Fahrenheit 451 is written so poetically, I was compelled to read it out loud (which I did for the first 20 pages, until my partner got tired of hearing me talking even more than usual). Ray Bradbury is a passionate writer; you can tell by the way his sentences flow so beautifully that he throws himself into each one of them. I’m always amazed to find such romance coming from a male author. The story was short, yet gripping from start to finish. It’s a utopian story about the future of our society, where we’ve become so overstimulated it becomes a crime to read, because books incite thought in our already overstuffed brains. In the Afterword Bradbury gives examples of how this is happening today, with censorship and political correctness killing our imaginations.
Here’s a brief excerpt, so you can see the beauty of Bradbury’s style:
How rarely did other people’s faces take of you and throw back to you own expression, your own innermost trembling thought? What incredible power of identification the girl had; she was like the eager watcher of a marionette show, anticipating each flicker of an eyelid, each gesture of his hand, each flick of a finger, the moment before it began. How long had they walked together? Three minutes? Five? Yet how large that time seemed now. How immense a figure she was on the stage before him; what a shadow she threw on the wall with her slender body! He felt that if his eye itched, she might blink, and if the muscles of his jaw stretched imperceptibly, she would yawn long before he would.
Once I’m done with this list, I’ll definitely be coming back to Bradbury, but for now I’m moving on to Great Expectations.
This is one of my favorite books and one of my worst nightmares!!
@Anarela
yes, and I keep seeing evidence of it in real life! Censorship, etc., this book keeps popping back up!
this book is fucking gay
How insightful.
I know right what beautiful use of the word gay.
I love this book. Although the end still does confuse me a bit. Without going into too much detail, so I don’t spoil it for anyone, I suppose it’s just jarring how quickly it ends.
I would love to read more Bradbury reviews. This is the only book of his that I’ve read.
well if you liked that try his other book, “something wicked this way comes”
@Robert
It’s on my list!
This book was written in 1996 and it’s incredible how well he described the future and how accurate the censorship was predicted.
@Angela
1953. . . which makes it even more incredible.
This one is on my list. I enjoyed Bradbury’s “Martian Chronicles” more than I expected to. “Something Wicked This Way Comes” is on my bookshelf waiting for me to pick up as well. Let me know how that one is if you get to it before me.
i believe the word would be dystopia instead of utopia a dystopia a place with a government that makes people believe they’re in a utopia
i believe the word would be dystopia instead of utopia a dystopia a place with a government that makes people believe they’re in a utopia in which they control you
this is just one of the most compelling, most touching, most frightening novels i’ve ever read. the idea of a dystopia seems so far-fetched before i read this book. its got disturbing tones and scenes in it that just made me stay awake till the wee hours of the morning. sounds a bit dramatic, hehe, but i swear, i can see myself in the novel, it’s really disturbing..
@judz I felt the same way. Sign of an amazing author!
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I FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS BOOK IT WAS UNIQUE IN ITS OWN STYLE IT WAS CRAZY, VERY THOUGHT OUT, DIFFICULT AT SOME POINTS IN THE STORY BUT WHAT I LIKED ABOUT IT IS THAT YOU WEREN’T ABLE TO THINK YOU WERE JUST SUPPOSE TO LIVE LIFE HOW IT GOES BY EVERY FOOT STEP YOU TAKE