with the 'family' that comes on the wall-TVs, pretty much forgetting about Guy except that he is occasionally in the same house as her. She kind of embodies one side of the internal conflict with Guy; being passive to the world around you, accepting everything as is, being happy with the mindless drivel the states gives you, and not trying to upset the balance; this becomes even clearer with the fact that they live together and are separated by twin beds. Next is Faber, the old English professor who helps Guy understand the beauty of books and the world they used to be accepted in. Opposite of Mildred, Faber is the side of the internal conflict within Guy that wants to change the world, but doesn't know how, is afraid to step out of their boundaries, and has the passion for books. This is symbolized by Faber being able to speak to Guy for a while because of an earpiece (akin to a conscience) and Faber not comfortable with even stepping out of his house. Lastly there is Clarisse, the little girl who reveals Guy to the world he missed out on, one where cars don't have to go 55mph, one where people sat outside and talked and thought, one where people read books without having their homes burnt down. She appears very peculiar to Guy, but by the end of the novel, she seems normal, and he starts to feel her presence even though she was killed in a car accident.

I think the afterword and coda that were in my edition need mentioning, too. The afterword describes a play where where they gave a bit of a spin to Beatty. In the play, he has a library of books, one which he never touches. He most likely has every piece of classical literature in there, but everyday just shrugs it off. He describes his childhood as one obsessed by books, but once his world started to fall apart, he found that those that he most cherished were not helping at all, they were just offering false promises - which is what prompted him to become a fireman. I think this would have been neat to see in the novel, but Bradbury said he wanted to keep the book exactly how it was when he published it in 1953.

As for the coda, it is basically Bradbury ranting about censorship. He shares a couple of stories that reveal how censoring people can be - even a story about how 451 had been slowly censored over the thirty years since its first publication! If I could, I'd run around repeating the words to everyone.

I think I'll give it a five, actually....less

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Jason rated it:

(review of isbn 0345342968)

07/09/07

Ray Bradbury has never sat comfortably in the world of literature, nor with me; considered a "genre writer" by some and meant as an insult, a "serious writer" by others and meant as a compliment, it seems that I am always going back and forth about his merits in my head too, especially the farther away we get from many of the books' original publication dates. That said, how can you not love Fahrenheit 451, a virtual blueprint for the Cautionary Science Fiction Tale with Mode...more

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Tara rated it:

03/28/07

bookshelves: favorite-reads

one of my top 5 favorites of all time.

Favorite Quotes

Have you ever watched the jet cars race on the boulevard?...I sometimes think drivers don’t know what grass is, or flowers, because they never see them slowly...If you showed a driver a green blur, Oh yes! He'd say, that’s grass! A pink blur! That’s a rose garden! White blurs are houses. Brown blurs are cows.

There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there m...more one of my top 5 favorites of all time.

Favorite Quotes

Have you ever watched the jet cars race on the boulevard?...I sometimes think drivers don’t know what grass is, or flowers, because they never see them slowly...If you showed a driver a green blur, Oh yes! He'd say, that’s grass! A pink blur! That’s a rose garden! White blurs are houses. Brown blurs are cows.

There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.

...The good writers touch life often. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies.

And when he died, I suddenly realized I wasn’t crying for him at all, but for the things he did. I cried because he would never do them again, he would never carve another piece of wood or help us raise doves and pigeons in the backyard or play the violin the way he did, or tell us jokes the way he did. He was part of us and when he died, all the actions stopped dead and there was no one to do them the way he did. He was individual. He was an important man. I’ve never gotten over his death. Often I think what wonderful carvings never came to birth because he died. How many jokes are missing from the world, and how many homing pigeons untouched by his hands? He shaped the world. He did things to the world. The world was bankrupted of ten million fine actions the night he passed on.

...Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there. It doesn’t matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn cutter might as well just not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.

We’ll go on the river...or we’ll go that way. Or we’ll walk the highways now. And we’ll have time to put things into ourselves. And someday, after it sets into us a long time, it’ll come out her hands and our mouths. And a lot of it will be wrong, but just enough of it will be right. We’ll just start walking around today and see the world and the way the world really looks. I want to see everything now. And while none of it will be me when it goes in, after awhile it’ll gather together inside and it’ll be me. Look at the world out there. My God, look at it out there, outside me, out there beyond my face, and the only way to really touch it is to put it where it’s finally me, where it’s in the blood, where it pumps around a thousand times ten thousand a day. I get a hold of it so it will never run off. I’ll hold on to the world tight someday. I’ve got one finger on it now. That’s a beginning....less

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Tyler rated it:

(review of isbn 0345342968)

12/28/07

Read in April, 2007

Few appreciate irony as much as I do, so understand that I understand this review. The message of this book is decent: knowledge should not be censored. However, the rest of the book is utter shit. I found myself actually screaming at several points as Bradbury spent minutes and dozens of metaphors and allusions referring to one insignificant detail of the plot. It is too damn flowery to be understandable by anyone! In other words, an English teacher's dream. In addition, the story was about the...more

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Sithara rated it:

(review of isbn 0307347974)

12/22/07

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury has created a world that chillingly seems to reflect our present and near future. In this upside down dystopia, firemen burn books, women congregate with their fake wall (television) families, youth engage in high speed car chases, killing themselves and others, and products are promoted on 200 ft billboards, and hawked by Jesus Christ. In this world where supposedly everyone has everything one wants, no one is truly happy, no one loves anyone, and unhappy people ...more In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury has created a world that chillingly seems to reflect our present and near future. In this upside down dystopia, firemen burn books, women congregate with their fake wall (television) families, youth engage in high speed car chases, killing themselves and others, and products are promoted on 200 ft billboards, and hawked by Jesus Christ. In this world where supposedly everyone has everything one wants, no one is truly happy, no one loves anyone, and unhappy people overdose on drugs. No one slows down to smell the flowers, taste the rain, sit by a fire, talk with friends, or just sit and think. No one cares that that the world seems to have been at war for as long as anyone can remember, with fighter jets streaking above their homes everyday. After all, no one has to sacrifice anything; its always someone else's spouse or child that dies.

Guy Montag was a faithful citizen of this world, satisfied with his job of burning books, until he has a chance encounter with his new neighbor, a strange, precocious 16 year old who is wise beyond her years. Clarisse McClellan changes his views of the world dramatically with her strange habits of tasting the rain, gazing at the moon, and asking pointed questions as to why he became a fireman, whether he loves anyone or whether he is happy. An awakened, transformed Montag, after failing to impress and change his shallow and depressed wife and others around him with his new-found wisdom, is discovered, hunted, and is forced to flee the city. He joins a vagabond group of outlaw-professors, who plan to restore the world by imparting the wisdom they have gained by memorizing books.

This is the best novel depicting our future world that I have read. Other books, like Brave New World present a frightening, realistic future, but have poor plot and characterization. On the other hand, books such as 1984 and Animal Farm are thrilling and well told, but really do not reflect our future very well. FAHRENHEIT 451 does both, and does so brilliantly. Apart from depicting a realistic and scary future, Bradbury writes a tight, exciting plot packed with suspense, including fires, chases, murder, suicides, and nuclear war. I could scarcely put the book down, wondering what Montag was going to do next. Although it is but a short story, the characters, including Montag, his shallow but deeply depressed wife Millie, the youthful but insightful Clarisse, the cowardly but wise Faber, and the disillusioned arrogant bully Beatty are engaging and fully realized....less

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Keely rated it:

(review of isbn 0307347974)

10/25/07

bookshelves: novel, politics, sci-fi

Not a book about censorship. but a book about how TV will rot your brain. This book falls somewhat short of its satirical mark based on this cranky lawn-loving neighbor's message. Then again, it was written in the course of a few days in one long, uninterrupted slurry (mercifully edited by his publishers, but now available utterly restored). Contains archetypes, misconceptions, and an author surrogate; but still works as an inspiring view of authority and power, and of the way people are always ...more

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Lane rated it:

(review of isbn 0307347974)

09/10/07

bookshelves: fiction

Read in July, 2007

I first read this book (as most of us did) in high school. At the time, we were taught that it was a remarkable achievement and a literary masterpiece. Upon returning to Bradbury's novel, I must say that I am somewhat underwhelmed. The book isn't bad by any means, but it does not live up to the literary greatness that I remember from 12 years ago. Allow me to explain...

I have this theory that Fahrenheit 451 is one of the last books most people ever read. Along with 1984, Catcher in the Rye,...more

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Dottie R. rated it:

(review of isbn 0345227611)

05/22/08

bookshelves: 1944-1966, 2008, trgbc, vplibrary

Read in May, 2008

Probably my earliest encounter with Bradbury and my only one for many years until I finally got to Dandelion Wine and Something Wicked This Way Comes -- bless Bradbury for such fine reading experiences!

May 2008 re-read:

And now I understand why this one was the only one for so long. It is absolutely stunning. That power stayed with me a long time. It didn't invite further exploration of the author. It almost doesn't invite me to continue my reading addiction. It's more like orderin...more

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Kelly rated it:

(review of isbn 2207248925)

08/23/07

bookshelves: dystopian

Read in August, 2007

Personally I have beef with Bradbury as a human being. In fact, I think he's a raging ass. But personal feelings aside, Fahrenheit 451 is a surprisingly relevant book. Although Bradbury's ascertation that the novel is not really about censorship is absurd particularly after one reads his "Coda" at the end of my 1991 Ballantine Books edition of the novel where he rails against those trying to "gut" his writing by making it more digestible for the masses. In it he ...more

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