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In the future, firemen don't put out fires, they start them. They raid people's home, collect their books, and set them ablaze. It is a terrifying, oppressive world where literature is forbidden. By extension, it's a world where intellect, free-thinking, and questioning authority are forbidden. This is the world of Fahrenheit 451, and this is the story about one fireman whose eyes are opened and he becomes the very enemy he was trained to hate and destroy.
Ray Bradbury's debut novel is short, pointed, and surprisingly elegant. It can be rather wordy, especially with so much flowery language, but it's hardly a chore to read. It is a book full of evocative ideas, tension, and compelling characters. At the same time, there is a huge amount of depth and detail to it that gives the book a unique voice and a lot of heart.
The story is quite fundamental - the characters, story, and themes resonate universally, and have been influential in other sci-fi works. The book's plot and conflict are subtle at first, slowly burning until the third acts hits with a tense, action-packed confrontation and chase. Through the eyes of Guy Montag, readers are immersed in a world full of mechanical animals and wall-sized interactive TVs. People are kept ignorant and happy through technology. Montag's journey is one of intellectual discover, which eventually leads to rebellion. The revelations of the characters and their celebration of intellect underscore the importance of art and literature, and suggest that in their absence, something important will be missing from people's lives and souls.
It's actually shocking to see how accurate Bradbury was in predicting certain things. We do live in a world of information overdrive, with massive TVs streaming media at us all the time. We are always distracted by music and information blasted directly into our ears with headphones. What's most shocking is how people react and behave in their environments, so displaced and distanced on personal levels by technology. It's as if Bradbury must have glimpsed into the future and saw an apathetic world full of selfish people with feelings of entitlement. There's also some interesting observations about knowledge and happiness - people in this book are sheltered from intellect and knowledge because it's said to make them unhappy, while TV and loud music are figurative opiates. It's widespread censorship, depriving all so that nobody would be offended or made unhappy by something. It very much reminded me of modern trends, where political correctness and censorship are alive and well. It all adds up to a terrifying warning about totalitarianism, where the government controls free thought, and nobody thinks to question them. In a world without books, nobody thinks at all.
This book is very distinctive, thanks to Bradbury's precision with language. He doesn't shy away from detailing some nasty details (leading to the book itself being censored on a few occasions), but for the most part it's beautifully written. Characters show some very lively dialogue and plenty of heart. The chief tends to lecture Montag relentlessly (and this is something I've been accused of doing in my own writing, so what the heck?). Descriptions are full and lively, and often metaphorical. It can be a bit challenging to fully understand what Bradbury is saying with some of his metaphors, but it definitely evokes phenomenal imagery, imagination, and emotion.
Fahrenheit 451 remains one of the biggest and best classics in sci-fi for a lot of great reasons. It was a pleasure to read.
5/5
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