Sunday, June 14, 2009
trying to read FAHRENHEIT 451
Thought it would be a nice short little read after Middlemarch. But BLECH. I can BARELY make myself turn the pages. WHY WHY WHY was this book on all these best-books-of-all-time lists?! Am I missing something?
11 comments:
I liked it, but I was 10 at the time. Book burning seemed like something relegated to the past. How naive I was.
REALLY?! I love love love love love that book. It's real science fiction, the kind that gives a cautionary tale about present day happenings using a futuristic setting and events. Oh, I'm so upset you don't like it!
I re-read Fahrenheit 451 recently and was amazed to find it was even more apt today than when it was written. Here is a link to my review. Perhaps it will make you see the novel in a new light: http://libraryannex.blogspot.com/2009/03/fahrenheit-451-by-ray-bradbury.html
You don't like F451? It's an amazing book, and scary too. I loved it as a kid, and even more now as an almost adult. Maybe it's your mood; try it again later in the year... Peace, Linda
Ha! Maybe it is a mood thing. I finished reading it last night, feeling unredeemed, but maybe I need to revisit in a year or so.
I read it fairly recently and figured it was one of those books where the Idea is greater than the treatment. And because of this, the Idea has great currency so the book feels old and falls short.
For some people, I think Robinson Crusoe may have the same effect. Gulliver's Travels, though, does not. Jeckyll and Hyde, I'm afraid to find out.
Not to mention Freud.
Others?
It'd be interesting to make a list of books which we culturally "know" without ever having read.
Moby Dick, for instance, would be on it.
Good to know. This is on my list too!
I agree with Goedi...when I read this book in grade school (Required!) I absolutely LOVED it. While the theme is very timely, the writing and style leave a lot to be desired. I picked the book up recently (still on my shelf) and tried to re-read it...I couldn't read more than a few chapters.
I'd like to hear why you didn't like it. Haven't read it yet, still trying to decide whether I ever will ...
the writing style drove me NUTS. that was it, specifically. i found it RATHER overwritten.
i should admit that i'm a classic hater of dystopian fictions. i just can't buy into the premises most of the time, especially as they get more and more allegorical. so maybe we weren't meant to mix.
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