hardcover (clothbound), 227 pages
English language
Published Nov. 2, 2013 by HarperVoyager.
The terrifyingly prophetic novel of a post-literate future.
Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books.
The classic dystopian novel of a post-literate future, Fahrenheit 451 stands alongside Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World as a prophetic account of Western civilization’s enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity.
Bradbury’s powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which, decades on from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock.
--back cover
as distopias costumam ser associadas com um governo totalitário controlando uma massa de pessoas.
o que me interessa mais nesse livro é a construção de uma opressão por parte do próprio povo: o desinteresse por buscar conhecimento, que surge das mídias de massa, torna-os ignorantes.
o final da história é particularmente emocionante.
I had read this book a long time ago and remembered it as a difficult read - my english was not quite on the same level as it is today. When re-reading it now i was blown away. An amazing story paired with wonderful storytelling. After reading "boring" contemporary novels this was delightfully refreshing
É uma distopia clássica, li há muito tempo mas lembro de não ter achado tão envolvente quanto as primas mais famosas (1984 e Admirável Mundo Novo). Recomendo o conto "Bright Phoenix" que inspirou o livro (é curtinho e achei melhor que o livro).
Una novela infantiloide. Y no me refiero a los personajes, que viven en un sistema que los quiere idiotizados, me refiero a la forma en la que está escrita, parece un libro dirigido a niños o a gente de derecha (que ya sabemos que no le da la cabeza para mucho). Si quieres una buena distopía: 1984.
Lika bra som alltid
This book was on my list of 'important books I somehow did not read before now'. It is such a cultural reference point that one assumes everyone has read it, but I suspect that although most people understand the title (the point at which books burn), they may be like me and have not bothered to actually pick it up.
It is reminiscent of Atwood's 'Handmaid's Tale', and falls into that category of 'futurology' that edges on Sci-Fi because by necessity it must speculate about how the future will work, but is really a different genre. Like Atwood's work, It is more concerned with how society may work in future, rather than how machines will work. That said, it is astonishingly prescient when the book does speculate, for instance the mechanical hound and the interactive entertainment screens.
As it is a novel depicting dystopia, one naturally wishes to locate it …
This book was on my list of 'important books I somehow did not read before now'. It is such a cultural reference point that one assumes everyone has read it, but I suspect that although most people understand the title (the point at which books burn), they may be like me and have not bothered to actually pick it up.
It is reminiscent of Atwood's 'Handmaid's Tale', and falls into that category of 'futurology' that edges on Sci-Fi because by necessity it must speculate about how the future will work, but is really a different genre. Like Atwood's work, It is more concerned with how society may work in future, rather than how machines will work. That said, it is astonishingly prescient when the book does speculate, for instance the mechanical hound and the interactive entertainment screens.
As it is a novel depicting dystopia, one naturally wishes to locate it in the 1984-BNW continuum. Orwell’s 1984 suggests we will be destroyed by what we fear, whereas Huxley’s Brave New World proposes that we will be imprisoned by what we love. Bradbury’s book veers towards Huxley, in so far as society is kept quiescent by consumerism and entertainment, whilst it is also kept in a cage of enforced (and heavily policed) ignorance.
It is a short book, a gripping read, and well worth making the effort. As a warning about the dangers to society of indulging ignorance and celebrating bland superficiality, It is still fresh and relevant.
