0ur opinion:

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Nowadays firemen start fires. Fireman Guy Montag loves to rush to a fire and watch books burn up. Then he met a seventeen-year old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid, and a professor who told him of a future where people could think. And Guy Montag knew what he had to do....

Review:
ln Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place where trivial information is good, and knowledge and ideas are bad. Fire Captain Beatty explains it this way, 'Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs.... Don't give them slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy.'

Guy Montag is a book-burning fireman undergoing a crisis of faith. His wife spends all day with her television 'family,' imploring Montag to work harder so that they can afford a fourth TV wall. Their dull, empty life sharply contrasts with that of his next-door neighbor Clarisse, a young girl thrilled by the ideas in books, and more interested in what she can see in the world around her than in the mindless chatter of the tube. When Clarisse disappears mysteriously, Montag is moved to make some changes, and starts hiding books in his home. Eventually, his wife turns him in, and he must answer the call to burn his secret cache of books. After fleeing to avoid arrest, Montag winds up joining an outlaw band of scholars who keep the contents of books in their heads, waiting for the time society will once again need the wisdom of literature.

Bradbury--the author of more than 500 short stories, novels, plays, and poems, including The Martian Chronicles and The lllustrated Man--is the winner of many awards, including the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America. Readers ages 13 to 93 will be swept up in the harrowing suspense of Fahrenheit 451, and no doubt will join the hordes of Bradbury fans worldwide. --Neil Roseman








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Buyer's feedback: - * Science Fiction Masked In A Glaze Of Poetic Impulse ...
If ever there is a formula for the perfect novel, 451 has the ingredients. It would be one part science fiction masked in a glaze of poetic impulse, settled on a bed of classic literature soaking up the juices of vast philosophical thought. The burning of books is a horror to any who love the written word and our freedom to dream. It would be our worst nightmare for society to regress to a state of anti-intellectualism so staunch that ideas themselves have become the enemy. Ray Bradbury not only captures our fears in this post nuclear world but also touches upon our often forgotten love for the stories that have captured our hearts. This is a must read for anyone who has ever loved a book.

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Buyer's feedback: - A dash of cold water, please
Our book club recently decided to make every other book choice a "classic" book which, for one reason or another, none of us has read. Fahrenheit 451 was this month's choice. After plowing through Bradbury's self-aggrandizing Foreward AND Introduction, I was ready to be enthralled. No such luck. This had to be one of the most abysmal books of all time. I suspect there's a bit of The Emperor's New Clothes (a much better read, by the way) going on here. In other words, if you dare to criticize Bradbury, then you must be one of the mindless rubes who hate books and philosophy and creativity and yadda yadda yadda. Fine, whatever. To put it delicately, this book stunk like yesterday's diapers. I have nothing but sympathy for the poor students who are forced to read this drivel for class--at least I had the option of putting it down. I am a college English major and a Senior Editor at a major publishing house, as well as an avid reader. Bradbury's over-the-top vision of intellectuals being rebellious outsiders who are hunted down is hilariously vain. His celebration of intellect above all else excludes other virtues such as love, compassion, humor, etc.. Interesting how these themes are given such short shrift. Bradbury is an overheated, macho, pseudo-intellectual with a chip on his shoulder. After reading this, all I wanted to do was flip on the TV and watch Three's Company reruns in order the cleanse the palate.

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Buyer's feedback: - * Dated screed ...
I am frustrated by the sloppiness of this book. From what I understand, Bradbury sat in a library and wrote it in a few weeks, and it shows. Montag is introduced as a man happy in his job. The meeting with Clarisse blows his mind! But then Bradbury throws in numerous details indicating that his dissatisfaction has been mounting for some time. Although Montag is purportedly of a divided mind, the development of his character is very abrupt and unconvincing. But why develop what is essentially a mouthpiece for your own ranting? Blech. Bradbury's ideas have come to fruition in our time, but, ironically, his own work is not literature at all. I do not understand why this work is lauded as a classic.

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Buyer's feedback: - Prophetic, but Immature
This was one of my favorite books in high school, and reading it again had a certain charm, but my issue with it can be summed up in a small quote from an interview included in the final pages.

"DEL RAY: In the introduction to the recently published Bradbury: An Illustrated Life", a wonderful book which I have spent hours immersed in--

RAY BRADBURY: Isn't that an incredible book?"

I had the same issue with Brave New World. Even though these science fiction romps are interesting and at times exciting, the authors are so in love with themselves and their prophetic ideas, it hurts; sometimes it even cramps the writing. The ham-fisted emotions of Guy Montag are bizarre and nonsensical to say the least--the other characters suffer a similar sort of cartoonishness.

I do see why it's such a great book for high schoolers though.

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Buyer's feedback: - * A thrilling combination of 50's pulp sci-fi and reflective commentary ...
By my count, this'll be the 1,218th review for this book on amazon, so what could I possibly say that the other 1,217 haven't?

But for those few who dare dig this deep to read: I loved the book. I've read numerous novels and thrillers for fun, and also dabbled in more serious, non-fiction as well (check my profile if you want), but this one book managed to bridge the two meta-genres. In Ray Bradbury's comments he mentions that he wrote the book on typewriters that charged a dime per hour in a university library, driven there by the distractions of two young daughters in his house; as a result (imho) the work comes fast and furious and makes no apologies for failing to artistically create a subtle and symbolic background.

The characters are few and the scenes sparse but it is a book that almost says as much in what is left out as what is included. It is also a book that fully describes (even immerses) the reader in this distopian future which only slowly comes to mirror our own. The commentary, like many of the characters, is never explicit, left to the reader to draw their own conclusions. Rather than the spoonfeeding of Animal Farm or even 1984, true motivations and causes are hidden and the reader's own perception of civilization can guide them.