Fahrenheit 451 was not on my to read list. I didn't even know what the book was about, but after hearing so much about it I decided to give it a go. It's a short dystopian fiction about a world where firemen ignite fires instead of putting them out. It's a world where books are banned and distractions are everywhere.
The protagonist of the story is Guy Montag, a fireman, who likes to burn books, and takes some sort of power high out of it.
Early in the book discovers the error on his ways, thanks to a teenager named Clarisse.
The concept and story are very strong, and it shows. Though Bradbury's writing style is somewhat alluring, he is no Oscar Wilde. His style is straight forward and to the point, no beating around the bush with symbolic and cryptic sentences with this one. Although the story did have a lot of potential to be filled with beautiful mysterious symbols, he chose not to walk that route. Another thing the the book is lacking; sub plots. The story basically follows one guy's journey, a guy named Guy. There is a joke here somewhere but I'll borrow from Bradbury and FIGHT any imaginative and creative idea that comes to mind.
The book has almost five characters in total: Guy, Mildred, Beatty, Clarisse, and Faber. My favorite character is Captain Beatty, he is a very powerful character, well developed, and most of all intriguing. You just want to read more and more about him. My least favorite character is probably Mildred. Although she's my least favorite, her character was very well written. Now, I hate characters with no dimensions as much as the next person (maybe more) but this one really fit. As her life was consumed by routines of TV shows in the parlor, Bradbury wrote her as a one dimensional character.
Final rating: 3/5
Currently reading: A Storm of Swords
This far in the book nothing particularly happens, the next paragraphs will have spoilers, so read no more if you don't want the book spoiled.
I loved how Beatty played Guy's string like a violin. He accused him of quoting poetry in poetry. Genius. GENIUS. In a way Beatty was portrayed as the villain in the story, but was he? I don't think he was to be honest. So he tormented Guy with poetry quotes and told him to turn in the book he had. Was that wrong? Morally, it is debatable, but it was his job. In the society they lived in, that was wrong and illegal. For example the society we live in bans drugs, if a drug inspector stole drugs wouldn't you want his chief commander to deal with that situation? Wouldn't you feel safer if those in security positions did their job without emotional attachment to others gone 'rogue'. I'm not comparing books to drugs, I'm comparing the situation and nothing else. Although both do take you to a "different world". So, no, Beatty wasn't the bad guy, he was doing what was best for society.
There are somethings that I didn't find very convincing in the book or found hard to imagine.
a) Mildred's attitude upon finding that Guy hides books in the house: Okay, now she was shocked and scared, I do give her that, but I expected her to bundle her things in a suitcase and leave. This is a woman who can't even remember how she met the person she is living with. This is a person who tried to commit suicide and failed and didn't even know it. This person watched TV all day and is afraid of anything and everything her TV family doesn't tell her about. Bradbury can't possibly try to convince us that she actually read some books with Guy. That's just impossible. The action she eventually took was the one I expected her to react with from the start; calling the station and reporting Guy. Now, that is believable.
b) The mechanical hounds: I couldn't visualize them, and couldn't understand them. I did see the idea behind them, though. It was clever. A dog to kill humans because humans didn't want to interact with others in any way. It's the opposite of "The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword." -Eddard Stark. It also symbolized the danger technology has over humanity. Okay, there were few symbols.
c) The time lapse between Guy meeting Clarisse and Clarisse's death: The author stated that they've had months together before Clarisse's accident, but I think that would have been better conveyed than stated. I haven't seen the movie, but they better have that part in a montage with a very sad yet powerful song then what's the use.
I haven't watched the movie, nor do I think I will watch it in the future. Watching a movie based on a book that's about how watching movies instead of reading books ruined humanity is a bit strange in my opinion.
The protagonist of the story is Guy Montag, a fireman, who likes to burn books, and takes some sort of power high out of it.
Early in the book discovers the error on his ways, thanks to a teenager named Clarisse.
.jpg) |
| fun. |
The book has almost five characters in total: Guy, Mildred, Beatty, Clarisse, and Faber. My favorite character is Captain Beatty, he is a very powerful character, well developed, and most of all intriguing. You just want to read more and more about him. My least favorite character is probably Mildred. Although she's my least favorite, her character was very well written. Now, I hate characters with no dimensions as much as the next person (maybe more) but this one really fit. As her life was consumed by routines of TV shows in the parlor, Bradbury wrote her as a one dimensional character.
Final rating: 3/5
Currently reading: A Storm of Swords
This far in the book nothing particularly happens, the next paragraphs will have spoilers, so read no more if you don't want the book spoiled.
I loved how Beatty played Guy's string like a violin. He accused him of quoting poetry in poetry. Genius. GENIUS. In a way Beatty was portrayed as the villain in the story, but was he? I don't think he was to be honest. So he tormented Guy with poetry quotes and told him to turn in the book he had. Was that wrong? Morally, it is debatable, but it was his job. In the society they lived in, that was wrong and illegal. For example the society we live in bans drugs, if a drug inspector stole drugs wouldn't you want his chief commander to deal with that situation? Wouldn't you feel safer if those in security positions did their job without emotional attachment to others gone 'rogue'. I'm not comparing books to drugs, I'm comparing the situation and nothing else. Although both do take you to a "different world". So, no, Beatty wasn't the bad guy, he was doing what was best for society.
There are somethings that I didn't find very convincing in the book or found hard to imagine.
a) Mildred's attitude upon finding that Guy hides books in the house: Okay, now she was shocked and scared, I do give her that, but I expected her to bundle her things in a suitcase and leave. This is a woman who can't even remember how she met the person she is living with. This is a person who tried to commit suicide and failed and didn't even know it. This person watched TV all day and is afraid of anything and everything her TV family doesn't tell her about. Bradbury can't possibly try to convince us that she actually read some books with Guy. That's just impossible. The action she eventually took was the one I expected her to react with from the start; calling the station and reporting Guy. Now, that is believable.
b) The mechanical hounds: I couldn't visualize them, and couldn't understand them. I did see the idea behind them, though. It was clever. A dog to kill humans because humans didn't want to interact with others in any way. It's the opposite of "The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword." -Eddard Stark. It also symbolized the danger technology has over humanity. Okay, there were few symbols.
c) The time lapse between Guy meeting Clarisse and Clarisse's death: The author stated that they've had months together before Clarisse's accident, but I think that would have been better conveyed than stated. I haven't seen the movie, but they better have that part in a montage with a very sad yet powerful song then what's the use.
No comments:
Post a Comment