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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.
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.eatmytoe404's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I really loved this book and it got me out of my reading slump. It was a bit confusing at the start but once you get into it its an amazing book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Death, Suicide, and War
Minor: Racism, Sexism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Classism