Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Book Review

 

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Book Review 

It is often said that books take us to a different world. But in some books, a completely different world is developed. There will be lots of things which are different from our world. A dystopian world. 

When a story happens in such a place. Getting introduced to that place takes time. Once we get an understanding of the place We get involved in the story. Fahrenheit 451 is one such book written by Ray Bradbury. 

This book is based on a particular theme. 451 is the temperature at which a paper can be burnt hence the title. Why this name? Why should the title be related to the temperature at which a book can get burnt? 

The story happens in a different world. In this world, people might get burnt along with their houses or get killed if they have a book. or their house might be burnt and they will be put in jail. 

There are certain things which are prohibited for us. In the same way, books are prohibited in this world. The hero gets information regarding the people who have books. 

Then the hero and his colleagues should go to the spot and burn the books. Then the team should check whether the books are hidden elsewhere. If the hidden books are found, they should also be burnt. 

If many books are hidden, then the house will be burnt. This is the hero's work. On one night, when he is on his way home he sees a girl. As the girl is walking alone, our hero tries to talk to the girl and she talks to him as well. 

She talks about a lot of things. She talks about simple things like air, flowers etc. She speaks so poetically. Our hero feels good when she hears her talking about simple things. It is a new experience for him. 

The girl says that she could identify the hero as a fireman from his smell. The people fear the firemen. But our hero accepts that he is a fireman. And the girl never fears him which is a surprise for our hero. 

After a few days, he goes to the girl's house to drop her off. But he returns home in a confused state as no one has engaged in deep conversations with him before. He was used to shallow conversations. 

Such deep, philosophical conversations make him doubt whether the girl is a reader. A few days later, there is no information about the girl and her house gets burnt. 

Another team of firemen might have burnt down her house and he believes that the girl had died. But the hero has a lot of questions in his mind, the girl seems happy and there are sounds of laughter in her home. 

All that was not there in this world before. The girl's admiration for the things around her and the laughter sound coming from her house makes him go to her house. In this world, all the people had an air pod-like thing in their ears. 

In that air pod, some conversation happens and the listener can hear it. There is no other entertainment for the people. It was called the parlour. which broadcasted the happenings of a place. 

The broadcast was merely the Government's choice and people couldn't choose. It was a government dictatorship. The hero goes to sleep. The air pod-like object is in the wife's ear. 

She doesn't sleep and keeps looking upwards. She hasn't slept for months and is always sad. The hero feels that this is the exact opposite of the happiness the girl had. 

Though he is powerful and believes that he is doing good to this world... by burning books. Despite doing service to the society he is very sad. He keeps wondering how the girl is happy all the time. One day, he steals a book out of curiosity and comes home. 

He does that once he hears that there are books in a particular house. The firemen go to that house with the plan of burning the books. Meanwhile, an old lady asks them to burn her and the books. and that she won't step out without the books. 

The old lady doesn't want to live in a world that burns books. So, she never leaves her books. The old lady is burnt along with the books which makes the hero think... If someone is willing to give up their life for books. 

Then the books must be valuable. The authorities were all against books and our hero too loved the smell of the burning book. Our hero enjoyed his work. But if the girl was against it, it means that there is something in the book. 

In a discussion among the firemen, he talks about a sentence that he read while the old lady was burnt alive. And one of his colleagues says that books are being burnt because the words lead to thoughts. 

And the hero says that earlier the firemen used to put out fire. The hero's boss talks a lot about books. He says that the books are confusing and so they have to be burnt. 

The hero keeps the stolen book hidden from his wife as well. The day after he steals the book, he decides not to go to the office as he is tense. But the hero's boss comes home looking for him. 

And the boss says that stealing books out of curiosity was quite common. And the one who steals reads a few pages and eventually burns it. because that is the right thing to do. The hero realizes that the boss knows about the stolen book.

The hero's wife comes home and keeps her hand on the bed only to realize that there is a book on the shelf. She is tensed. We feel the same tension while reading it. 

We get this tension because we are transported to that world. We wonder whether he will read the book and what will happen to him. We wonder whether the book will be found out because there is a mechanical hound which confirms whether there is a book in a particular spot. 

If there is a confirmation, then the people in that house are dead. The hero talks to his wife about the book and tells her that it can be burnt if it does contain something bad. We hear the noise of the hound at that time which raises our tension. 

In a world where reading books is a crime and where books are burnt, what will happen if our hero reads the book. When the hero is in a confused state, he meets a well-read person. 

The other person also knows details about the hero. They both meet and have a conversation. The person's name is Faber. He tells the hero that he used to read books earlier. 

And he also says that there are many more like him who remain hidden. The book made us feel that book readers were being threatened like terrorists and the climax was extraordinary. 

I can't reveal the climax and spoil a good ending for the readers. It is a very easy read. The history behind writing this book is even more interesting. A policeman caught the author while he was walking on the road...

He was just walking in the pedestrian walking area. The police felt that walking was a crime. This led to the idea of a story where reading was a crime. The book took less than one month to write. He didn't expect the book to become very popular.

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