Fahrenheit 451 is a dark tale pierced by dancing flames. Most of the scenes take place in the dark of night because Guy Montag, fireman, works nights Fahrenheit 451 is a dark tale pierced by dancing flames. Most of the scenes take place in the dark of night because Guy Montag, fireman, works nights and sleeps during the day. Montag inhabits a culture in which people cannot connect through the heavy soporific overload of technology, drugs, and pensive vanity.
In this dystopian world, fireman are charged with burning books as well as the people and houses that harbor contraband written words. While the brilliance of rooms with surround screened television that mildly interacts with watchers serves to distract, annoy and consume the mind, the entrancing lick of expanding flames is written to attract the reader to both the book burnings and the thoughts that begin to plague Montag in the relative silence of late-night bonfires. If you find your soul nourished by reading quality books written long ago (or the Bible!), Montag and his crew are racing toward you.
The war between the State and the minds of the people over independent thought was not only contemporary to Bradbury’s writing in the post-World War II 1950s. Rather, book burnings and thought control stretch back to ancient times and, fueled by technological advancement, forward into the rather recently ignited debate over mis/dis information.
Fahrenheit 451 is an ageless classic, whose flickering themes of man verses state, the meaning of life, the transformative power of knowledge, and the impact of the mind on human connection, crackle throughout the narrative.
While it is an excellent work that I recommend as valuable for study and discussion, it is not a frequent re-read for me. The dystopian world is very dark, Montag’s thinking atheistic, and the eventual resolution, while hopeful and inspiring – even referencing retaining the Word of God among the people, is not particularly theologically centered or hopeful. Therefore, although I find myself referencing Fahrenheit 451 in my thinking, this is not a work to which I find myself returning often for a re-read.
The Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie's publicist claimed that only the Bible and Shakespeare had sold more copies in the English language. The Murder oThe Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie's publicist claimed that only the Bible and Shakespeare had sold more copies in the English language. The Murder on the Orient Express is considered one of her masterpieces.
There are two particular hooks that make this locked room mystery an enjoyable ride. Although Miss Marple was her favorite, M. Poirot was Christie's best selling detective. The bright, egocentric Belgian, though generally insufferable, is humorously never as famous or well known as he desires. And in this novel, he shines. The complexities of the case are all laid before both the reader and Poirot, and the reader is challenged to decipher it alongside him.
The second convention is the beautiful setting of the Orient Express, arrayed in winter, a memorable and ironic setting. The snow that evokes purity piles up to trap the train with a murderer on board. It conceals means of escape, forces M. Poirot to examine each passengers antecedents and bona fides independently, and heightens the urgency of identifying a killer. M. Poirot states,
"What to my mind is so interesting in this case is that we have none of the facilities afforded to the police. We cannot investigate the bona fides of any of these people. We have to rely solely on deduction. That, to me, makes the matter very much more interesting. There is no routine work. It is a matter of the intellect."
What intrigues me about Christie is her lack of formula. So many contemporary authors that publish en masse rely on repetition of plot, setting, characters or structure to market numerous publications. None of that with Christie. She wrote during the height of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, and while her influences were clear (England, classicism, the European continent and it's expansion to the world, archeology, and poisons), she was creating new constructs within the genre. Murder on the Orient Express is an example of that brilliance, but if I told you how, I'd give the ending away.
MOVIE ADAPTATION I am one of many who desired to re-read the book in advance of Kenneth Branaugh's star studded November 2017 film, and I'm now prepared as well as eager to see it.
#12 Best Sellers of all time, estimated 100 million copies sold (source: Wikipedia.org)
I'm just not a fan of Carroll's juxtaposed, illogical, keep the#12 Best Sellers of all time, estimated 100 million copies sold (source: Wikipedia.org)
I'm just not a fan of Carroll's juxtaposed, illogical, keep the reader in a state of confusion, oh! it's all a dream, style. My copy has both these books bound together, and while I don't like either, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is less unsatisfactory than "Through the Looking Glass."
However, after seeing this staged a couple of times, I can understand why people who like word play for it's own sake, gorgeous costumes and vivid settings, adore this book. I can enjoy it on the stage, but I merely tolerate it in print.
I do own it, but would prefer not to, so this is a title I'll be happy to sell after I've fulfilled my home school duty - and maybe even before.
Want to read #11 best seller of all time? See Dream of the Red Chamber, Cao Xueqin, 1791...more
I must confess to a bit of relief when I finished this book. It is long, being actually two books combined into one. Part of me wanted to take the timI must confess to a bit of relief when I finished this book. It is long, being actually two books combined into one. Part of me wanted to take the time to write a masterful review in Cervantes' voice that would expose you to the writing style and at the end challenge you that if you made it through my review you certainly should attempt the work. But alas, I haven't the time. In fact, I'm finding it difficult to even pull together my thoughts on this.
Since I read this as part of an on-line book club, I think my review shall consist of my responses to the two questions that gave me the most insight into the work. ___________________________________________ QUESTION: How is this text self-conscious as a narrative? What do you make of references to publication of Don Quixote's adventures by Cide Hamete? Why repeatedly refer to Hamete's version of the story? What is the author saying about storytelling in general?
I think a lot of what Cervantes is doing here ties in with the themes on the benefits and dangers of excessive reading.
He is illustrating that:
1) Even though a work my lay claim to non-fiction status, it is not necessarily true (this makes me think of Alex Haley's ROOTS);
2) When an author strives for non-fiction status, real life people have the ability to talk back (Don Quixote doesn't like his presentation) and modify reality to suit their desires (Panza's deceptions, and Don Quixote's desire to be presented in a chivalric light), making a true record of actual happenings difficult even when historical persons and facts are available.
3) The author himself in either fiction or non-fiction work has a tremendous latitude to both create, report and embellish his subject matter to suit his own proclivities and obligations (such Cervantes' care in referencing the Prince as his sponsor).
4) Fiction tends to absorb reality as a basis for story (such as Cervantes' biographical references that creep into the soldier stories in the first part of the book - a common occurrence in many works), even as non-fiction absorbs fantasy at the whim of those who participated in it's creation (see #'s 1-3). ***** QUESTION: What is Cervantes saying about readers?: Don Quixote's madness is repeatedly attributed to excessive reading of novels of chivalry. What are the author's concerns with novels of chivalry and/or reading in general? Do you agree?
1) Cervantes is concerned that reading is a waste of time that fills people's minds with all sorts of non-practical ideas.
I found a need to put Cervantes work into it's proper time frame to adequately deal with this theme. Recognizing Don Quixote was written just over 150 years after the printing press (around 1440) and at the tale end of the Protestant Reformation (beginning with Luther in 1517 and continuing until around 1650), it became apparent to me that this was time in which the written word was exploding in accessibility for the first time.
A little research into European literacy of Cervantes time also revealed that Protestant countries had far higher literacy rate than Catholic countries because Protestants wanted people to read the Bible for themselves. Meanwhile, Catholics discouraged literacy and saw it as a threat to the power of the Church. Recognizing Cervantes is Spanish, writing in a Catholic country and demonstrates respect for 'good Spanish Catholics' often referred to as "Old Christians" (in contrast to newly minted Protestants), made me question "Was Cervantes promoting the Catholic skepticism about equipping the masses to read by using novels of chivalry as a decoy?" When I considered that it is the priest that articulates many of the diatribes against reading, the religious aspect of the argument came into better focus. But is Cervantes so obvious? Or is he using the priests' ideas to arouse in the reader a desire to defend his reading? ...and in so doing, actually attacking the Catholic position? My personal inclination after finishing the text is that he sided with the Catholic Tradition on this one, as the book ends: "...for my only desire has been to have people reject and despise the false and nonsensical histories of the books of chivalry, which are already stumbling over the history of my true Don Quixote, and will undoubtedly fall to the ground. Vale."
On another track, I wanted to consider what social upheaval of our time might correspond to reading in Cervantes time? I wonder if in the future, we'll consider computer programming a necessary skill for everyone even as many criticize computer/ 'screen time' for taking people away from reading? Additionally, it occurs to me that the engagement of the mind through reading is the first step to the neglect of physical activity which is coming to fruition in the internet age. As many Americans know, a sedentary life (especially when combined with an abundance of pleasurable food) has it's problems. Are the intellectual benefits of reading/ education worth the physical damage? That thought certainly raises the bar on what reading is profitable.
2) Cervantes uses the character of the priest to assert that reading is a harmful escape. (This occurs when he is talking with the innkeeper, forgive me for failing to locate the page #)
Not all escapes are harmful. In fact, I think reading has many benefits (expands our understanding of people and places that are outside our everyday experience, saves us from more harmful indulgences, increases our knowledge base, teaches us the mistakes and triumphs of previous generations, etc). Yet Don Quixote, whose financial independence strips him of a need for either a profession or physical labor, has indulged far beyond the beneficial point. In this I agree that reading can be harmful, and that all good things can become harmful when engaged as idols-- in other words, to the extreme (for example: food, sex, physical fitness, cleanliness). I don't however, find reading particularly poisonous, and think it's contributions outweigh it's harms (when practiced with moderation).
3) Cervantes is concerned that people are unable to discern fiction from non-fiction (again, this comes from the discussion between the priest and the innkeeper).
I have to say Cervantes is onto something here, and based on what I see on Goodreads, it's only gotten worse. In the internet age, while we have access to more information, this requires MORE work from the reader to determine what information is reliable. I find that often people are unable to distinguish between an accurate and an inaccurate historical setting. Even in a fictional work, I think the author needs to present a historical setting accurately; if they don't, they are clearly altering things to support an agenda of their own. But readers seem unable to recognize this. And there is the reality that ALL writing is from one person's perspective, making complete neutrality impossible.
I am troubled by the ignorance of the historical (and even current record) that leads to foolish thinking and/ or decisions. For example, if someone writes a book (or even worse, makes a movie) on the glories of government health care, I am amazed at how many people will accept such an idea and even make decisions based on these assertions without researching the successes and struggles of said government health care in other countries that have it!
In a fictional work, people will claim to understand history or culture based on an author's presentation that is skewed at best and pure deception at worst.
Finally, people often misquote the historical record, usually to support their position on a certain matter. This practice not only propagates errant understandings of the past, but makes it more difficult for those less informed honestly seeking knowledge to enter into the topic or discussion. _____________________________________ In conclusion, I think Cervantes showed great foresight in predicting the dangers of reading. Though I don't think his warnings should eliminate reading, i think they do provide some wise cautions on what is valuable.
I cannot help but find it ironic that in writing a story in which reading is vilified, he created an entirely new form of written word - the fictional novel - that engaged more people than ever before and was far more pervasive and popular than any written form of his time - even those pesky stories of chivalry! Cervantes was unable to retrieve the reading cat that technology was letting out of the bag.
It is increasingly ironic that his book continues to be read some 400 years after it's publication - mostly by people who are avid readers!
This is a book about men. Lonely men. Working men. Good men. Imperfect men.
Their talk (rough and gritty), hopes (working their own land), recreation This is a book about men. Lonely men. Working men. Good men. Imperfect men.
Their talk (rough and gritty), hopes (working their own land), recreation (horseshoes, cards and whoring), dreams (freedom from wandering), character (each with strengths and weaknesses, thrown together) work (farming and ranching), challenges (lack of family/ relationship), and failings (the dark anger that lurks under the surface of even the innocent and seemingly gentle man).
There is but one character that is a woman (she referred to as "Curly's wife"), and there is the whore house of unnamed 'girls'.
Such is the setting for Steinbeck's spartan novel. A short book that leaves you twisted up. Don't let Steinbeck's brevity fool you, this story will stick. The fantastic writing draws you into the setting, and sets in slow motion a tragedy that unravels in 3 days. You know it is coming, but you cannot turn away. The feeling of inevitable demise carries you along through the sentences, paragraphs and chapters, until it is done. Over.
And you are left with the lump in the stomach, pondering a world that is broken and in need of true hope.
This passage from Ecclesiastes 7 comes to mind, "2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth."
I suppose it is a wise book. Certainly a work that deserves to bear the name, "classic". But it is a difficult read that ends without hope, and honestly (fool that I my be), I prefer to be inspired instead of warned.
It is interesting that when this work is discussed or presented, Rebecca Sharp aka Becky Sharp is embraced as a heroine, much in the same way ScarlettIt is interesting that when this work is discussed or presented, Rebecca Sharp aka Becky Sharp is embraced as a heroine, much in the same way Scarlett O’Hara is lauded for her feminism in Gone with the Wind. Yet both are deeply flawed and misguided characters. I expected to have the same reaction to Sharp that I had to O’Hara, but I found something different in the text. While Margaret Mitchell seems to adore O’Hara, Thackeray presents Becky Sharp as an anti-hero, a fallen family member for whom he has compassion, but maintains disapproval. I didn’t expect that. Additionally, Becky Sharp’s friend Amelia and Scarlett O’Hara’s friend Melanie are markedly different women, with Amelia failing to show the fortitude of Melanie, even as she comes to a rather better end. After writing this review and processing Thackeray’s work, I think I prefer Vanity Fair to Gone with the Wind by a wide margin.
Secondly, I didn’t expect the read to be so utterly convicting. Thackeray uses his tarnished characters to challenge the reader with our own selfish wickedness.
* Don’t we all allow money/ personal appearance/ fashion/ personal pleasantness/ family connection/ power/ status motivate how we treat others? * Don’t we all worry about what we will eat or wear or who we will socialize with or how our children/ descendants will come through the world…? * Don't we all use what we have frivolously, rather occasionally or often? And don’t we take for granted that we earned/ deserve what we have, even if it came to us based merely on our birth? * Don’t we all judge others on their wisdom or foolishness? * Don’t we all change how we treat people based on our judgement of their actions?
Yes, yes, I do these things. Maybe not as spectacularly as some in this novel, but I myself think these things that I would not say. I myself DO these things small scale that they have done with bombast. I found the James 2 come to mind repeatedly as I was reading…. “8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
There is a lot of trying to save people from themselves in Vanity Fair. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to declare the vanity of it. All things end up largely as they started, even as the money, beauty and power change hands from one generation to the next.
Thackeray also develops a strong theme of what sociologists call the war between pragmatism and idealism. Idealism being the better angels of our nature and pragmatism a survival mode. Thackeray brilliantly SHOWS us how this tension plays out in English society a half century before his time. He challenges us: Is Becky’s pragmatism wrong? Is Amelia’s idealism right? How do we know? Are the ‘rules of engagement’ different based on socioeconomic class? Is idealism/ comfort/ politeness a luxury of the blessed? Is pragmatism/ suffering/ rough manners a curse of the wicked? Who is good? Why are those with outward advantages assumed to be good – even as they behave crudely? Why are those with outward disadvantages assumed to be wicked – even as they behave righteously? Who is weak and who is strong, and how do you know?
The plot and the writing to support it are dazzling in their vapidity. Thackeray has given us nuanced characters that embody Ecclesiastes 1, and an ending worthy of the same themes.
Vanity of vanity, all is vanities Ecclesiastes 1 2 …Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. 3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? 4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever... 7 All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. 8 All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us. 11 There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.
Even in the climax of the novel, Thackeray presents the events in such a way that the power of the moment seeps out between the words, pushing the reader to a frustrating experience of futility. The closing lines of the novel are some of the most famous in literature because they capture the experience Thackeray has created for the reader…
“Ah! Vanitas Vanitatum! Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? Or, having it, is satisfied?”
A highly recommended, if not somewhat uncomfortable experience, that I would gladly read again. In fact, I've purchased a hard cover for our permanent library collection.
My review focus' on the women of the storyline. This review I read recently read focuses on the male characters, particularly the contrast between William Dobbin and the dashing George Osbourne... Waiting for Dobbin, Louise France, published online, Independent, Oct 22, 2011 https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en......more
This is a book for men and young men. I'm not saying women and young women cannot eaveadrop on the conversation and enjoy it, but the topic, and especThis is a book for men and young men. I'm not saying women and young women cannot eaveadrop on the conversation and enjoy it, but the topic, and especially the way it is written are firmly rooted in the male world.
Basically, the book presents an introverted accounting of a single battle in the Civil War. This is the young man, Henry Flemings, first battle and he is nervous about how he will aquit himself and what his performance will illuminate about himself to himself and others. Very predictably for an account written by an adolescent, the narrative fluctuates from narcissistic absorption to self-deprecating criticism.
I found the book painful to read. In essence we all see our world and it's happenings from the perspective of self at the center. This was convicting to me. Sure, Fleming is immature, but reading this shows me while I'm not as young as he is, I still have a long way to go.
I also found the book to be plodding (as battles often are). Some readers will be put off by the high vocabulary level and descriptive writing form of Crane's time, but I didn't mind this. There is some graphic content here that will be difficult for more sensitive readers to handle. Battles and death in it's many forms are vividly portrayed. I was particularly intrigued by Crane's use of color to set/ change a scene, give symbolism and vibrance to an account.
All that said, I couldn't give more stars because in the end, I just didn't like Henry Flemming. Even the moment of redemption which comes at the end was not satisfying to me... I found him to be painfully realistic, but not inspiring. But perhaps this is merely the inadequate perspective of a women looking into the male world... ...more
The older I get, the more amazing this "experiment" (as the founding fathers called it) of democracy is to me. To think, this form of government was eThe older I get, the more amazing this "experiment" (as the founding fathers called it) of democracy is to me. To think, this form of government was established such a short time ago. How many people lived and were governed before this form of government was even practiced? And what an impact the creation of our nation has had on our lives and the world... this is truly an amazing document.
Written in the robust prose of the 19th Century, "The Heart of Darkness" creates and maintains a sense of foreboding similar to a gothic novel. Rich sWritten in the robust prose of the 19th Century, "The Heart of Darkness" creates and maintains a sense of foreboding similar to a gothic novel. Rich symbolism abounds throughout the tale. I couldn't help but think of the Bronte's while reading it, and confess, this style is not a favorite of mine.
Nonetheless, there is a lot to rave about here. This is an excellent character driven novel. Conrad explores the character of his storyteller, Marlow, through his actions and reactions in both living and accounting his adventure. The mysterious character of Mr. Kurtz is finely cultivated, inserted in the story as a recurring counter melody that overtakes the work at the end in a triumphant dominance. While primarily about these two men, the story effectively incorporates other characters that are illuminated for a time and then fade into the interplay between Marlow and Kurtz and Africa herself.
For Africa is a character here. Conrad portrays Africa as a savage, living, breathing place that is physically (via disease) and morally (via the hardships, people and cultures living there) corrupting. As a literary device, Conrad's illustration of how the environment of Africa illicits responses of the soul was amazing. He also captured the confusion, the tendency to violence and the fascination of encountering a place in which one is a total stranger. However, if I tried to think of the book from an African perspective, I found myself wondering if Conrad did not shape the mind of the reader in a somewhat less than positive way toward Africa and her people. Finally, it is difficult for me to fathom that Conrad was writing in his second or third language! Incredible.
This is a worthy read that those who enjoy character driven novels will enjoy, and those that like the gothic style will adore. I'm glad I read it. Being a classic, I am thankful for a better understanding of this novel when it is discussed in other works. However, at least at this time, I don't have a strong desire to read it again....more
I'm not a big short story fan. But even though I haven't read this story in years, it is VIVID in my mind. High adventure, mystery and the struggle foI'm not a big short story fan. But even though I haven't read this story in years, it is VIVID in my mind. High adventure, mystery and the struggle for survival. Excellent!...more
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