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Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury

Start date: August 1, 2013

Finish date: August 31, 2013

Discussion: Aug 2013 - Fahrenheit 451

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Aug 2013 - Fahrenheit 451

Bookshelf, Library Bag, or Donation Box?
By LaLaLa Laura · 28 posts · 154 views

last updated Nov 04, 2014 06:06PM

Chapter 3 - Burning Bright
By LaLaLa Laura · 8 posts · 97 views

last updated Oct 30, 2014 03:21AM

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Sep 15, 2021 Fiona rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, books-about-books

'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 your after you take y '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 your after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.'

I was inspired to pick up this book after reading Susan Orlean's The Library Book, which has a whole chapter on the history of book burning globally and in that chapter she mentions Ray Bradbury and Fahrenheit 451. That chapter fascinated me and inspired me to pick up this copy of Fahrenheit 451 which had been sitting on my TBR shelf for a while (it is one of those classics you always mean to read but never get around to doing it). I liked Fahrenheit 451 but I didn’t love it. It is a short book so there isn’t much time to develop the characters. I wanted to know more about what motivated Montag, the main character, who is the book-burning Fireman who goes rogue and ends up saving books from the fires, he is already doing it when the book starts and we don’t get any background into what first motivated him to save the books. I thought Beatty, the Fire Chief was the most interesting character but again I wanted to know more about him and his motivations.
It expresses some beautiful ideas like the one above but the story as a whole fell flat for me.

Stoneman and Black drew forth their rule-books, which also contained brief histories of the Firemen of America, and laid them out where Montag, though long familiar with them, might read:
‘Established, 1790, to burn English-influenced books in the Colonies. Firs Fireman: Benjamin Franklin.’
RULE 1. Answer the alarm swiftly
2. Start the fire swiftly
3. Burn everything
4. Report back to firehouse immediately.
5. Stand alert for other alarms.

...more

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