Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Fahrenheit 451
Book Review: Classic...thought provoking ideas, middling execution
Summary: 4 Stars
Honestly? It's not that great. I'm giving it four stars because it must have had some incredible super-meta-meaning back in the 1950's. I hate to dock it points due to poor translation to modern times.
I read Farenheit 451 as a student, back in the 1970's. Afte all these years, I didn't remember the book too well, but I did remember thinking it was incredibly deep and insightful. I picked it up a few weeks ago, looking to re-engage with a classic. I found it interesting, but tedious. Bordering on deep, but not deep. Within striking distance of saying something important, without actually saying something important.
There's no doubt that Bradbury was a visionary who saw a lot of things coming before they actually came. That said, he nearly missed the point of it all. He saw a future of coerced conformity, in which people would be compelled to give up their books. The true insight would've been that in a bleak future, people would voluntarily give up their freedoms. They wouldn't need firemen to burn books, because they'd voluntarily participate in their own enslavement. The incentive would be, simply, comfort. There are other writers, both fiction and non-fiction, who came a lot closer to this realization, that people would be more than happy to trade freedom for comfort and would therefore not need to be coerced. They'd just need an IV filled with state benefits and handouts, in return for which they'd acquiesce in their own serfdom.
The book is both intriguingly written and poorly written. It is kind of an impressionistic book, with awkward sentences that work much better after a few glasses of wine or other substance of choice.
It deserves the four stars, simply for being a famous classic. Nevertheless, I was left wondering whether this book is truly a classic or just a book that was a classic when we were all reading it in the 70's, yet lacking in the true depth of insight that a real classic requires. The distopia that Bradbury describes had a few brief trial runs in the 20th century, but is not a 21st century archetype.
Book Review: Great book
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is a science fiction classic that really gets you thinking. In America it is difficult to imagine a world where free thought is so blatantly censured, but other governments in our world seek to keep their peoples ignorant of the great ideas of writers. This is one of those "it could happen if we're not careful" books.Book Review: It was a pleasure to burn....
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't believe that some people could read this book and not understand why it is important. This book is a classic for a reason. Underneath the dystopian surface are truths- and frightening resemblances to our own society. When I read this for the first time, I was shocked and pleased to hear that there is someone else who thinks like me. Thank you, Mr. Bradbury, for turning a critical eye on your future, peices of our present (the books is frighteningly prophetic) and writing your anthem for all of us who choose to think and not just follow.Book Review: It's good, but...
Summary: 3 Stars
I can see why so many people like the works of Ray Bradbury. He is a very effective story teller, he has a particular talent for building vivid imagery with few words (his "less is more" style is DEFINITELY a winner) and he is able to take very important, very relevent modern themes and inject them into his stories. In this story, we see how Bradbury has taken aim at the world of electronic media as an advancement that very well may, over time, become the downfall of mankind.
So why did I only give him three stars? Two reasons: (1) While Bradbury is long on imagery, in this book he's short on character development. It works well with the protagonist's wife because Bradbury created her to be shallow and indifferent, but what about the young neighbor girl who was so intriguing and just disappeared one day, with no explanation at all? As for the protagonist and his "boss," their characters weren't developed to the point where I cared for them either way. In order for a novel-length story to be a good one, you have to have at least one character that you identify with or get emotionally attached to, and that doesn't happen here. (2) As in "The Martian Chronicles," Bradbury puts his dystopian society to an end by dropping the big bomb on it, leaving the small band of survivors to go on to -- what? Sorry; end of story. Makes me wonder if Patricia Cornwall was schooled in the not-so-fine art of ending books by Bradbury...
Book Review: The usual dreck
Summary: 1 Stars
I had to read this when I was in high school. So did my children. Now my GRANDCHILDREN have to read it! None of us has been able to discover WHY! Of all of the superb books I have read in my life, not ONE has ever been selected for required summer reading!
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