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alittlebird 's review for:

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
3.0

A classic for a reason, and still has some thematically resonant themes. Ultimately, it's the context of this being written in a post-WWII book burning world that comes across most, however, and makes this feel like a product of its time. Bradbury's dislike for women doesn't help the case.

Bradbury likes communicating to his protagonist that no man should think or act himself better than any other and then spends the rest of the book condescending to us how TV and radio (and cars) are ruining the world and books are the only tool a thinking man needs. He doesn't seem to recognize that, like TV and radio, books/literature are art that is just as susceptible to having itself subverted by hegemonic power. We have a world of real knowledge and education that can be transferred and communicated in every and any which way, and the real struggle is in shifting through what's real and what exists to keep us complacent.

In 2022 the whole thing has a very 'man yells at clouds' vibe.