Guy Montag is a fireman in a future American city, but his job is to start fires rather than put them out. Owning books is illegal, and his crew burns any that are found, often along with the houses that hid them. Montag takes pride in the work until a chance friendship with Clarisse, a curious teenage neighbour, makes him notice how empty his life has become.
At home his wife Mildred spends her days absorbed in wall-sized television screens and seashell earpieces, and barely registers him. Montag begins secretly hoarding books he cannot yet understand, which draws the attention of his sharp, well-read fire captain, Beatty. A retired professor named Faber becomes an uneasy ally as Montag tries to work out what the books might offer.
Bradbury wrote the novel during the McCarthy era, yet its real target is a population that stopped reading voluntarily, trading reflection for speed, spectacle and constant stimulation. The prose is lyrical and urgent, full of fire imagery. It remains one of the most widely taught American novels, frequently cited in discussions of censorship, attention spans and mass media.
Book details
| Author | Ray Bradbury |
|---|---|
| First published | 1953 |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Type | Fiction |
| Pages (approx.) | 194 |
| Setting | An unnamed American city in the future |
| Awards | Retro Hugo Award for Best Novel (1954, awarded 2004) |
Themes
- Censorship
- Mass media
- Conformity
- Knowledge and memory
- Awakening
Who should read it
Anyone who cares about reading, free expression and the effect of endless entertainment on how people think.