Fahrenheit 451 in Daily Show / Colbert Report / Nightly Show / The Opposition

Apr 27, 2012 Diana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, classics, absolute-favorites

A good book. The only thing that troubled me is that because of its length, it never really delved into the universe it was taking place in. So while it was good, it was a little disappointing at the end.

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May 30, 2009 Kim rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I think Ray Bradbury delicately but precisely nailed the future of critical thought literature in a post-modern society.

I also think Ray Bradbury is full of shit.

That pretty much sums up how I feel about this book. While I’m glad I finally read it, I’m so glad I didn’t have to read it in school. This book is short, but DENSE–meaning every page took about three times as long as a page in another book. At 165 trade-paperback pages (I couldn’t even bring myself to read the epilogue/afterword), you’ I think Ray Bradbury delicately but precisely nailed the future of critical thought literature in a post-modern society.

I also think Ray Bradbury is full of shit.

That pretty much sums up how I feel about this book. While I’m glad I finally read it, I’m so glad I didn’t have to read it in school. This book is short, but DENSE–meaning every page took about three times as long as a page in another book. At 165 trade-paperback pages (I couldn’t even bring myself to read the epilogue/afterword), you’d think this book would have been a breeze. You are wrong.

There were some memorable scenes and moments in this book. Millie, the husband of protaganist and purported everyman Guy Montag, is obsessed with her “family” which is really the family on the three massive television walls that encapsulate the couple’s living room. She talks of them much like we talk of the Kardashians, the Duggars or the Gosselins–in familiar terms too striking to be missed. And certainly the powerful image of burning books and a woman laying down her life rather than watch her collection of literature burn in front of her stirs one’s soul, especially one like me who takes reading and the word of human beings so seriously.

But seriously is something that Bradbury has trouble with.

While the story is great and there are touching moments, I found the prose to be rather dry. Call me pedestrian, but I want something to grab my attention and a running narrative to keep it. More often than not I found myself putting the book down to play a game of Tetris or watch the freaking Kardashians. It’s almost as if the book betrays its purpose because saving literature, such as Fahrenheit 451 should be a noble endeavor, when all I wanted to do is chuck the book up against the wall. It was a carnal reaction and I really have no words to describe it.

The thing is that I should have loved this book. I love the story and it reminded me of my favorite book, Brave New World. The undertones of censorship and the overtones of a futuristic society are something that usually stimulates me to the point of orgasm. But this book couldn’t keep up the pace and ended up leaving me an unsatisfied lover.

I also had a problem with the way in which women were portrayed in this book. There were three women of note–Millie, the ‘crazy’ housewife of Montag; Clarisse, the ‘pixie chick’, and the lady who threw herself on the books. For all of these women’s virtues and faults they were one dimensional as all hell. Millie was the typical Desperate Housewife. Clarisse was the typical Jillian-come-lately in every independent film from here to hell and the book chick, well, she was just a blurb in the end. If anything, Bradbury struck a chord with not only my feminist side, but the side of me that questions what he was thinking of when he considered the future without the power of women.

In the end, the only reason I’m glad I read the book is so it’s no longer on my list of things to read in this lifetime. But maybe what irritates me is that it was there to begin with in the first place. ...more

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Dec 16, 2009 Mary rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: politic, philosophy, fiction, weird, history, classics

Conceptually, a very interesting book. Since it has been around for a while, the futuristic setting has a few creepily correct predictions (entire walls that are televisions, tele-socializing, etc). The notion that books in all manners would ever be banned seems laughable now, but I think the author's intention of raising the point of independent thought is always applicable in the vein of books like "Brave New World" or even "1984." The writing style didn't suck me in at all, as it's a rather s ...more

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