Fahrenheit 451 in Never too Late to Read Classics

Feb 10, 2011 Victoria Evangelina Allen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, in-english, read-again

~CITIZEN-SHEEP'S LAZY SOULS~

First published in April 2007 in my Human Conditions column in print and online

"…even when we had the books on hand, a long time ago, we didn't use what we got out of them."
Granger in Fahrenheit 451
By Ray Bradbury

"I can't believe it," said my friend Troy. He looked at me, eyes wide with surprise; it seemed that even hair on the top of his accurate a-la "a-promising-young-lawyer" haircut stood up, bewildered. He softly clapped his hands: "I can't believe that you have ...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Bonnie Brandt rated it it was amazing

I just finished rereading this after first reading it as a teenager 20 something years ago. I was a little nervous because sometimes these reads don't hold up well over time.

I shouldn't have been. There's a reason it's a classic. I marveled through the book how imaginative it was and sometimes stunningly accurate. Here were so many little things that I'd forgotten like Clarissa, the hound, the "family".

I remembered the outrage I felt when I first read it. I was able to be a little more removed ...more

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Sep 02, 2014 Suzan (Suus Leest) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Originally posted on my blog

3.5 stars

Fahrenheit 451 is set in a dystopian world in which it is strictly forbidden to own books, and firemen are to make sure this law is complied with. Their job is to burn books, and if needed the houses in which these are hidden.
Our protagonist, Guy Montag, is one of these firemen. Not aware of the fact that once books were allowed to be read, and firemen actually put out fires, he never questioned his occupation. Not until he meets his new seventeen-year-old n Originally posted on my blog

3.5 stars

Fahrenheit 451 is set in a dystopian world in which it is strictly forbidden to own books, and firemen are to make sure this law is complied with. Their job is to burn books, and if needed the houses in which these are hidden.
Our protagonist, Guy Montag, is one of these firemen. Not aware of the fact that once books were allowed to be read, and firemen actually put out fires, he never questioned his occupation. Not until he meets his new seventeen-year-old neighbour who teaches him to think independently.

I thought the concept of this story was pretty well thought out, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The characters are well-developed, as well as the world. Most remarkable perhaps, was the realistic feel to it. Whenever Bradbury had a character explain the workings of the world, it almost sounded rational, and as if it could happen in real life.

When reading reviews written by women on this book, I noticed the feminist point-of-view: women are portrayed as stupid and brainwashed and of the books mentioned, no author is female. I’m not at all used to feminist reading, and thus had not noticed the latter. The former remark, however, I feel is unjustified. Every single person in this novel is at some point brainwashed – men too. I would even like to argue that the most important character in this novel is female: Clarice. She is the instigator – without her, Montag would have remained naïve in terms of his profession. To me thus, it feels inappropriate to mark Bradbury, or at least this novel, misogynist.

Though I was compelled by the story, the ending seemed rather incoherent – both in relation to the rest of the novel, as well as by itself. I was confused as I kept losing track of the story line, and I felt the ending just did not suite the over-all style and ambience. I will, however, not go in too much detail about this, as I want this to remain spoiler-free.

There was another aspect of this novel I felt dubious about: although the story is critical towards society in so many sophisticated ways, the general moral seems cliché: television ruins you, read books instead! Although I understand this is not at all all Bradbury tries to convey, it is the undertone throughout the novel, and it felt too basic for the potential this book had. ...more

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Apr 23, 2018 Summer rated it liked it

Shelves: 2018, book-club, kindle, audiobook

This one was quite tough to get through. I loved the philosophy at the end and the implication of the story, but there was a lot of stream-of-consciousness writing before I got to the good bits. I’m glad I read it, given its status as a classic and the current political climate, but it wasn’t one of my more enjoyable reads.

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