Dystopia is a common setting in science fiction. Some notable examples among literature are Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Another good example is Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451."It was a pleasure to burn" is what the novel opens with. Guy Montag is a fireman who doesn't put out fires but starts them; he is to burn books and the houses that contained them. He doesn't question his job until his new neighbor, a seventeen-year-old by the name of Clarisse McClellan, opens him to a past when people weren't afraid.
I found the thought of books being illegal somewhat scary (being the avid reader that I am). And having read a few of Ray Bradbury's short stories prior to reading Fahrenheit 451, I knew that the tone in his writing is anti-technology. The descriptions are vivid and the plot is easy flowing. But overall, it's a very impressive novel.
My Rating: ****
I read this book in English class last year. I enjoyed it a lot and I'm looking forward to reading Orwell's "1984" soon for a different type of dystopian novel.
ReplyDeleteYou should check out Francois Truffaut's 1966 adaptation of this book. It's cool, Julie Christie's in it! Not necessarily a great movie but pretty interesting bit of mid-60s sci fi.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite books. I love how the world gets that way not because the government forced people to stop reading but because people in general just wanted to not think anymore, so they stopped reading and the government just decided to take advantage of that by completely banning books. It sounds so much like where our society is heading and that makes me sad.
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