Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

 For Christmas, my husband wanted Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.  I'd never read the book before, but it fit into our Christmas budget, so I got it for him.  Yesterday, while I was putting Adam down for a nap I began to read it.

Pretty heavy book.  It reminded me a bit of Brave New World but cleaner.  However, the depressing futuristic view of society was similar.  The premise is this:

The main character is a fireman, a man who the government pays to start fires.  And what do firemen burn?  They burn books.  Books are controversial and offend minorities, so it's just easier for everyone if they don't have to think.  Society is at a point where people like instantaneous gratification and so every second of every moment they are bombarded with images and are constantly doing 'things'.  Everyone is pumped full of facts and knowledge, but none of those facts require a person to think.  Everyone is meant to be the same so that no one ever disagrees, because controversy makes you unhappy.  People live their lives in fantasy worlds where the interactive television has become family and is more important than the family actually living in your home.  Children are a hobby, and if you do bother to have them, you ship them off to school nearly from the cradle.

The book follows the journey of the main character as he begins to realize that though his society is meant to erase unhappiness, he is not happy and something is missing from his life. 

That's all I want to say about the plot.  I can't say I really enjoyed this book.  I liked it.  It was very well written and very interesting, but depressing.  My husband Grig loves Ray Bradbury.  Though I would recommend this book as one that people should probably read and one I will probably read again, I can't say that it is one that brought me boundless happiness.  The ending wasn't necessarily depressing and it left me feeling hopeful, but reading books about 'bleak, dystopian futures' (as the amazon description put it) always makes me feel a little sad.  Obviously it was easy to see the comparison between our society and the one in the book, but at the same time the thought of living in a society like that feels me with a sense of dread and possibly fear.

However, I do take comfort in the fact that if our society every really got even close to being that bad, that the Savior's second coming would occur long before that.  That may seem strange that that's my comfort, but it is.

The book made me think a lot about the future, but I know that as I keep God's commandments, everything will be okay and our family will be protected and taken care of.

So, if you want a thought-provoking, well-written, and intriguing read, pick up Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.  If you want to feel happy, go watch My Little Pony.