Review of Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


How do you review a classic?

By today's standards, this novel is very short, probably in the 50-60K range. New writers would fail to get this work traditionally published, solely based on word count alone, but also because it is written in the style of 1950. But this is considered a masterpiece. Just wanted to make that editorial comment.

I don't know if this is a masterpiece, but it probably was groundbreaking at the time. It's about a dystopian society that burns books because it doesn't want the masses to think for themselves. In fact, they'll burn whole houses where books are found. I don't know if Bradbury was the first one to come up with entertainment fake news, but 60-70 years later, we certainly have entertainment fake news.

He completely whiffed on communication devices, but then again who in that era didn't? Ender's Game came out two generations later. But I digress.

I loved the ending, much more so than the beginning. Because of the weak beginning, I gave it 4 stars. But it's still worth sticking with it for the ending.

Anything more I say will be spoilers, and since this is a classic, I won't bother anyway.

Read it for your social literacy alone. It should take you less than 5 hours out of your day.



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