Literary Pick (**)

Fahrenheit 451 

-Ray Bradbury 

I delayed reading this book for years, and resisted forcing myself to do so simply because it's considered a masterwork of 20th century literature.
Something about the theme of this novel with buzz-words such as dystopia, over-population, extinction, futuristic, and television, repelled me from it from the very beginning. I don't like hearing any of those words. The concept in these kinds of novels frightens me. The need for our society to continuously create bigger and better not only scares me, but disgusts me very deeply as well. So in those terms I was able to appreciate the message of this novel. A lot of which has already happened, and will continue to occur for years to come. Which is why I believe this novel continues to be relevant even in our time today.
When leaving the safety of one's cocoon, it's alarming to see what people have become, and how automatic and mechanical they behave, in actions and response. Parents and children seem to be hypnotized, and what was bad in now good, or mainstream. We've become numb to things that society used to strongly react to, like morality and decency. In that respect I could relate to everything in the book, but what I had difficulty relating to was the style in which it was written. Not too different from A Brave New World, Bradbury's style is somewhat obscure, the scenery, nebulous, and the exchanges bordering on abstract. I found it tedious almost from the very beginning. The story does get better as it progresses. The ending was pretty good and somewhat inspiring. I wouldn't not recommend this book. It's just a genre that fails to reach me as a reader.