10/9/2009
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
I liked this book. I read it in two days. I got it because Mar said she wanted to read it. I will make a prediction that she will not like it.
It was eerie for me because I think Ray Bradbury, writing in the 1940s, really touched on a lot of conditions in our world today. Of course we don't "burn books". But the culture he described - the culture of just being happy and having fun with no responsibility. The culture of keeping everything fast. The culture where our country is "happy" and prosperous so the rest of the world hates us. That is the eerie part.
I did start the book with a false conception of why they burned the books. It was not so the government could control the people's minds. It was much more disturbing than that. You will have to read the book to find out.
Ray Bradbury didn't ever want to edit his book. However, he did write a two act play based on the book. In it, one of the characters is more revealing of the motivations. The afterword in the edition I read (the cover shown) has part of that revelation. Also, Other editorial information at the end of this edition is very meaningful.
Is it one of the 501 Must Read. I thought it was, but alas, it is not.
1 comment:
I read it this year too and I liked it. One thing Bradbury didn't get right about the future was that if you have a room with all the walls as giant telescreens, then there would definitely need to be enormous video games. It could have been that the guy's wife just wasn't into playing video games. But he did get the digital social networking right too. I didn't bother reading the plays or commentaries at the end of my editition.
Post a Comment