Rating: 
Summary: One of the worst books I have ever read!
Review: Wow, what a horrible book! Not only was it 100 times worse than 1984, but it was much more disturbing. Now, I do not want to influence anyone's purchasing opinion here--I have met many people who LOVED this book. I am just not into that kind of fictional read.
Rating: 
Summary: One depressing masterpiece...
Review: After listening to the excellent Book-On-Tape version of this book, I was depressed for a week. So why am I giving it five stars? Because this book and its characters affected me so much, this book literally forced me to reexamine the relationships in my own life.You surely know the basic story, from the Amazon description if from nowhere else. This is a depiction of a sick, but not unfathomable society. Science has advanced to the point where homes are constructed in such a way that they cannot burn, unless the fire is intentional. Firemen still exist, but they are only called out to burn books, and the houses (and sometimes people) that contain and love them. The concept is chilling, but the psychological effects of such a super-paranoid society are what I could not get out of my head. Guy Montag is a fireman, has been for decades. But in the back of his mind is an itch, that little spark of human curiosity that hasn't quite been burned out of him yet. He meets a girl, Clarisse, who isn't like all of the other people left in the world. She laughs, and doesn't conform, and challenges him with thoughts that she could not have gotten from the ubiquitous video walls that occupy most people's lives. Guy's curiosity is stoked, and adventures ... somewhat depressing adventures, ensue ... By the end of this chilling and frightening experience (which includes, by the way, scarily prescient "Reality television" shows a la Stephen King's The Running Man or Fox's Cops), like I said, I was depressed for a week. But I also found myself listening more to people, turning off the television to spend time with my wife, and ultimately inspired to stop being such a go-with-the-flow zombie that our shrink-wrapped culture demands.
Rating:
Summary: Not up to par with Bradbury's other work
Review: This is Ray Bradbury's worst book. I cannot believe ... a good writer bombs here. 1st, Clairsse McCellan, the only one who I like in the book ..., then the book skids downhill from there. 2nd, There is a lot of taking the Lord's name in vain, which is breaking a commadment and is a sin. Mr. Bradbury could do better.
Rating:
Summary: Really makes you think.
Review: This book takes place in a futuristic society (around 2500 probably). It was written in 1950 and many of the predictions Bradbury made back then are happening right now. It really is scary when you think about it. Guy Montag isn't a regular fireman. His job isn't to put fires out but to burn houses with books in them. In Bradbury's futuristic society books are illegal. People who read them are called crazy and usually put in an asylum. Montag really loves his job and has fun doing it, until the day that he meets a girl named Clarisse. Clarisse isn't like other people - she likes to smell flowers, to climb trees, and to talk and think, which isn't something most other people care about. In this society, people watch their TVs, go to work, and sleep. No one talks, no one thinks... Clarisse starts Montag thinking, "What do books say? Why were they banned?". I can't say much about the plot because I'd be giving away a lot of interesting things about the book but I can say, you won't be disappointed. The book is guaranteed to make you think, and keep you up all night until you finish it.
Rating:
Summary: One of my all time favorites
Review: I absolutely loved this book and think it should be required reading in every school in America. It's a quick read but it's packed with a wonderful story that should not be forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: magnificent
Review: the book was great. i just finished reading it yesterday and this is a book that you can't put down. you should read it too.
Rating:
Summary: Guy Montag knew what he had to do...
Review: he stopped worshipping fire and treated it like the enemy it was when it came to books, except when it came it beatty, whom he turned into a marshmallow. then he met the others who were doing their best to keep the words alive to pass along to the next generation... don't be put off by the fact that it's sci-fi. i love reading stuff that no one thinks i would read. it's not " war and peace " ( 165 pages ) you can read it in a day. and the message will stay with you for life...
don't make any more excuses....
Rating:
Summary: 'think for yourself'
Review: This was an amazing book. I loved Ray Bradbury's long sentences. (an example is the first description given of Clarisse's face) His introductions to different scenes in the book were detailed but not quite straight-forward, always realistic, which gives a third dimension to everything that Guy Montag experiences throughout the novel. Since this book was set in the future, it brings many interesting questions to mind about our own world, in the present. So many people would rather not have to think; they want everything to be explained to them, to have only one answer to every question. Fahrenheit 451 is fantastic, and every one should take the time and money to understand it...Buy this book!
Rating:
Summary: Bradbury delivers
Review: Fahrenheit 451 depicts the futuristic world that we all fear: One in which freedom of thought and speech are gone; a world where personal communication is cut down to a minimum, and machines and technology are considered friends. In this fictional (but possibly realistic world), pedestrians are few and far between, and firemen actually create fires rather than put them out. Fahrenheit 451 depicts the story of a fireman, Guy Montag, who is a typical twenty-first century citizen; self centered, obsessed with technology, and too busy to appreciate the simple things in life. After meeting a young lady named Clarisse, Montag engages in deep conversations with her, in which he learns to like the small things. Eventually, she even gets him to like the very things that he burns: Books. Meeting this girl also makes him realize how dull and boring his friends and family are, especially his wife. In a climactic ending, Montag escapes from his city after killing the fire-chief and running away with several books. He arrives at a small village of people who each have memorized one book, so as to keep the stories alive (whether or not they physically exist). This book is right next to 'The Martian Chronicles' as far as the best sci-fi books go. As is the case with all of his books, Bradbury paints a picture of a society which has much in common with ours today. He points out the various flaws in our world, but also shows us that there is still hope yet. This book is a must read for anyone, young or old, so go buy it!
Rating: 
Summary: Darkly disturbing, engrossing, kept me up past my bedtime
Review: My daughter has received this for the second time now as required reading for school (summer reading requirement). "Oh Mom this book is awful" she said, now for the second time. She read me a paragraph of the book and sure enough, it does sound awful when you read small snippets of the book. This book is not an easy read at all, not because it is overly intellectual -- it's not written very well, sorry Mr. Bradbury -- the author wrote in the afterward, that he wrote it in his early days of writing in various rooms of his house, finally ended up sequestered in his garage. I imagine that if the book was written later in Mr. Bradbury's career, that it would have been written far better than it was -- this is no literary masterpiece, but the concept it contains is a timeless one. That said, my daughter gave it to me to read and I read it in one sitting, wondering what was going to happen to the main character and how this book would end. This book is about a future society where books are illegal. The government has built a society where simple pleasure is the main goal in life, not meaningful pleasure. People live their lives around TV that takes up entire walls of their homes, no truly educational programming is allowed for the same reason that no books are allowed. The TV in this book creates not just light programming for society, but a family in the wall/screens -- it is mind numbing for that society. People become puppets where they live their lives out in simple ignorance and if you dare question the way things are or attempt to hide any books you are persecuted for it. People are simple minded and unquestioning. Enter Clarissa, the sweet teenage next door neighbor who takes simple pleasure in taking walks, letting the rain fall on her tongue, staying up late in the night actually talking to her family, no TV walls active in her home -- people actually listen to each other. The government is suspicious of her family -- not because they are subversive or publicly questioning society, but because of the way they live and think. Though Clarisse is a character in the book for a very short time, she makes an impact on the main character, Guy the fireman, who envies that she and her family talk to each other, listen to each other, and care so much for each other in a society that only cares about keeping the status quo and not getting in trouble. He begins to question what he is doing, burning books -- not so much because of the book burning itself, but for the lives of the book lovers he wrecks in the process. He begins to wonder what is inside the pages of books that people are willing to die for them and steels one of the books from a home his is destroying. He adds this book to the huge stash of books he has already hidden in the air ducts of his home and actually begins to read them and thus begins his own persecution. Though this isn't a literary masterpiece, as I said earlier, it is engrossing and very disturbing. The future society created in the pages is a nightmare. The importance of education, reading, and simply caring about your fellow man are the concepts the reader walks away with. I suspect that's the reason it is tirelessly assigned to kids at school.
|
