Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

27 reviews

angorarabbit's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

TLDR: Beautiful writing style, thought provoking ideas. 

 

Context: Teenager me tried to read a Bradbury short story collection but my mind was too jittery to appreciate well written prose and I was too impatient for short stories. That is a loss I will try to make up for. 

 

A good novel lives rent free in your mind long after it is placed back on the shelf or returned to the library. For a great novel you are happy to give it the room. Fahrenheit 451 is one of those books. Rather than glow about Mr Bradbury’s work I’d like to leave my thoughts on two things. 

 

First; Beatty is explaining to Montag why books are not only not needed but harmful to their society. “Coloured people don’t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White People don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Burn it.” In an afterword Mr Bradbury also writes that minorities and women play a part in censoring and banning books. 

 

While women and minorities do add their voices to calls against books I do not think that they are the reason why books such as Little Black Sambo (LBS) are discarded. Rather, I would argue that it is the trend in books that changed. Even in the 60’s LBS was thought of as old fashioned, something your grandparents had laying around.  We had Dr Seuss, and Maurice Sendak for goodness sake. Why would we want to read and look at pictures as old hat as LBC? LBC was as square as Aesop’s fables. 

 

If women could rewrite books surely there would be a leading role for a few females in the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings for a start. Foundation doesn’t have a single female, minority, or lgbtqaa+ character as far as I recall, yet has it been rewritten? No because the majority see no need. 

 

Second: The wall to wall televisions block out the leaves and the Seashells block out the crickets in the night. Books can open your eyes or blind you to reality. They can enhance or block you thinking for yourself just as much if you let them. The trick is to read what will enhance and to live in the real world. If I had to memorise one book to save it from the book burners it would be Fahlrenheit 451 and not the bible. 

 

Again thank you to libraries and librarians who despite the gun bearing Redoubt continue to bring banned books to our eyes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Suicide, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Grief, and War

Minor: Infertility and Religious bigotry

Graphic book burning, possible suicide attempt.

nenah_elizabeth's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Blood, Medical content, and Grief

hazelbynature's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Incredibly influential, I think many of the concepts explored in Fahrenheit 451 are now taken for granted in the public consciousness. I had a vague idea of what the book was about going into it, but there was far more to the story than I expected, and the plot surprised me despite its age.
But over and above the ideas, the dystopia Bradbury brings to life, I found the energy with which Montag’s story is conveyed is incredibly compelling. I loved the writing style, although it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Misogyny, Grief, and Car accident

Minor: Sexism and Vomit

ebp's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexism, Car accident, and War

Minor: Abortion

michaelion's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

i read this once in 2020 (fell asleep in the last hour of the audiobook but i retained the whole story, woke up the next day, relistened to the parts i missed), and watched the truffaut movie in one of my last film classes, but i have the book version and i thought i might as well give it the honest try now that i’m officially integrated into reading.

welp, i gave it 3 stars back when i didnt have a rating system, and 3 stars was too generous. i get what he was going for but there are so many questions and plot holes. WHY do they know how to read if books are illegal is the biggest one! WHO taught them and HOW and WHY. and honestly with that question alone I don’t even need to get into my other issues. the story isn’t good but white people have a very low bar for what they have made into classics. basically anything that happened in real life to people of color they fictionalized and went “isn't that terrible? wouldn’t that be terrible if that happened to us civilized people? and isn’t the prose fantastic? let’s make this a classic.” like there are absolutely better dystopian and censorship based books. let me stop the man’s already six feet under.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Police brutality, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Vomit, Medical content, and War

Minor: Mass/school shootings and Abortion

filipa_maia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was on my TBR for a very long time before I decided to read it. This book was on my TBR for a very long time before I decided to read it.

I love this dystopian world created by Ray Bradbury: What if owning books, or read them, was illegal? I cannot even think about that. Man, my house would be burned down in two seconds... How can a book written in 1953 describe the world today? The “infinite scroll” society we live in today is not much different from the one Bradbury writes about.

I don't think this is the last time I will read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Grief, Car accident, and War

celery's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lorraine19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This book is a classic for a reason. Prior to reading this book, I had only heard it was about book sensorship but I think that neglects so much of this story. Yes it's about sensorship, but it is also about war, technology, human connection, and what it means to be human. Feel like that makes this book even more important. 

That being said, just talking about the actual reading experience, I was a little disappointed. It feels like a big opportunity was missed by starting at the point where the main character has a change of heart instead of establishing his character before the change. It made it difficult to connect or feel anything for him. I know lots of emotions are taken out because of the environment, but even the characters that were fighting felt flat and didn't elicit the emotions I was expecting. 

Overall, one I think is important and a must read for its lessons and societal impact. But not as captivating as it could have been just as a story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Alcohol, and War

matonnhermann's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and War

Minor: Murder

te_ss_i's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and War