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Summary: This was a terrible book!
Review: I had to read this book for school and I abolutely hated it. To start off with, it wasn't very well written and the characters and situations were unbelieveable and boring. Montag was a very odd character and hard to relate to and it bugged the [STUFF] out of me how he cried about everything! The book didn't really have a very powerful message either. It was basically don't watch TV, read books. The world will be lost without them! And the whole thing about the stupid Harvard degrees on the railroad tracks was cheesy and stupid. If you can memorize a piece of literature so easily, what's the point for books? I compared this book to Orwell's 1984, which I read last year, and there was no comparison. This book was not nearly as chilling and thought provoking and failed horribly in getting it's point across. With all the talk of firemen burning books, you were tempted to put a match to this one. I also disagree with a major point of the book that implies with the loss of literature comes the loss of morality. The book took place in the future but not that far in the future. I got the idea that it took place only one or two generations after it was written. The morality of the world could not be lost in that amount of time.
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Summary: Written in the basement of the UCLA library
Review: One big rift between the book and the movie [Fahrenheit 451 (1966) -- Oskar Werner, Julie Christie] is that in the movie the "written word" was completely removed (even from the credits), where as in the book the state was against literature and not technical writing. Books are just symbols of ideas that could have been on the screen also. There is a deference between training and education. Among other reasons the book was a symbol of one mans superiority over another in a world of equals.I do not want to tell much of the story, as the unfolding is part of the intrigue. However now that houses are fire proof the purpose of firemen are performing a service by burning books to maintain the happy social order. Naturally One fireman goes awry after several emotional incidences that run counter to his carrier. This leads to all kinds of deviant things like reading. What are you doing now?
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Summary: HATED IT!
Review: I really did not like this book! Now, don't get me wrong the idea was good, but the writing was horrible. I normally like Ray Bradbury's work, too. The writing style was very repetitive and boring. I think that this is one of those books that could have been great if written differently.
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Summary: The Tyranny of the Masses
Review: This slim little novella is a rollicking story about Guy Montag, a "firefighter" of the future who loves his job. His job is not to put out fires, but to set them. Montag and his comrades burn books for a living. It doesn't matter what type of books, they have all been targeted for incineration. Apparently, in the America of Guy's time, the people, and especially the government, have decided that books are a bad deal. Books make people think and agonize over choices, which is a bad thing. The real goal of society should be happiness for everyone. Since no one can be happy if they are always worrying about things they read, the solution is clear. Unfortunately, many people seem to have a problem with this, at least on a subconscious level. Suicides in Guy's world are sky high, so high that they have special teams of medics go around and suck pills and other nasty poisons out of the people who have decided they don't want to live anymore. The government does try to placate the masses through mind numbing television and radio shows (see Guy's wife, Mildred). People that refuse to go along with the program are sent away, or worse. Guy wakes up when he meets a young neighbor who turns him on to the way of experiencing life. Guy eventually rebels and ends up as part of a group who memorize books to preserve them for future generations. I'm leaving out lots of details to the book with this description. After all, I don't want to spoil the whole thing for you. What seems to be more important about this book is its value to today's world. Although written years ago, some of Bradbury's details are amazingly prescient. The omnipresence of television and other means of electronic control certainly ring true today. Also, the censoring of books continues unabated even now, with every type of group clamoring for some type of control over what the rest of us read. Certainly, burning books of every sort couldn't be far away. Since most people read nothing but pap these days anyway, I can imagine Plato and Milton going up in flames soon enough. Who wants to read that boring stuff when you can watch TV or go to a movie? Soon after this comes what Bradbury refers to as, "the tyranny of the masses." If enough people don't want to do something, you better jump on the bandwagon too. Try going to work and speaking out against multiculturalism and see what happens. Throw out your TV set and tell people about doing so. You'll be branded a freak and avoided like the plague. People are cattle, plain and simple. Bradbury does seem to have some hope for our sorry condition, as can be seen at the end of the book. However, getting to that state will take some time, I'm afraid.
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Summary: Fahrenheit 451 is Fascinating and Gripping
Review: More than just a story, Fahrenheit 451 is written in breathtaking prose, but manages to convey essential ideas through its simple, terrifying plot. Its metaphors and theme of censorship and knowledge will set your mind reeling and will hopefully do what it is intended to do: change the way you look at the world.
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Summary: I loved it! A Must Read !
Review: How many times have you ever wished that you never ever have to read another book again or how many times have you wished that books should be banned so that you could watch the TV all day long? Well, enter into Ray Bradbury's world where reading books are illegal, watching TV all day is encouraged and running people over with cars are acceptable. Remember in school, where the brainy kids would always answer the teacher's questions while the rest of us sat behind? The rest of us would always feel dumber and after class we would beat up the brainy kids. It was a no win situation but in this wonderful society, class consisted of - you guessed it - television and more television. But in this world, everyone was made equal, so much equality that practically everyone are mindless zombies. Guy Montag, the protagonist of FAHRENHEIT 451, mindlessly burn books for a living. His profession is being a fireman. What better way to prevent books from making us unhappy, right? Wrong! Everyone that follows the contraband-book-society is miserable. Right off the first few pages, someone wants to kill herself and it turns out to be Montag's wife. Clarisse McClellan enters the picture and she gives Montag a little shove towards the direction of actually making him think for himself. For a moment there, Montag starts to live. He sees nature meaning trees and flowers, you know, that sort of junk people really don't see when their mind and concentration is on the television. McClellan also makes Montag question his lifestyle and happiness. He starts to get upset because he realizes that there is something terribly wrong with how the society works. But don't worry. Before McClellan can complete the transformation of making Montag into a living and breathing person, she gets run over by a car, driven by a bunch of kids. A wonderful world, is it not? Since Montag is stuck in between the phase of being a zombie and being a full fledge person, he looks for help. Although he wants help, he's placing himself in danger, by - be prepared for this - reading books and by talking with Faber, a retired English professor. The journey that awaits Montag would be full of confusion, danger and anger especially when Faber and Beatty have a verbal one-on-one. By the way, Beatty is really Captain Beatty, as in captain of the fire department.
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Summary: Fahrenheit 451
Review: Fahrenheit 451 is a book about a man named Montag. His occupation is being a fireman. When this book takes place, which is in the future, the firemen are making fires for books instead of extinguishing fires. Montag meets a girl that's new to his neighborhood and he walks her home. On the way, he finds out that her name is Clarrise Mclellen. He also found out that she was quite peculiar. Clarisse asked questions like if he was happy.
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Summary: When Will There Be A 'Fahrenheit 452'?
Review: Unarguably, FAHRENHEIT 451 is one of the finest books ever written. While the book gets a bit disjointed in its closing scenes, it still should be required reading for anyone with a brain and a pulse.
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Summary: Great!
Review: I had to buy this book for school. At first when I was reading it, it seemed a little boring because it wasn't the type of book I usually enjoy reading. But after I got about 20 pages in, I couldn't put it down! I loved every description and foreshadowing, and how much of the technology was similar to today's, even though the book was written in the 1950's. I was so happy with it that yesterday I went out and bought another of Bradbury's books, The Martian Chronicles!
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Summary: Fahrenheit 451
Review: The book had a good beginning that brought you right into the action of the story and showed you the view that the main character had. It had a captivating storyline that was able to keep you interested.
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