Rating: Summary: Fahrenheit 451 Review: The story of 'Fahrenheit 451' is a story about censorship in the future. The character of Guy Montag is a firefighter, but his job is to set the fire rather than put it out. The firefighters aren't burning the building down, they're burning what is inside, books. The government in this time has ruled that a certain list of books must be destroyed. People don't think too much in this era, and books make you think, therefore giving people a problem. They all just want to be happy, watching television and listening to the radio. Nobody really cares about anything but their own happiness, so the children are left on their own and sometimes kill each other. There has also been a nuclear war happening for quit some time. One day Montag meets his next-door neighbor, a young girl named Clarisse. She was an exception to the rest of society. She always talked about nature and how beautiful things were. Stuff that Montag (and everyone else) had never even stopped to think about for a second. Claresse's thoughts, and the way she talked about things, made her an outcast from this futuristic nightmare. She was considered antisocial because she talked too much. Her radical thoughts greatly opened Montag's mind. When he would go to a house to burn the books, he'd take a book or two and hide them in his house. Montag's wife, Mildred, was just like everyone else. She didn't talk or think very much. She would just watch T.V. or overdose on sleeping pills. So when she found out about the books she called the fire department to burn them. Montag was astonished to pull up to his own house and have to burn his stolen books. Luckily he hid them in his yard earlier. The fire captain, Beatty, instructed him to burn the house, and Montag did willingly because he had nothing to loose. After he burned the house, he set Beatty on fire, and then he skipped town. He followed the train tracks into the countryside where he met a group of ex-college professors. They all felt the same way about books. Each one of them had a book that they memorized and were one day going to write them down again. Their mission was to put things back the way they used to be decades ago. I can relate to Montag and the ex-college professors because they kept doing something even though it was a crime. They were standing up for what they believed in and were willing to die for their cause. It's self-realization, knowing what you believe in and not letting anyone tell you different. If people didn't stand up for what they believe, than we probably wouldn't have cars or even electricity. New ideas and free thinkers are what made our lives so easy today. I liked this book because it is so much like our society today. The way that people drive fast, the way people use drugs, and people are lazy and hardly go outside anymore. Also the way the government controls and limits our freedoms. They tell us how we can and can't express ourselves. New ideas are becoming scary to the average person, and we can't do anything without offending someone. It's really freaky how much it compares to today considering this book was made in the 50's. I think people should read this book if they want to open their eyes a little bit. I think what happened in 'Fahrenheit 451' is happening to our world, and it is kind of scary because it is all too possible. But it won't happen if people get involved in their politics and tell the government what they want, rather than letting congress do what they think is necessary to make the people happy. So think a little more, and we won't be horribly destroyed by a vicious nuclear weapon.
Rating: Summary: Bradbury's ode to books Review: Fahrenheit 451 takes place in the near future where firefighters no longer put out fires they start them. Guy Montag is a married though uterly alone firefighter who is set to the task of seeking out readers of books, which are illegal to have in your possession, and destroying them.Fahrenheit 451 is my pick for the distopian novel that most acurately predicts the future. Most people do not literaly burn books, however, the psychological implications are brilliant. Read and enjoy.
Rating: Summary: Haven't read it, but sounds good! Review: The only reason I'm giving this 4 stars is becauseI haven't read the book yet, but I'm going to very soon. from what I hear, this sounds like a great book. The main reason wanted to check it out was because the book was banned in schools and I was curious to find out what all the fuss was about. I make it a habit to read every school banned book I can. Ironically I found out the book was ABOUT censorship, talk about life imitating art!
Rating: Summary: the soul of a firemen Review: I am a student at a high school and I finished reading "Farenheit 451" in a week and a half. I was very much impressed by the story and how it gets better after the introduction I thought it would be boring book about a firemen but it's a story that takes turns all around. The characters are all taken very much into mind. He gives them all unique personalities, although it's a short story, each chapter is like a bio on one of the many characters.
Rating: Summary: Fahrenheit 451 Review: Fahrenheit 451 is a very good story about a struggling public servant who is deeply confused by the twisted world that surrounds him. As a fireman in this backwards society, he is expected to burn books and the houses that contain them, but can no longer bring himself to do it as he once did. Books are outlawed and burned because they are the source of much confusion and varying points of view. The government could not bear it any longer, so it opted to simply destroy the books. Firemen are now employed to start fires instead of stopping them. The main character is Guy Montag, along with his wife Mildred and Fire Captain Beatty. Montag tries very hard to beat the system by hiding and reading books, but cannot contain his frustration. He is found out and flees to save his life. Guy Montag is my favorite character in this book. He goes through many changes and has quite an adventure. In the end, in order to escape and be free, he has to defeat his boss and kill the deadly Mechanical Hound, which is a machine used to track down fugitives. Fahrenheit 451 is also a story about the contradictory principle of censorship. Ray Bradbury shows what the effects of censorship are mental unrest and dissatisfaction with the quality of life. He writes about it hoping to get the attention and open the reader's eyes to face this evident threat that is in fact a reality. I can, in some way, relate to Montag. He was different from most people and managed to beat the system in the end. Although I have never killed any one or burned down houses like he did, but I do share the same spirit of dissatisfaction with the rules of society. There are many things wrong with this world that I am not happy with. Much of my unhappiness is towards hypocrisy. For example, how can the government mandate that an 18 year old male go and die for the US, yet he cannot be declared financially independent until he is 24? Or how can this same 18 year old male cast a vote to put a man into office and elect a president, but he cannot have a drop of alcohol until he is 21? Like Montag, I also struggle with society's rules and points of view. We may differ in cause, but the spirit is the same. I enjoyed reading this book. Mr. Bradbury knows how to tell a good story. I especially liked the climax, which was, of course, the best part of the book. The only thing that I do not like, perhaps due to my impatience, are the long and wordy monologues. But then again, these are essential to the storyline of the book. This is how Bradbury is able to explain confusing parts in the story. He uses them as a movie would use flashbacks. If it were up to me, I would just put a little more action in these parts. Of course, as would almost all readers of this story, I highly recommend this book. Students from grade level 9 and up will be able to truly appreciate it. Perhaps the misfits and outcasts in this society will enjoy it more, but in all, this is a good book for every one. Fahrenheit 451 will fit well in any literary collection, be it political or sci-fi or both.
Rating: Summary: one of the best Review: This is one of my favorite books. It's a great tale about utopia, censorship, and decline of our collective culture into a mass of visual goo. It's Bradbury at his best. He kind of cheats a little with the ending, but the overall quality and message of the book makes it one of the finest pieces of literature out there.
Rating: Summary: All books begin with a premise... Review: ... and this one also ended there. Compared to Orwell's 1984 and similar works, this novel is teen romance. It light-heartedly bounds through what it likes to think is a dark future. With all respect to the esteemed Mr. Bradbury, it reads more like Futurama. Aldous Huxley and George Orwell both cover this subject in much greater detail and provide a deeper sense of the darkness of our future. The themes of ignorance, gleeful mass-media mesmerism and inner conflict are better represented in their works. If you understand doublespeak, give this one a miss. It's double-plus-ungood.
Rating: Summary: A very thought provoking book! Review: The novel Fahrenheit 451 tells us about a time in the future in which books are illegal to read or posses, and firemen aren't employed to save houses (because they are virtually fire resistant), but to burn books. Guy Montag, a fireman, and the story's main character, enjoys the destruction and burning of the books and he is constantly soaked in the smell of kerosene. Montag had a weird feeling about things, but wasn't quite sure what it was. He was like all the other people, in that he would just keep going ahead to where he was going, not looking at what he was walking past or paying much attention to things. Except one night he stopped and met a girl who told him of the past where people were allowed to think, to read, and to have original ideas for themselves, and the ability to write them down and share them with others. As the story goes on, it deals with his drug-abusing wife and her weird friends. Also there are crews of people that are out to save people that try to committee suicide due to the high suicide rate. The reader discovers the ways that the society works, about how people are not unique, not knowing their own neighbors, and how the television thinks for everyone so that they don't have to. This book shows a future where it is nearly impossible to be a freethinking individual. Ray Bradbury's descriptive writing makes the story easy to read and hard to put down. The story thickens, twists, and curves with every page as Montag is forced to go on the run from a mechanical hound whose only mission is to destroy Montag. It is a book that everyone should try to read. It really makes the reader think about how our future may turn out like this someday.
Rating: Summary: Fahrenheit 451 is a great book Review: Fahrenheit 451 was an incredible science fiction novel by Ray Bradbury. I have not been a fan of science fiction in the past, so i was suprised that I enjoyed this book so much. It was such a great book, that I didn't want to put it down. Thier is never a down time in the book where it is dragged out. It is exciting all the way through. Not only is it an enjoyable book, but it has a great message at the end. Fahrenheit 451 has opened me up to science fiction novel.
Rating: Summary: I HATE THE IDEA OF NO BOOKS! Review: "Fahrenheit 451" is about a future where there is no freedom of speech. A future where every person is a mindless automaton with no feeling. They go about their life wondering whats going to be on the screen next or what they're going to eat for dinner. Worst of all it is a future where there are no books. It is a future where firemen don't douse fires, it is a future where they start them. Their job is to rid the earth of books by burning them. Montag is a firefighter who is questioning what he is doing. Lately he has been stealing books from the secret libraries he burns for a living. He finally realizes that without books people are mindless automatons who's only purpose in life is not to think. This is a great book and it makes you think of what life would be like if our only purpose in life was to be happy. We wouldn't be able to think for ourselves, just like the characters in the book. I give "Fahrenheit 451" five big stars.
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