Review: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Narrator: Christopher Hurt
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: No
Copyright: 2005 (first published 1953)
Publisher:  Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Buy: Amazon

Summary:
In an alternate time line Guy Montag is a fireman. Instead of putting out fires he starts them. In a day when all houses are fire proof one must take different measures if they wish to get rid of things that the government bans. He and the fire department are in charge of making sure everyone follows the rules. This means no books, and those who have books must be punished. Guy Montag enjoys starting fires to burn the houses with books. He enjoys the heat, the smell of kerosene. He does not question the reason why he must burn the books he just does it, until he meets a 17 year old girl who moves in next door to him and a professor who no longer teaches but hides in fear like everyone else. The girl is different and she makes him think about the world around him and how it got to be the way it is.

Feelings:
I really enjoyed listening to Fahrenheit 451. The descriptions were amazing. There is nothing like a good book burning when described with such beauty. This is the first Ray Bradbury book I have heard/read. I have to admit I'm surprised I didn't find him sooner. Guy Montag is an interesting man who starts out just like everyone else in the book he doesn't think for himself. He doesn't love. He doesn't feel anything. The world Bradbury creates is so like our own yet so different. I wonder if we are moving towards a world like the one in Fahrenheit 451 or if books will survive in this area of immediate pleasure. The characters in here were vibrant and full of life until the very end. The mechanical hound with eight legs is such a strange hound we wonder how it can be a hound. The fire engine named after the mythical salamander that breathed fire is such an interesting image. I don't imagine wheels but legs that crawl down the roads to start the next fire and then back to the station. I would recommend this to anyone that likes science fiction. It is a vibrant colorful book.