If you have read the book Fahrenheit 451, this may make more sense, but, either way, thank you for your review!
Review: Fahrenheit 451
These days, books that make you think are hard to find, but if you’ve read Fahrenheit 451, you know it’s one of them. Fahrenheit 451 is a novel written by Ray Bradbury and published in 1953. The story takes place in a dystopian future where firemen burn books and people live mindless lives. One fireman named Guy Montag starts to collect books illegally. Then, one day while coming back from the firehouse, he meets a girl named Clarisse McClellan. She opens his mind to the world he is living in and starts to make him think deeply about things, something he (and most other people in the world) didn’t seem to do before he met her. After a few days of talking as he came home from work with Clarisse, she disappears; Montag hears his wife saying that Clarisse was hit by a car and killed. A few days later, Montag is thinking deeply about Clarisse and he decides not to go to work that day. He is visited by the fire chief, Captain Beatty, who somehow seems to know that Montag owns some illegal books. After the fire chief leaves, Montag shows his wife, Millie, the books that he’s hidden. Although she tries to throw one in the incinerator, he convinces her to sit down and try and read them with him. They soon give up and Montag travels to an old English professor, Faber, to have the Bible explained to him. Faber and him devise a plan to plant books in firemen’s houses, turn in alarms on them and have the houses burnt so there will be a dwindling number of firemen. Faber gives Montag a sort of ear bud so that he can instruct him from his home and Montag departs back to his house. After a few days, Montag goes back to work and the first call they go on is to his house. Captain Beatty makes Montag burn all of the books in his house once Millie has left. Then, once he’s finished burning the books in his house, Montag burns Captain Beatty, killing him, and runs away. He reaches a stream on the city outskirts and escapes the police search parties looking for him. Montag meets a few other men who were outcast and they begin to tour the country, finding books, reading and memorizing them, and then burning them.
One of the most important parts of the book is when Montag goes to Faber’s house to have the Bible explained to him. Montag remembers Faber from when he met him in the park once and Faber gave him his contact information in case Montag would “decide to be angry with me [Faber]”. So, Montag travelled to Faber’s house and asks if Faber will teach him how to read. Montag does not mean teach him how to read words but how to understand what he’s reading. Faber just asks how Montag got to upset and Montag explains that he can tell that something is missing in the world and he believes its books. Faber tells Montag that there are actually three things missing. One is books; they are gone because “… they show the pores of life. The comfortable people want only wax moon faces, poreless, expressionless.” The second thing missing is leisure, it’s missing because everything is thrown at you, and you have to respond quick, quick, quick. You never have time to think, really think. The final thing that is missing is “… the right to carry out actions based on what we learn from the interaction of the first two.” After hearing this, Montag convinces Faber to listen to his plan which is to “Plant the books, turn in the alarm, and see the firemen’s houses burn…” They finally agree to try and do this, Faber staying home and telling Montag what to do through a small ear plug that he’s made and given to him. I believe this is the most important part of the book because once Montag has left Faber’s house, he has decided he will not go back to his life before books, that he will make a stand against the ban on books, and he will fight for what he thinks is right.
I greatly enjoyed Fahrenheit 451 and recommend it to all science fiction readers and anyone who likes a book that makes you think. Although Ray Bradbury’s style of giving long descriptions, bleak dialogue, and well-shown character actions is not my favorite type of writing style, I think that this is a well written book. Bradbury’s word choice is excellent and he has a large vocabulary, which I loved because I was learning so many new, interesting words. His book flowed very well from page-to-page and had a gripping plot. His characters were developed and all contributed to the ending of the story and the tone of his book created a range of emotions for me. Fahrenheit 451 is the type of book that you can come back to and learn something new every time.
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Hey!
RandomTalks here with a short review!
I am glad you enjoyed the book. I read it recently and was genuinely moved by the depth and messages hidden inside the book. I will have to admit, that I found it a little difficult to get into at first because of the long descriptions that I somehow could not imagine in my mind. However, as I kept on reading I fell in love with the book because of this same reason I could not get into at first. Bradbury's descriptions were extremely detailed and yet vague in a way that will provide you with all the elements but will force you to do the imagining. To give shape to the abstract structure of his descriptions. And I think that is great because that was exactly what the book was about for me - using your own mind.
Now enough about the book. Let's get on with the review of your review!
I felt that the first paragraph was a bit too long. I understand that you were giving your readers a summary of the book to capture their interest, but I think that instead of pushing it all into a single paragraph, you could divide the separate elements and explain them in separate paragraphs. I really liked what you did in the second one for example. While reading the book, I had come to the conclusion that everything change with Faber's introduction. It was the beginning for Guy, his first step towards free thinking. So I really appreciate you going into the details of that conversation and explaining what you liked and what you thought of it.
However, one thing that I think you missed was the Guy's internal conflict between what he thought and what he felt, between society and himself. These people in the book have been fed this knowledge since birth, they do not have any reason to go against what they believe and what they know. Guy himself had followed the norms blindly. However, he felt a hole in his life, an empty gap that made him steal all those books since the start without really knowing why. This gap was filled somehow by Clarisse and her unique company that made im think and feel after a long while. But it was never enough.
The other topic I feel you could have explore is how technology created distance and rifts between human beings. You could have taken up the example of Guy and Millie's marriage and showed how they lived together for a decade without really knowing, understanding or loving each other. They spoke in different language that could never reach the other and i think this was an important topic because I felt half the loneliness in Guy's life came from not being understood by anyone.
Overall, I am really glad you wrote this review as I have been dying to discuss the book with someone. Thank you for recommending it to other readers. This was such a great book and like you said, everyone should read it at least once in their life.
Keep writing and have a great day!
Justa!
This book definitely sounds like one I'd be interested in reading. There are actually quite a number of books I've lined up to read and I'm going to include this in my reading list! The whole plot and scenario of this book sounds so wonderfully woven by Bradbury. I think you're right that most people who aren't very familiar with books like these (especially since this one is quite old) might find the dialogue and overall text a bit drab. But yes, it's out of such books that one gets to find new words and meanings and other interesting tid-bits!
There's a certain charm that I think this book can provide. Being from the era it is, it will surely give an insight to how people from back then would imagine what the future would like. I think many authors from back then had a flair about them that made the books seem elegant and informative but at the same time, rich in all the factors that make for a great read. Old is gold!
Also, I believe that in a time like now, when most teenagers and young-adults tend to look forward to reading something more in-tune with their mindset and current generation, it's good that a mention about a book like this is made. Everyone needs to know about fine examples of literary works that existed long before even their parents were born. God knows we need to think of the old-days, when things were far simpler and less complicated. Them young whipper-snappers have it all different now!
As for the way you've presented this as a review, I just have a small suggestion: Even though this is an article, try to make divide the paragraphs further into shorter paragraphs. The last paragraph seems to have enough number of lines, but the first two clearly look like a wall of text and it's hard to make cursory glances at the dialogues that you've extracted from the book. It's not a big deal, but is still something that will greatly improve the content and increase quality of appearance.
All in all, thank you for recommending this book. I'm definitely going to get down to reading it one of these days. And you'll be the first to know when I do! This was a great review, Justa! Good job and keep the ink flowing! ^.^
Murtuza