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lono

What I am reading

this is the highly subjective way I read and interpret literature

(I mostly read classic belles-lettres, but you’ll find some examples of trashy readings here and there as well)

Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

I remember reading Fahrenheit 451 for the first time when I was somewhere between 14 and 16 years old. Back then it didn’t strike me as special and I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about, because I was way too young to understand about passions and convictions you’d stand for with your life. I am not saying, that I understand about that now, but I definitely have a better grasp on it. Just think about it, would you be able to stand aside while all of your books are being burned to ashes?

I also cannot belief, that I haven’t noticed the superb writing style of Bradbury before, his use of language and imagery is amazing and right on point. Needless to say, Fahrenheit 451 still holds up today and raises some terrifying questions concerning mass entertainment, mass stultification, estrangement from one another and the constantly increasing speed of everything and anything. Like Bradbury asks, why bother reading the original Hamlet, if you can save time by reading a summary or even the summary of that summary?
Speaking about saving time: this novel is quite short, therefore the pace is fast, Bradbury is not pausing to prattle on about anything, but he nonetheless manages to create three dimensional, round characters (if I’d be really nit-picky, I had to say, that some characters could have been better with a little bit more work put into them, but in such a short novel, you can hardly do any better than that).

While it has some minor flaws, I will say, that Fahrenheit 451 earned its status as a canonical work of dystopian fiction and Bradbury status as one of the most innovative writers of the 20th century is well deserved.