Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3165 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-02
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Synopsis
The hauntingly prophetic classic novel set in a not-too-distant future where books are burned by a special task force of firemen. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books. The classic novel of a post-literate future, 'Fahrenheit 451' stands alongside Orwell's '1984' and Huxley's 'Brave New World' as a prophetic account of Western civilization's enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity. Bradbury's powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which over fifty years from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock.

Customer Reviews

Single-sitting novel
I keep coming back to science fiction written in the 50's and 60's. This novel is a perfect example of why I do this.
I've read this a few times now, and it's always a pleasure to do so. It may not be the best written, but since it was one of Bradbury's first novels, I'm prepared to be tolerant of the writing style.
The ideas presented here are still fresh and relevant today, and most certainly set the ground work for many of those which followed. It's influence can be seen in King's 'Running Man'(the original Bachman book, not the screenplay), and Ira Levin's 'This Perfect Day'.
The central theme of the state imposing what the masses may/may not have access to, and that above all "ignorance is bliss", can be seen in today's society to some extent.

This is undoubtedly a single-sitting novel. Whenever I pick it up to read it, I find that it's easier to read to the end than attempt to put it down and come back to it later when I'm half way through. It is easy to read, and the story flows beautifully from beginning to end. A perfect book for a wet sunday afternoon.

Darkly disturbing, engrossing, kept me up past my bedtime
My daughter has received this for the second time now as required reading for school (summer reading requirement). "Oh Mom this book is awful" she said, now for the second time. She read me a paragraph of the book and sure enough, it does sound awful when you read small snippets of the book. This book is not an easy read at all, not because it is overly intellectual -- it's not written very well, sorry Mr. Bradbury -- the author wrote in the afterward, that he wrote it in his early days of writing in various rooms of his house, finally ended up sequestered in his garage. I imagine that if the book was written later in Mr. Bradbury's career, that it would have been written far better than it was -- this is no literary masterpiece, but the concept it contains is a timeless one.

That said, my daughter gave it to me to read and I read it in one sitting, wondering what was going to happen to the main character and how this book would end. This book is about a future society where books are illegal. The government has built a society where simple pleasure is the main goal in life, not meaningful pleasure. People live their lives around TV that takes up entire walls of their homes, no truly educational programming is allowed for the same reason that no books are allowed. The TV in this book creates not just light programming for society, but a family in the wall/screens -- it is mind numbing for that society. People become puppets where they live their lives out in simple ignorance and if you dare question the way things are or attempt to hide any books you are persecuted for it. People are simple minded and unquestioning. Enter Clarissa, the sweet teenage next door neighbor who takes simple pleasure in taking walks, letting the rain fall on her tongue, staying up late in the night actually talking to her family, no TV walls active in her home -- people actually listen to each other. The government is suspicious of her family -- not because they are subversive or publicly questioning society, but because of the way they live and think. Though Clarisse is a character in the book for a very short time, she makes an impact on the main character, Guy the fireman, who envies that she and her family talk to each other, listen to each other, and care so much for each other in a society that only cares about keeping the status quo and not getting in trouble. He begins to question what he is doing, burning books -- not so much because of the book burning itself, but for the lives of the book lovers he wrecks in the process. He begins to wonder what is inside the pages of books that people are willing to die for them and steels one of the books from a home his is destroying. He adds this book to the huge stash of books he has already hidden in the air ducts of his home and actually begins to read them and thus begins his own persecution.

Though this isn't a literary masterpiece, as I said earlier, it is engrossing and very disturbing. The future society created in the pages is a nightmare. The importance of education, reading, and simply caring about your fellow man are the concepts the reader walks away with. I suspect that's the reason it is tirelessly assigned to kids at school.

In Fahrenheit 451 (the temperature at which books burn
In Fahrenheit 451 (the temperature at which books burn, for the curious), the Ray Bradbury evokes a terrifying America similar to our own in all respects but one- the fireman there burn books. With the aid of a mysterious girl, Clarice, who says she is "seventeen and crazy," fireman Guy Montag chooses to defy society and is forced to run for sanctuary, even as a nuclear Armageddon approaches. Bradbury's love of books is evident in his theme, and his love of language is evident in his linguistic acrobatics. Anyone with a burning love of books should read Fahrenheit 451- I'd also recommend reading the mesmerising and highly evocative novel The Fates by Tino Georgiou--it is truly a masterpiece