Fahrenheit 451
Banned Book Month continues with a classic dystopian novel that taught me an important lesson, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. What I learned from this book is how to spell the word “Fahrenheit.” It’s a tough one, guys. In this episode we discuss Bradbury’s unique writing style, accurate futurism, the difficulty of determining cause and effect, and the origins of dystopian stories. We also talk about manic pixie dream girls, sage characters, the impossibility of being universally liked, and what plagues the youth of the future. Also, this is one of our more self-referential episodes. You don’t have to be familiar with our previous episodes and books to follow the conversation, but be prepared for references to: A Handmaid’s Tale, Divergent, Hunger Games, Brave New World, The Giver, Childhood’s End, The Road, and Harry Potter. And possibly a couple of others I forgot to write down.
The music bump is “The Cliffs of Dover” by Eric Johnson in reference to the poem “Dover Beach,” which plays a prominent role in the book. This selection narrowly edged out “House on Fire” by Kansas, but I decided to zag instead of zig.
Fahrenheit 451 – Dystopian Origins
Recommendations:
A well known book that offers an obvious theme and plenty to talk about, but written in a style that is rather difficult if you don’t enjoy artistic prose.
Gabs: 6/10 for importance as a classic, 2/10 for actual enjoyment.
Ben: She totally stole my bit. 7/10 for assigned reading, 3/10 for entertainment.
Novel Ideas 
September 15, 2013 at 8:22 am
Ray Bradbury is the funniest man who ever liiiived!
J/k, I can’t think of an instance where he had a clear sense of humor. I really like Bradbury, but I haven’t had any desire to go back to F451 since reading it in 8th grade. But I’ve re-read Dandelion Wine some summers because I find it a kind of magical exploration of summer through a kid’s eyes and everything about it makes me happy. Even the language, which is probably more appropriate to DW than F451.