Title: Fahrenheit 451
Author: Ray Bradbury
Pages: 158
Finished: August 1, 2017
First Sentence: It was a pleasure to burn.
Summary: Following the general plot of any dystopia, man discovers life could be different and then things go to hell. In all seriousness though, Montag is a firefighter, though in this novel, firefighters are responsible for burning books. He meets a neighbor girl who seems to be a bit off. One day, he steals a book from a fire in which the woman who owned the books commits suicide. From there his whole life changes and he freaks the hell out and causes a huge ruckus.
Thoughts: This will contain spoilers. Oh boy. I don't really want to go into censoring books. I'm a librarian and of the opinion that censoring books is dangerous. I was unimpressed with most of the characters. The only one I liked was Clarisse and she only lasted a few pages. I found Beatty's use of the published word to bully so intensely uncomfortable. Also, I'm not quite sure why he had it out for Montag from the beginning. I get why later, but he clearly had something against Montag from the start.
Wasn't a huge fan of how women were portrayed. This is actually something I'm noticing in all the books I'm reading. When women write books in these time periods, there's at least one capable female character. Or if she's not she becomes capable. Etc. I've seen little enjoyable about the women in the books written by men.
Didn't understand the whole war at the end. Spent most of the novel thinking that it was fake, but then the bombs dropped for real and the city was wiped out. I spent a good deal of time trying to figure out if it was the Russians or the US.
The one speech I thought was interesting was the one Beatty gave about how the world is where it is because of the people's own doing. It basically describes our political climate in the US right now to a T. I will say the book was compelling. I wanted to keep reading and read it pretty darn quickly. So, glad I read it but won't reread.
Read for Back to the Classics Challenge.
Wasn't a huge fan of how women were portrayed. This is actually something I'm noticing in all the books I'm reading. When women write books in these time periods, there's at least one capable female character. Or if she's not she becomes capable. Etc. I've seen little enjoyable about the women in the books written by men.
Didn't understand the whole war at the end. Spent most of the novel thinking that it was fake, but then the bombs dropped for real and the city was wiped out. I spent a good deal of time trying to figure out if it was the Russians or the US.
The one speech I thought was interesting was the one Beatty gave about how the world is where it is because of the people's own doing. It basically describes our political climate in the US right now to a T. I will say the book was compelling. I wanted to keep reading and read it pretty darn quickly. So, glad I read it but won't reread.
Read for Back to the Classics Challenge.
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