Fahrenheit 451 in Reading List Completists

Feb 16, 2017 Sue K H rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 000-classics-grp-read, favorites, books-about-books

This was part Brave New World, part Hunger Games and part something completely different. I liked this much more than the two books mentioned, partly because it was more plausible than both. I often have problems with Sci-fi that goes too far and this was just right. I listened to it on audio with Tim Robbins. He was excellent and really brought the story to life. He and the writing kept me interested through every minute.

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Oct 11, 2017 Jason rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own

Ignorance is bliss... or, is it just emptiness?

Bradbury's cautionary tale about the costs of censorship, knowledge repression, and detachment is just as real today, if not more so, as it was when it was first published. Bradbury was worried about the predominance of the television and the slackening of readership within our culture, as well as, a movement towards mindless 'good times'. I think we could argue that his worries were not unfounded, having progressed in some lines just as he had pred Ignorance is bliss... or, is it just emptiness?

Bradbury's cautionary tale about the costs of censorship, knowledge repression, and detachment is just as real today, if not more so, as it was when it was first published. Bradbury was worried about the predominance of the television and the slackening of readership within our culture, as well as, a movement towards mindless 'good times'. I think we could argue that his worries were not unfounded, having progressed in some lines just as he had predicted - the populace has become more and more consumed with speed, our attention spans have dwindled, and we have become reliant on technology. Bradbury warned that a populace that ceases to think for itself, to learn, to struggle with ideas and concepts becomes easily controlled, little more than herds of domesticated animals eating of which it is fed. We are largely an intensely distracted people, too preoccupied with the screens in front of our faces, the 'news feeds', and notifications to stop to think about anything with very much depth. I do not think we have gone quite as apathetic and slack-jawed as Bradbury may have demonstrated, but I think we have still allowed ourselves to becomes less than. Are we yet headed for the next Dark Age? Only time will tell.

In a dystopia where books are burned to keep people 'happy', docile, and avoid 'confusion', the taboo books are seen as powerful and dangerous - "A book is a loaded gun". Dangerous and liberating can often be the same thing from different perspectives.

“The books are to remind us what asses and fool we are. They're Caeser's praetorian guard, whispering as the parade roars down the avenue, "Remember, Caeser, thou art mortal." Most of us can't rush around, talking to everyone, know all the cities of the world, we haven't time, money or that many friends. The things you're looking for, Montag, are in the world, but the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine per cent of them is in a book. Don't ask for guarantees. And don't look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were headed for shore.”

There is power in books, it is the power of preserving one's thoughts, of sharing one's views, of sparking something within someone else, it is a power, but as Bradbury points out it is also a tool. Books are tools for what we fear we may forget or for what we may never get to say in person, but they are just that - the real power is inside our own minds. I think the first part of my review seemed dark and curmudgeonly and it may have painted this book in this light, but in fact that great power of this book lies in it's optimism. Our protagonist is not first awakened by a book, he his startled into thought by a combination of his own roving curiosity, his own search for something of meaning, and mostly he awoken by another person. We are our own worst enemies, but our only hope.

This book does not only have beautiful points to be made, lovely ember to stoke the thoughts and enliven the spirit, but it also contains beautiful writing. I am not sure why it took me so long to read this book, but I am sure I will return again and again to see what I think of it over the years, to see what I glean from it on the next pass. My only real complaint is that I wish there were more, I would have loved for this story to be drawn out a bit more, but that is probably the best complaint one can have, a want for more. ...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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Feb 24, 2015 Valerie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-f-bookclub, z-2015uafwinter, z-2015sffchallenge

Rating: 3.5 stars

In many ways, Fahrenheit 451 reads like a combination of short stories that flow into one another. There are segments of the book that depict different phases of the main character's perspective.

It is interesting to read this classic work of speculative fiction and compare it to more recent novels with similar concepts (Moxyland and Oryx and Crake, to name a couple). It is interesting how some of these concepts still hold true.

...more

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Oct 12, 2017 Brooklyn rated it really liked it

Shelves: great-books-groupreads-completist

I finished it a few days ago - my edition also had two stories The Playground and And the Rock Cries Out. I thought they were further chapters until I realized they were totally different! I loved Ray Bradbury as an adolescent - so it was interesting to approach him again as an adult. I loved the book - it’s definitely of its day - like a good Twilight Zone episode - with references to mid century American thoughts and obsessions. Yet still - even with some preachy sections holds up quite well a ...more

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Feb 24, 2019 Chuck rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1000, 1001

Somehow, like many others, I never read this book in high school or college. I even went through a SF phase as a kid and missed it. But maybe this was the best time to read it after all. Besides being a powerful story of threats to personal choice and freedoms, it rises above the trappings of the SF category into something beautiful and timeless, albeit darkly. The longings of its characters, both those expressed and repressed, are always palpable.

With that said, I experienced a level of amazeme Somehow, like many others, I never read this book in high school or college. I even went through a SF phase as a kid and missed it. But maybe this was the best time to read it after all. Besides being a powerful story of threats to personal choice and freedoms, it rises above the trappings of the SF category into something beautiful and timeless, albeit darkly. The longings of its characters, both those expressed and repressed, are always palpable.

With that said, I experienced a level of amazement similar to what I experienced after reading Asimov's "I Robot" a couple of years ago. I found that the conversation Asimov was introducing in that novel on A.I. in the 1940s(!) was no longer SF, yet somehow he was able to anticipate the moral and scientific dilemmas now on our plates.

Perhaps now, in hindsight, "Fahrenheit 451 was even more prescient. Totalitarian rule, technology that creates virtual friends and family for folks (social media) to "ease" their worry, young people in educational systems that lead to abandoned hopes and an increase in suicides. Apparently inspired by the McCarthy trials in the 50s, Bradbury accurately saw the loss of freedoms preceded by a systematic compression of data, news, literature, etc. so that society became accustomed and satisfied with much less than even a Cliff Notes version of everything. Everything seems the same because all the markers are in place, but all the detail that gives information meaning has been cleaned out leaving only hollowed out representations of the original.

In turn, people become hollowed out as well. There are glimmers of hope - the central character Montag, has a personal awakening that he chooses not to snuff out but to face the consequences of living with integrity. Academics who have been cast out of educational institutions have become the hobos of the world who hold the stories that remind us of our humanity.

The events that have taken place since 2016, our crumbling and lost educational systems, increasing numbers of youth feeling so lost and alienated that they resort to suicide, and the reductive outcomes of much of our current news media and, of course, social media make this "science fiction" novel from 1953 now a current events horror story that should be read or read again. ...more

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Mar 15, 2018 Nico rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bad-character-development, a-dry-read, bad-love-triangle, moments-of-excellence, not-the-most-exciting-plot, audiobook, a-for-effort, faux-intelligent, out-of-curiousity, man-pain

There's a vague whiff of luddism that sets the whole thing a bit sour... At parts, it feels like a liberal arts wank fest.

I mean, really? You're gonna write a book on how important books are? Nothing really tracks or holds together, the world remains almost entirely unbuilt, but then it's constructed for the sole purpose of providing Bradbury with an Author Tract...

I hate Author Tracts and I'm generally severely peeved anytime an author goes down that road of Liberal Arts vs Science and Techno ...more

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Mar 01, 2017 Gaby rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopian, classics, politics, 2018

Lately, I've been enjoying dystopian books more and more, I mainly chose to read Fahrenheit 451 for educational purposes, because for me this book is a classic among the dystopian genre.

However, I did not enjoy it nor did it work for me, I'm not sure if it was the writing style, the storyline or the characters that I couldn't connect with, but it was hard to finish it.

For me, it would have been better if the story was centred in the banning of books, instead of in the highlight of how society su ...more

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Apr 07, 2015 Courtney rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-classics, 2015-classics-challenge, made-into-movies-or-tv

I tried listening to this on audiobook but one of the cds was scratched. I liked that the book was divided into three parts but I wish there had been chapters for each part. Some of the story rambled on and on. I found it difficult to finish, mostly because I was just tired of reading. I have read so many books about societies were books are banned and burned.

It was fine, but I will not be reading it again. It reminded me a bit of Kafka's Metamorphosis with his style of writing. I prefer chapte ...more

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