Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation

by Tim Hamilton

Ray D Bradbury (Introduction)

The hauntingly prophetic classic novel set in a not-too-distant future where books are burned by a special task force of firemen.

Over 1 million copies sold in the UK.

Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books.

The classic novel of a post-literate future, 'Fahrenheit 451' stands alongside Orwell's '1984' and Huxley's 'Brave New World' as a prophetic account of Western civilization's enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity.

Bradbury's powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which over fifty years from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock.

• ISBN10: 0809051001
• ISBN13: 9780809051007
• Publish Date: 21 July 2009 (first published 5 August 1976)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 13 March 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Hill & Wang
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 148
• Language: English

Reviews

[thepunktheory]

Full review on my blog: www.thepunktheory.wordpress.com

I know this book is famous and praised by critics and fans alike. However, I'm not exactly over the moon. The story and the topics are relevant and Bradbury provides a lot of food for thought. My problem is his writing style and the pace of the story. While the ideas fascinate me, the story bored me. I can't put my finger on what it is exactly that annoyed me, but I wasn't excited or thrilled by this book. It just felt flat to me, just as one-dimensional as a world without books. Furthermore, I was rather disappointed with the representation of women in this novel. Bradbury wrote in 1953 and was imagining some far away future, so you might expect him to be a bit diverse with his female characters. However, women generally appear to be brain-washed ideas who are incapable of thinking on their own. There is one exception, but Clarisse also wasn't a character I liked. She was just weird and irritating, which clearly didn't help with enjoying the book.

[nightingalereads]

Well-written, from what I remember, but not for me. Didn't feel invested in any of the characters.

[adamfortuna]

Science Fiction with an impact at one of it's highest levels. The story follows a man a future society where he works as a fireman -- only firemen don't put out fires. Instead, they burn books. This heavy handed symbolism for the issues of the 1950's surrounding communism and a general fear of new ideas. It's interesting to think what kind of an affect this book had on our society.