Rating: 
Summary: A Classic.
Review: Ray Bradbury's 'Fahreneheit 451' is a classic that almost everyone should read before they get out of high school or college. It is not just for science fiction fans, but for lovers of good storytelling.
Rating:
Summary: Still 5 Stars in 2004...? Really? Yes!
Review: I first read F451 in high school... and was moved by it. This was a book that at once fueled my teenage-born desire to fight "the man" and inspired me to become a science fiction author myself. So why am I writing this review now, more that a decade (sadly, much more than a decade) after high school? Well, I just read F451 again. It is now April, 2004. I am amazed at just how accurate Bradbury's future is. If the "slaves to our TV's" accusation doesn't strike close enough to the bulls-eye, just look at the role of war in F451 and then turn on CNN and watch for 5 minutes. Bradbury has hit the nail on its proverbial head; in his verbose-yet-eloquent style he has painted a horrible and terrifying future where man fears and scorns knowledge and wisdom. It has gotten to the point where firemen no longer put out fires, but start them--to burn the books which embody everything that is dangerous to a society that fears free will. Reading this again, now, I couldn't help resurrecting a memory. I was at work in the high-tech field (before the crash)... I make a habit of either reading or writing during my lunch hour, and a coworker had made a comment along the lines of "why on Earth would you read a book when you can get all the entertainment you'd ever want online?". Reading F451, I remember this person, and imagine them in a "parlor" with their fabricated online "Tv walls" that cater to their egos and their banal desire for raw and stupid entertainment. My advice to those who don't typically read, those who have siblings or offspring who do not read, and those who think anything that isn't digital is unworthy of their attention: Read this book. The main story (sans afterword, etc.) is only about 160 pages long. There's no excuse. read it. Those who do read (and especially those who write): this is a classic for a reason, and Bradbury's poetic quality is very enjoyable. He creates only a few characters in this book, but from the start you have such depth in the lead man (montag) that you feel pity for him as his wife's stomach is pumped, and you understand why he is drawn to the spirit that is Clarisse. Because you will have the privilege of reading this far beyond the time in which it was written, you will both fear the "hound" and relate to it. You will also relate to the TV walls and (unless you live underground in isolation) you will begin to fear what the modern media has become.
Rating: 
Summary: An Alternate Society
Review: 1950: A year in which one of the greatest novels of our time was written. Fahrenheit 451 was originally written as a short story and was titled "The Fireman." This was Ray Bradbury's first novel but definitely not the last. Taking place in a society where reading books is outlawed, firemen are paid not to put out fires, but to start them...on books.
Guy Montag, the main character of the book and one of the most dedicated firemen, had his routine life turned upside down after meeting a young teenage girl named Clarisse. Meeting Clarisse was the first turning point in the book. Clarissa asked Montag the very personal question of "Are you happy?" (10). This struck Montag as a huge shock considering he did not know how to answer it. Evaluating this question took up most of Montag's time. After being called to set ablaze to an elderly woman's home, and burning her to death in the process, he knew the answer to Clarisse's question. Living in a society where knowledge is turned down, where his wife is too wrapped up in her "soap operas", and where people want to kill each other for fun, wasn't how he wanted to live. Unhappiness was the basis of Montag's life. He realized that there must be something in books that fulfill people like Clarisse and the woman who burned herself, he had to find out what was in them.
Montag's boss, Captain Beatty, caught on that Montag might be exploring books, or even housing them and tried to discourage Montag. After finding an old friend to help him interpret the books, Mildred his wife, became frightened and eventually turned him in which was the major turning point or climax in the book. After that point, an adventure begins. Bradbury uses his unique literary devices and other writing techniques to truly bring the reader into the story.
Many allusions were used and referred to in this novel. The most vivid was the allusion of the Phoenix. A Phoenix is a mythical bird that over time dies and catches on fire, burning to ashes, and then is reborn through the ashes. This bird can be related to the mechanical society in which the characters of the novel live in. The knowledge and the conditions of the world in which they used to live in, eventually died and burned as does the Phoenix. However, the symbolism of the rebirth could perhaps also be foreshadowing the ending of the novel.
Bradbury's similes, metaphors, and other literary devices combine to allow the reader to better visualize the imagery and place themselves into the scene. The organization of his words alone, contribute to the understanding of the sentence structure. "They had one machine. They had two machines, really. One of them slid down into your stomach like a black cobra down an echoing well looking for all old water and the old time gathered there... It had an Eye." These words are connected with a simile and a metaphor, making a better visualization for what was taking place. Symbols were also widely used throughout Fahrenheit 451.
The titles of the first two parts alone, serve as very important symbols in the book. "The Hearth and the Salamander" symbolizes both the fireplace and the creature who is believed to be unaffected by fire. The hearth, where the fire is housed, symbolizes the heating of a home and the salamander which is the official symbol for the firemen. "The Sieve and the Sand" is also very symbolic. Depicting that if placed on the sieve, the sand would fall straight through, not accumulating any of it. This is comparable to Montag trying to read the books. The words were going in, but also going straight back out. He did not know how to keep the knowledge he had just gained.
Overall, I think this book was a wonderful interpretation of a man who knew things were wrong and who built up enough courage to go after what he believed in. Possibly a prediction of the future, Bradbury influentially shows the readers of Fahrenheit 451 that knowledge is a very sacred thing and its sacred components, the books, should not be taken for granted.
Rating:
Summary: From the Ashes
Review: A book revolving about the burning and destruction of books seems kind of ironic, right? But that is exactly what the plot of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is based on. Taking place in the not so distant future, Fahrenheit 451 revolves around one fireman, Guy Montag, whose job was to start fires instead of stop them. Living in a world where is was a crime to read books, punishable by getting your house burned down, and where the government controls all forms of entertaining media, Montag never questioned what he did for a living. All this changes one day when he meets a strange seventeen-year-old girl on the way home from work one day, and asks him a simple question; "Are you happy?" This triggers a chain reaction within Montag when he comes to the conclusion that he is, in fact, not happy with his life. Throughout the rest of book, we see how Montag struggles with this and how he quests to do something about it.
Bradbury breaks down Fahrenheit 451 into three parts. In the first, the reader is introduced to the protagonist, Guy Montag, and his life and background information up to this point. However, as mentioned earlier, when he meets the young girl, Clarisse McClellan, everything is turned upside down for him, making this the defining moment of this part. She asks him if he is happy which starts to make Montag really sit down and think, a rarity for the people in this particular setting.
"He felt his smile slide away, melt, fold over and down on itself like a tallow skin, like the stuff of a fantastic candle burning too long and now collapsing and now blown out. Darkness. He was not happy. He recognized this as the true state of affairs. He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back," (Bradbury 12) Through the author's use of similes, it is easy to see that this is the beginning of the change within Montag after his encounter with Clarisse. From there on, the reader experiences the inner conflict raging within Montag, and then later, outside him. With Bradbury's frequent use of symbolism and metaphors, the reader can get a clear picture of just what is going on in the protagonist's head, yet not so much that the reader would not have to think about it. The way Bradbury writes with these literary devices also helps him depict the imagery of each scene. An example being:
"With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins if history," (3). Keeping with one of the themes of the book, Bradbury is also constantly comparing things to the aspects of fire, or fire to a blooming flower and he compares books to wings or birds of purity and peace. The unique style in which Bradbury combines these traits helps to distinguish Fahrenheit 451 into the classic novel that it is.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Fahrenheit 451. I found the plot intriguing and oddly believable for a futuristic sci-fi piece. It was written in a way easy to understand yet not so simple that it takes away from the novel. The characters were well developed and the protagonist was likable as well as easy to sympathize with. There was little to complain about except maybe the ending seemed a bit too abrupt. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good science fiction story.
Rating:
Summary: The Difference in Flames
Review: What began as a short story in 1950, evolved into one of the greatest American novels of all time. Fahrenheit 451, originally titled The Fire Man, was Ray Bradbury's first novel. It is ironic that the place that Bradbury chose to write a novel about book burning was in a book haven - the basement of the University of California's library. Fahrenheit 451 takes place in a future where knowledge is despised and thought of as an unequalizer. People are made to believe that in order for everyone to be happy and live in harmony they must be equals. Since books spread knowledge and knowledge is an unequalizer, most books are banned from reading and burned in order to be kept from society's hands. Due to the fireproofing of houses, firemen are no longer needed to put out fires. Instead, firemen set ablaze houses that contain illegal books, sometimes burning the people within the houses if they refuse to leave. Guy Montag was a fireman who loved to watch the flames dance in the sky and the books shrivel and die, that is until he met a young girl named Clarisse. Clarisse opened his eyes to the world around him, and no longer did Montag want to burn books, he wanted to save and learn from them.
The story picks up when the protagonist, Guy Montag, is walking home from work with his baked on smile and the smell of kerosene hanging about him, having just finished attending a call from the firehouse. While nearing his house, he is accompanied by a strange young girl who introduces herself as Clarisse McClellan. They begin to talk and Montag realizes she is very different from everyone else he knows. She looks at the world around her and sees it for what it is and then takes the time to wonder why it is that way. Before they part, Clarisse asks him something that turns his world upside-down, she asks, "Are you happy?" (Bradbury 10). One might say that those three little words are the most important in the entire book because they set in motion the series of events that are to follow. At first, Montag tries to laugh it off saying, "Happy! Of all the nonsense." (10). However, as Montag entered his house and looked around the quiet rooms and at his silent, stone-like wife, he knew that he was not happy, he knew that something was missing.
Subconsciously, Montag knew he was not happy for a long time and had been collecting books from the houses he went to burn. After further discussions with Clarisse and much thought of his own, Montag realizes that there had to be a better way to live and that books could teach him how. Montag pulled out the illegal books he had been hiding and began to read them. However, try as he might, he could not understand and retain what he was reading. Bradbury compared Montag's struggle with sand and a sieve, "the faster he poured, the faster it sifted through . . . His hands were tired, the sand was boiling, the sieve was empty" (78). The sand is a metaphor for the knowledge within the books and the sieve is a metaphor for Montag's brain. The more and the faster Montag read, the faster it slipped from his memory.
Montag continued to try to read and learn more from books and was found out by his boss, Captain Beatty. Of Montag's situation, Beatty makes an allusion to the Greek myth of Icarus, saying "Old Montag wanted to fly near the sun and now that he's burnt his damn wings he wonders why" (113). In the story of Icarus, his father Daedalus builds him a set of wings, fastened together with wax, so that he can escape from the island of Crete. Icarus was reckless, though, and flew too close to the sun so that the wax melted, breaking his wings and causing him to fall to his death. For Montag, the island that he was trying to escape from was not a physical restraint, but a mental island of ignorance. Montag was reckless like Icarus and came too close to the sun, in his case, knowledge, which caused his downfall, according to Beatty.
Overall, I found this book thoroughly enjoyable and frightening at the same time. I look at the world around me and see it slowly turning into the world that Bradbury so vividly described. There are several students in my class that when given the assignment to read a book and do a report on it, opt to watch the video and skim the cliff notes instead. Movies and cliff notes merely brush the surface of books, which is what the parlor walls in Fahrenheit 451 do to all the information and stories it portrays. The idea of a future society where people do not think about their actions, the consequences, or of anything with substance is terrifying and yet incredibly believable in this day and age. It is this idea that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire book.
Rating:
Summary: Timeless Appeal
Review: I read Fahrenheit 451 years ago in highschool, and just reread it last month. It was the feature book in our town's One Book, One City program. What I found was that F451 doesn't lose it's impact all these years later. The ideas of censorship, of book burning, of reading in general come sharply into focus as the reader experiences Montag's journey.
Rating:
Summary: Fahrenheit_451
Review: I'm a highschool freshmen and I read the book last year when was in 8th grade. I loved it! It makes a very eerie reflection of what we are and what we are becoming. It's about censorship and civil disobedience. Farhrenhiet 451 is a must read for young and old a like. If you haven't read it you're really missing something.
Rating:
Summary: Unavailable editon - are you kidding???
Review: The Amazon.com editorial review ends: "...and no doubt will join the hordes of Bradbury fans worldwide. --Neil Roseman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title." How appropriate. Maybe this editon of the book has been BURNED!?!?!?!?!?!?????
Rating:
Summary: Dramatic, Powerful and well written
Review: If it's written by Bradbury, its got to be good. He is one of the best science-fiction authors, and Fahrenheit 451 is no exception. It is dramatic, with broken bonds, chase scenes, and runs with the law. The ultimate ending is powerful and strong and creates a great ending for a great book.
Rating:
Summary: seeing into the future
Review: This was a great book. It is very thought provoking and powerful. The future world he proposed gets more likely every year. It's message gets more important. Even if you don't like sci-fi or Ray Bradbury, this book is worth it just for the insights he makes.
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