Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)
Visionary: Captivating
Book cover blurb
Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the source of all discord and unhappiness, the printed book.
Montag never questions the destruction or his own bland life, until he is shown a past where people didn’t live in fear and a present where one sees the world through ideas.
Montag starts hiding books in his home. Soon they’ll make him run for his life.
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My Review
My only experience with Ray Bradbury, prior to this book, was The Martian Chronicles, and to put it frankly, I wasn't impressed. So I had very low expectations for this book. But so many people think so highly of Fahrenheit 451, I felt I'd be doing myself a disservice if I didn't at least give it a try.
Well, I'm happy to report, my expectations were proven completely misguided.
This was a fantastic read, I thoroughly enjoyed every page. I ripped through it in only a couple of days, which is unusual for my slow reading abilities. There is such an even and easy progression to this story you just flow along with it effortlessly. Considering Bradbury wrote this in the early '50s his ability to visualise shockingly accurate aspects of today's future is nothing short of staggering to me.
I'm not the most intelligent of people so I'm certain there are a lot of nuances within these pages I missed, but I derived enough to leave me in awe of the author. Especially when you consider he wrote this in just nine days!
I actually have no real criticisms of this book, although I will admit I found the whole war idea, among the main themes of the book a little unnecessary. I guess if anything, I would simply wish it were longer, but isn't that always the way with a book you really enjoy? I would have loved to see Montag lead an underground movement, visit other cities, confront other firemen, print and distribute books and change his world.
I'll definitely be reading more from Bradbury.
My copy of this novel
Harper Voyager hardback edition.
Published in 2013
227 pages
ISBN 9780007491568