Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury. Toronto: Random House of Canada, 1953. 179 pp.
451 degrees is the temperature at which books burn, and firemen live by this rule in the future. These men are fireman as we know them today, but firemen who burn books. These firemen are sent to your houses to burn them down if books are present. Guy Montag is one of these firemen and he loves his job. That is until Montag meets a girl by the name of Clarisse. She tells him about how people were allowed to read books in the past without any consequences. At first he didn’t believe her but then he realizes that her story may actually be true and books may actually serve a purpose, so he begins to read them. Shortly after he begins to read he realizes that people in his world are almost like zombies from watching large TV screens, or listening to their tiny radios that hold no educational value at all. He also realizes that his own wife Mildred is one of these people practically surviving off of her large, four-walled TV screen. A man named Faber helps Montag decipher the meanings of the books. He also tells him about a secret society that memorized all the books in the world and how they are hidden somewhere. Eventually Montag gets turned in for having books and he gets in trouble with his fire captain and the police.
I thought Fahrenheit 451 was a good book that anyone who is into fiction should read. This book makes readers realize how corrupted governments and societies can become. Although I think Bradbury did a great job with the plot, at times I didn’t think it was very believable. I didn’t think it was believable because the government, in my opinion, is never going to eliminate books.
Rank: 7 out of 10
Reviewed by: Brian F.