Ray Bradbury is one of those rare breed of writers who is
capable of creating whole new universes out of very few words. This is only the
second book of his I've read. Only just as big as my palm, and as thick as my
thumb. Considering the type of work he usually does, this is a very big
accomplishment. His books deal with aliens, and weird species, and the
supernatural, and a distant possible dystopian future. Things and events in his
book are usually out of this world, unfamiliar and unknown to the readers. Him
being able to transport you to that place, is by itself is a big
accomplishment. But doing it in such a small bulk of a book, without
intimidating the novice reader, which is a feat worth singing ballads for.
I am a big fan of his writing. And F 451 makes my resolve
even stronger. This book at first couple dozen page feels like something out of
The Twilight Zone, incidentally he's written for that show as well. The protagonist,
Guy Montag, is a fireman working for a City in an unspecified future. Only in
this world, the fireman's responsibility is not to put out the fire but to
cause it. In this future, it is believed that books and informational print of
any sort is the cause for world's downward spiral. A world where any
progressive thought or belief not pre-approved or mandated by the System is
illegal. The world here is addicted to TV stories and soap drama (inspiration
for Hunger Games?). This norm seemed to work for the most of the population
there. Most of the people here know only of this world, and hence are content
with it. And now and then if any books are to be discovered, down comes the
firemen to douse it in liquid flames.
Come one day, during another routine day at work our hero
goes to a house where it was alerted to the authorities a bunch of books were
hidden away. They get to work; tear down the walls and drapes. Gather all the
books they could find, pour kerosene over it and one by one move to the front
lawn leaving one behind to put it all to fire. That guy is Montag. And he is in
a dilemma; the lady of the house who hid the books doesn't want to leave them.
She'd rather burn along with them. That passion, that level of attachment to a
few glued together sheets of paper confuses Montag. And here starts our story.
With a woman hugging her books, inside a house put to flames by one of Montag's
coworkers.
This book has only a handful of characters, but each so rich
and so important to the storyline. You will feel attached to all of them, feel
like you've known them for ages. And the philosophical monologues, that almost
all of them inevitably has in this book proves to be more riveting than
obnoxious.
There is a storyline much like this in one of the short
stories in his other book, Illustrated Man. Both times the world he writes of,
a world without books did scare the living crap out of me. That would be one
sad world indeed.
This book is a must read for all book lovers. Something to
pick up on a lazy Friday afternoon, complete before it is evening tea time on Saturday.
And spend rest of the weekend, having day nightmares about a world without your
favorite books.
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