A short yet enjoyable read. I also love dystopian-type future novels, and this one was right up my alley. (Although, since this book was published in the fifties, they mentioned how they had two atomic was by the end of 2022, and this kinda made me laugh. This is primarily because of what an insane ride it's been up to this point, but also because 2022 is now upon us, and we have sometimes come close to having atomic wars. At the very least, there were threats).
A lot happened to Montag, the story's protagonist, in a week or so. At the start of the novel, he is very much into his job. He loved it. And I loved that he loved it. In his world, being a fireman and starting fires to do his job should excite him. This is an entirely normal thing for him. However, he soon changes his mind and begins to question everything. I was expecting that. It's one of the driving points of the novel. But I find that his change of mind and rebellion happens way too fast, in my opinion. Perhaps Bradbury just wanted to keep his book short and to the point -- hence no flowery descriptions of scenery and charters or much of anything except for the needed details. But I would have liked to hear a bit more about the life of a fireman and why they do what they do and why they love it at least a little bit longer.
Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
Also, while well-written, many of the characters sound like carbon copies of each other. The exact manner of speech, same actions, same word usage. Perhaps this is because of the world they live in, but to me, it just made it seem like everyone was moulded from the same palette.
As the book went on, it did get a little too religious for me, but that still didn't take away from my enjoyment of reading it.
Despite those tiny flaws, which are more of my opinion than flaws, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was an interesting read to see how past people could see our "future" play out. I hope that I'm not alive if they decide that our current reality does not need books.
