Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: A Review

The terrifyingly prophetic novel of a post-literate future.

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.

The classic dystopian novel of a post-literate future, Fahrenheit 451 stands alongside Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World as a prophetic account of Western civilization’s enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity.

Bradbury’s powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which, decades on from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock.

My Rating: 4/5

A terrifying look into a dystopian future that feels all to close. Bradbury’s novel is a harrowing yet hopeful premonition for society.

I found the characterisation of Guy Montag quickly established and then torn apart and rewritten over and over again. It was wonderful to watch as he developed and how his thoughts and emotions affected those around him and his own future.

I’m glad that I finally got round to reading this classic. Like with Orwell’s 1984, everyone should read this.