Julian Pina-Sanz
1/15/09
Book Review: Fahrenheit 451
I just finished Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and I would like to say a couple words about it. The book Fahrenheit 451 takes place in a futuristic U.S city. This time in place a law has been placed that books are illegal. The main character is a fireman named Guy Montag, But don't take his job as something you already know like a firefighter, his job is searching houses and burning any books inside. But when he meets a girl of the street his entire life changes.
He starts to wonder and question himself. And all the thoughtfulness that starts up in him flares up and his curiosity “sky rockets”. In this period of time, no one really cares about books anymore they talk to each other, go shopping, or have their same old boring routine day and have no time for anything else. Books are being burned “ for the good of humanity” as they think. It also becomes clear that the government took advantage of the people since all they were paying attention to was the televisions and magazines.
The writing style that Ray used was in the Third- person so he kept referring to the characters as he, she, and them etc. Speaking of characters, there are few in this story. Guy Montag has a wife called Mildred who has a big role, there is the girl called Clarisse who is pretty much the start of Guy Montag's adventures and conflicts, Faber who guides Mr. Montag, and the Antagonist, the manipulative and cruel Captain Beatty.
To me this book was a confusing one. There would be sometimes things that I haven't heard before in the book, and they would just bring it up out nowhere. But it might of just been something that I had missed before. This book had 165 pages which for me was good. I like a exciting, suspenseful short book. If I had to rate this book from 1 to 10, I would give it a 8 because I really like the way the author incorporated some suspense into it and some puzzles and/or riddles into it. The quotes in this book which gave it a lot of meaning, along with a lot of details that helped me imagine the places or things that Guy sees.
To me this book was average because it was sort of wise in a way. Much of the book was true but parts can be confusing for me but only when they are overfilled with details and riddles. It was sort of a twist book because Guy Montag does things that you wouldn't do or even things that you wouldn't think Guy would do, because you start to understand him more as you read the book. There is one part in the book where Montag is sitting with his wife and her friends, and knowing that book are illegal, he pulls one out and reads a poem to the friends.
It has many unexpected turns and really confusing writing detailed moments of Guy's thoughts. And Ray Bradbury didn't just say that the people were happy he detailed the character's emotions and comparing it to other things that could possibly link to that certain emotion deeply. As I read the book, I believe that the theme could be something like “thought destroys force” because in the book many of Guy's actions were without thinking so it became a routine until the girl came and encouraged him to wonder. And so he overcame his fears and overcame the dangers that came at him. So if you would like a detailed, twist, complex and conflicted book then I think its the one for you. I mean to me, it was just okay but I think I like a different kind of book style.
