Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a book based around the concept on censorship and government control. It starts with our main character Guy Montag living with his wife in a post-modern boring suburb. Guy is a fireman, but not the kind that we would think of today. He is a FIREman, Firemen are a team of men who burn all books and pieces of writing they can find, and whether it’s fiction, history, hard-backs, children books, and their job is to burn.

Guy then meets a mysterious girl on the way home from work one day. Her name is Clarisse and she is almost the exact opposite of Guy at first sight. Small, smart, loving, carefree, able of feeling, person. Clarisse opens up a new, unseen side of Guy that he didn’t even know about. He doesn’t want to burn books anymore, but read them and enjoy them. Former enemies turned friend so hat Guy can acquire books. His wife does not care for it but allows it. He spends a while avoiding the fire chief and continuing to rendezvous with former professors and scholars so that he can learn more about a time before they started book burning. All while the law is trying to apprehend Guy and his friends.

I highly recommend this book for many reasons: if you enjoy book about anti-censorship, if you enjoy a post-modern suburban setting, if you like being enveloped in an amazing story and eye opening realities. This book is unique in the fact that not many books cover the topic of censorship and heavy political topics like it. With the stylized writings of Ray Bradbury and the connection you make with characters. You can see why it is praised as a classic book.

Book Review by Escher S.

Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 is a very odd book. It is hard to believe it was written in 1953.It shows a society that is an eerie exaggeration of ours; it deals about censorship and society’s obsession with technology. I had never read a Ray Bradbury book before but I could imagine this being one of his best.

The book is about a future where people burn books because they are to offensive, one of the people who burn the books, or firemen has a sudden change of heart. You learn more about this scary world more as you turn each page. One of the better parts of the book is near the end. It compares the sad events that happened in this world to a phoenix. I found that part uplifting and interesting. I also found many of the characters original and fun to read about. Fahrenheit 451 does a great job of making its main character Guy Montag fun to root for the whole way.

Fahrenheit 451 is a difficult book to read at times and you may need to reread some chapters, which becomes a little frustrating. Although If you are looking for an original story, with interesting characters, you’re going to find it. I most definitely recommend it.  You can find a copy at the Roosevelt Library.

Book Review by Luke J.