The story is about Montag, a fireman in a world where books are prohibited and it is their job to burn books and the houses of their owners.
What makes this dystopian unique is the fact that this backwards evolution of society wasn’t caused by a corrupt government or an evil dictator wanting to control the masses. It was a result of the invention of popular media, of mass media. As Captain Beatty says, “Once books appealed to a few people, here, there, everywhere. They could afford to be different. The world was roomy. But then the world got full of eyes and elbows and mouths. Double, triple, quadruple population. Films and radios, magazines, books leveled down to a sort of paste pudding norm, do you follow me? […] Books cut shorter. Condensations. Digests. Tabloids. Everything boils down to the gag, the snap ending.” This evolution of society into the easy and the mediocre was then taken advantage off by the government, who saw it as a way to more easily control the masses. Thus, everything in this world is mediatized; religion is turned into commercial publicity, Jesus sales products on the screens that can be found anywhere and everywhere.
This fictional world holds an incredible resemblance to some aspects of the current world, as the use of mass media increases and the world gets all connected through Instagram, Twitter and more. We are also living through the streaming explosion, with everything being turned into its own Netflix show, Amazon Original or HBO special. For the first time in history, classics can be experienced through a screen and books can be read to you. This advancement offers a lot of great possibilities, as geek culture turns into pop culture and the nerdy and fantastical becomes mainstream. On the other hand, the continual facilitation of experiences, could end in a downgrade in production quality, preferring mass appeal and money making to deep and rich storytelling. This similarity with the modern world is another aspect that makes this book a must-read in my opinion.
And then there´s the prose. Bradbury’s writing style is the best I’ve encountered thus far. His very poetic (yet not overly flowery or purple) prose is what actually hooked me and carried me through the book, always remaining the highest of strengths. Right from the start, it was incredible: “It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things blackened and changed…” and it went on to deliver some of the best passages I’ve ever read “Speed up the film, Montag, quick. Click? Pic? Look, Eye, Now, Flick, Here, There, Swift, Pace, Up, Down, In, Out, Why, How, who, What, Where, Eh? Uh! Bang! Smack! Wallop, Bing, Bong, Boom! Digest-digests, digest-digest-digests. Politics? One column, two sentences, a headline! Then, in mid-air, all vanishes! Whirl man’s mind around about so fast under the pumping hands of publishers, exploiters, broadcasters, that the centrifuge flings out all unnecessary, time-wasting thought.”
The characters, even though they weren’t the focus of the story, were well realized and avoided some of the typical issues of classics without sexism or the likes. Characters like Captain Beatty or Clarisse were much more interesting and deep than they otherwise would appear, and really surprised me as far as characterization was concerned. That said, representation is not the focus of the story, so there’s not much in the sense of racial or LGTBI variety. And, with only five relevant characters, a big cast with complex dynamics is out of the question (in fact, Montag is the only one who really interacts with anyone else).
Overall, I would rank Fahrenheit 451 as one of the best reading experiences of my life and definitely in my top ten greatest reads of all time as of now. I would also say this is the first book I’ve read that I consider a must-read for everyone, especially with its current social relevance.
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