Author TJ Hapney

Description/Blurb:

Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.

Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television.

When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.

Review 5 of 5 Stars (Obviously)

For Mother’s Day my son bought me the 60th Anniversary Edition of Fahrenheit 451. This book had a profound effect on me when I read it as a teenager. It was one of the books that made me sure that we are supposed to fight for freedom. Considering my home, the U.S., currently has a president who admits he doesn’t read and gets most of his information from TV this book seemed particularly poignant as I read it.

I was amazed at how many parallels there are to today’s society where people keep their faces buried in their phones, ear buds in, blocking out those around them. Socializing is becoming a thing of the past. We have come closer to Bradbury’s society. More and more people feel hopeless and alone as Montag does in this book. It’s a reality now, not fiction. Presently it’s especially dark and perilous. Complacency is the enemy of freedom.

If you need some inspiration to defend the things you love this is a great book to re-read. If you haven’t read this book, then perhaps you should. This is a classic. It doesn’t need my review, but I thought it might be nice to share it with anyone who had not yet had the chance to read it.

There are some nice additions to this edition that book lovers and writers will enjoy, as well as any Bradbury fan. At least I did. Truly one of my favorite books and a wonderful Mother’s Day present. The description does an excellent job of describing the story, but doesn’t convey any of the emotion that comes with reading this amazing book.

There is so much more than can be conveyed in a review. Unlike the author in the book, I can’t effectively convey the taste of ash and the smell of kerosene as books and their owners are destroyed.

Knowledge is power. Read more books.