Fahrenheit 451 // Book Review

Hey everyone! I finished reading this amazing book a few months ago. I read it after almost one year where I couldn’t even pick up a book. It brought me back to my reading habits and made me remember how amazing it is to be immersed in a story, in a book.

Let’s get into the review!

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Basic Information

Title: “Fahrenheit 451”

Author: Ray Bradbury

Publisher: Voyager Classics (UK)

Page Number: 227

First Published: 19 October 1953

Genre: Sciente Fiction; Dystopia

Synopsis: Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books.

Find it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3gem5YK

The Short

Writing: 3.5 stars

Characters: 3.5 stars

Plot: 4 stars

Originality: 4.5 stars

OVERALL: 4 stars

The Long

“We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain & black loam.” 

Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel, written by Ray Bradbury, and published in 1953. It was written in a time where historical events such as the book burning by the Nazis and Stalin’s repression of free thought had been in the news. This historical context may have influenced the author to write this story, that show us a future that wants to exterminate books, a story where firemen have the job to burn them.

Throughout the novel, Bradbury exposes themes like censorship, the restriction of free will, as well as the role mass media has in brainwashing. Truly ironic that the book ended up being censored at that time.

It is divided in three parts: The Hearth and the Salamander; The Sieve and the Sand; Burning Bright.

“If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you’ll never learn.”

First, it’s not possible to talk about Fahrenheit 451, without mention its outstanding writing. To be honest, Bradbury’s writing is what made me love this book the way I did. It’s poetic and prophetic, two attributes that are rare to be conquered in any work of literature.

The thing about this novel is its various interpretations and different analysis. Even though the plot is full of symbolism, it’s quite difficult for the readers to agree in what the author wanted to say. Some people say this is not a book about censorship, but a book of how TV and new technology will damage your brain, preventing you from developing thoughts of your own – brainwashing.

I couldn’t disagree more. Even though that’s also a significant criticism throughout the narrative, it’s not the main message.

From my perspective, Fahrenheit 451 truly is a book about censorship, that explores the idea of a society without literature and its effects on social interaction and humanity in general. At the end, it raises the ultimate question: why are books so important?

What is about poetry, about literature and books that is so essential to us, as human beings?

“There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.” 

Is it because they give us answers? Is it because they give us an escape from reality? Or is it because they make us wonder?

I truly believe that above all, books give us questions to ask, the desire to know more, to go further from where we’re standing. That’s their ultimate job. And Fahrenheit 451 does that job beautifully.

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And that’s all for today’s post! Have you read “Fahrenheit 451” yet?

Stay safe,