Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Note: This review is based on my original post at A Novel Review.

I was immediately drawn into Ray Bradbury's monumental work. It was a very good fit for me. I read it because it turned up repeatedly on Banned Book Week displays as well as on banned lists. As I read, I could find nothing that warranted banning. I began to second-guess myself—thinking that I had misunderstood. Maybe it was recommended reading for the week since it was about the banning of books. But that was not the case. Some reasons given for the banning of Fahrenheit 451 include (1) offensive language and content, and (2) questionable themes.

From the back cover:
"The system was simple. Everyone undestood it. Books were for burning, along with the houses in which they were hidden." Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires. And he enjoyed his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and he had never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed by flames ... never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid. Then Guy met a professor who told him of a future in which people could think. And Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do ...

I've read commentary that place the setting of this futuristic novel in either the 21st or 24th century. Either way, the setting plays a significant role in the plot. The atmosphere is that of a police-state. Though many have conformed to this soulless society, there are still those who remember "how it was." I found the primary characters of Guy, Clarisse, Mildred, and Professor Faber to be the most developed. A suspense element drives the plot and supports the suspended delineation of the secondary characters.

I can only marvel at the similarities between Bradbury's dystopian society and that of today. The similarities are uncanny! Our mammoth flatscreens are only small one-dimensional versions of the parlor walls. Images constantly invade our minds—numbing our thought processes. Though not as often, I still sometimes leave an unwatched-tv on in a room. I thought my saving grace was that it was tuned to the cooking channel—or better still, a religious sermon. When I enter the room, someone is there demonstrating a cooking method or sharing a recipe or preaching or praying. But it actually doesn't matter what's on. The fact still remains that what's coming out of the tv (the wall) is being introduced into my psyche with little effort on my part. We still have time to reclaim the segments of our minds currently placated by what comes out of the flat-screen wall.

We are fastly approaching the society depicted in Fahrenheit 451. Whether books are banned or burned, the fact still remains that they are not being read.  Our mp3 players are equivalent to the seashells the people placed in their ears.  And while calling 222-TIPS (or its equivalent in your locale) is quite beneficial to society, it can still be likened to the parlor walls instructing citizens to open their doors at a given time in order to help catch Montag. These are but a few of the similarities shared between today's society and that depicted in Fahrenheit 451.

Bradbury is a thinker. Over fifty years ago, he could see where society was headed. I enjoyed reading this author so much that I picked up Now and Forever, a compilation of two previously-written short stories. I recommend Fahrenheit 451 to all readers. The following quote from wiki answers echoes the thoughts I entertained while reading Fahrehheit 451.

Like the opposition to "1984", the opposition to "Fahrenheit 451" seems to grow as the depicted society grows too similar to our own. One of these uncomfortable parallels is today's increased use of entertainment in place of learning and culture. Ray Bradbury has stated that this dumbing down was one of the concerns he was trying to raise.

I had never heard of Fahrenheit 451. Even the octogenarian friend I discuss many things with had at least attempted to read it. Now that I've explained that the setting was in the future, she's going to try it again.