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This book is so popular and frequently assigned to high school students that I am not going to recap the events here. After finishing the book I was left with a "huh?" feeling. The first 130 or so pages demonstrate Guy Montag's struggle against himself and the society in which he lives; he finally finds a release through the discovery of literature.
However, immediately after the climax of the book Bradbury takes Montag into a path that I neither saw coming nor understood. Once he meets up with the other literary scholars along the railroad tracks I have absolutely no idea what Bradbury was saying. All of a sudden the focus became on the limits of human society in comparison with nature as a whole and I did not understand how that related to the previous societal conflict. Overall this was just an average book for me. I may have to read it again to put the puzzle pieces together on what Bradbury was trying to do at the end; I don't think I fully grasped his message (the same thing happened with The Great Gatsby, I read the book three times before I could connect with the plot, let alone the meaning behind it).
Have you read Fahrenheit 451 and understood it, or did you also have difficulty understanding Bradbury's message? Let me know (or help explain) in the comments!
Fahrenheit 451 was originally published in 1953 by Ballantine Books.
This book does not have the 'icon' status in Australia as it does in the States, so my knowledge of it is very slight. Your review doesn't make me want to run out and find a copy - I'm sorry your CC spin wasn't as enthralling for you as mine was for me.
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