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I haven't read this in decades and was curious to see how well it held up.
I had a mixed reaction. I thought the concept overwhelmed the story; I think the concept has even become the story. I'm not sure how well the plot and characterizations work, but all you really do is go, "Ooh, in the future they'll burn books!"
The book comes somewhere between 1984 and Brave New World in terms of story, borrowing elements from both, with the totalitarian society of 1984 and its ongoing war as justification, and the doped and distracted populace of Brave New World. Ultimately, I didn't think there was anything ground-breaking here.
There was some cheesy fun that I suppose comes with all classic sci-fi, the moments that are prescient and the ones that are totally rooted in the past. One that had me giggle was the point made of Montag's getting money from the bank. In the middle of the night! From robot tellers!
So, the name Guy Montag was obviously taken from Man Friday in Robinson Crusoe, but I couldn't decide what Bradbury implied by that. Thoughts?
Even if people didn't want to reread, I'd like to hear memories. This was a big deal in its time.
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