Synopsis:
Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires...
The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning ... along with the houses in which they were hidden.
Guy Montag enjoyed his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and he had never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed by flames... never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid.
My Thoughts:
Even though this book was written 60 years ago it's amazing how much it still applies to today. In Montag's world books were not only banned but destroyed, burned to ashes along with the house they were held in and in many cases the people who hid them. The government says that books are silly and the words meaningless yet destroys them all proving that someone in authority firmly believes that a book is a dangerous thing. Which is actually what happens. Montag meets a girl who society deems 'crazy' and she puts a little thought in his head. Next thing he knows he is questioning why. Why he is a fireman. Why the books are so dangerous. Why Why Why. Questions that to maintain peace and balance should not be asked.
Overall I found that I enjoyed this book despite it being totally different from what I am used to reading even though many times I had to read a paragraph over again because I missed some thing that ended up being important. I found Montag's discovery of himself and nature a bit hard to follow. His journey to discovery read a lot like descent into madness which I thought was hard at times to follow. I did like that this book was thought provoking and I plan to follow up with searching for some discussion web pages to see other people's interpretations.
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