A Beginner's Book Review

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. (New York, NY: Del Rey Books, 1981). 165 pp.
Review by David Lim, Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA.

What is there to say about this novel other than that its society is frighteningly similar to that of ours? Each event that our protagonist, Guy Montag, experiences resembles, in some way, a prediction of what is to come, should we continue to fall short in becoming matured human beings. Set in some utopian future, this dystopian novel beings with a terrifying ritual, book burnings of all works of merit. This moment makes clear to audiences that all is indeed not well in this universe that Bradbury plotted. With the idea of dystopia growing in popularity amongst readers and writers, Bradbury shows a significant difference of a what dysoptia disguises itself to be, which -- again-- is located in the first three pages of the novel. This method of beginning, as well as staying, outside of the comfort zone of dystopian novels -- that being some showing of a clean and contained society (The Giver, by Lois Lowry, comes to mind)-- snatched away my attention and kept it to the end.

With fantastic imagery of fire, night, and machinery, symbols of complacency, tension, and fear come to be revealed within the author and stirred within the reader. These symbols aren't too obscured either, as Guy Montag's mind peaks to a breaking point as he proceeds through this existential crisis placed upon him after admitting to his wife that he had stashed a bundle of banned books and a Christian Bible. Montag's torment is clear enough for any high school student to catch onto, a definite plus to Bradbury in terms of description, plausibility, and plot.

Plausibility is simply all too strong with this work. Teen violence? Facades of happiness? Insanity? Misfortunes existing in this work are all too real thanks to the stories of one of Bradbury's most mysterious characters, Clarrise McClellan, a sixteen-year old girl of many stories and questions. Though not really given physical detail, McClellan is indeed beautiful as an intellectual, and perhaps one of the only few that exist in such a society. Because of her "beauty" she is ridiculed and rejected as insane by her classmates in school and, consequentially, skips school very often to explore the outskirts of the utopia. I refuse to say anymore about this lovely character as she is too fantastic to be spoiled among those who are reading this.

Every complication that Montag encounters is no simple coincidence, each of his actions directly affect his social and mental outcome; in short, the character development for our protagonist is so natural and so "juicy" that it seems as if he were actually telling Bradbury what to write and what to argue.

I would encourage that this book be read by every single student, so long as they wish to mature into someone respectable and humane. I do not see any significant shortcomings in this novel; every piece was coherent and appreciable.