Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation by Tim Hamilton
The novel is one of my all time favorite books. I don't know if I'm crazy or weird (or if I care if I'm either), but there are a handful of books that I've spent all night/day reading and I can remember the circumstances as if it were yesterday. This is one of those books. It's not a terribly inspiring story, but here it is.
I was in high school and staying over at a friend's house (whose name I can no longer remember so we were really close obviously). She had a dachshund with what she described as "a humping problem." For some reason we slept on the floor. I had visions of waking up inadvertently in a compromising position with this dog, so I had to find something to distract myself. I happened upon this book and read it all night non-stop. Despite the ridiculous circumstances, it blew my mind.
Fast forward blahblahblah years and I happened upon this graphic novelization (is that a term? It is now). I remember the basics from the novel and the film adaptation. However some of the finer points have escaped my memory. One of the first quotes that really struck me was when Montag is talking to Faber. Faber says, "Books, so the damned snobbish critics said, were dishwater. No wonder books stopped selling. The public, knowing what it wanted, let the comic books survive." Oh, the irony. The novel itself is a diminutive little thing. I read it in just a few hours - I've read much longer books in about the same time. But we now need a comic book adaptation of a book about how the public's attention is too short for more weighty material.
Another quote that stood out is "I saw the way things were going, a long time back. I said nothing. I'm one of the innocents who could have spoken up but I did not speak and thus became guilty myself." If there is ever a sentiment that needs to be remembered it is this hearkening back to Martin Niemoller's quote:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
(from the Holocaust Encyclopedia website)
It may be an odd thing, this adaptation. But even if it helps to give this sort of ADD generation a chance to understand the power of the ideas inherent in books, it has done an incredibly important job.
I was in high school and staying over at a friend's house (whose name I can no longer remember so we were really close obviously). She had a dachshund with what she described as "a humping problem." For some reason we slept on the floor. I had visions of waking up inadvertently in a compromising position with this dog, so I had to find something to distract myself. I happened upon this book and read it all night non-stop. Despite the ridiculous circumstances, it blew my mind.
Fast forward blahblahblah years and I happened upon this graphic novelization (is that a term? It is now). I remember the basics from the novel and the film adaptation. However some of the finer points have escaped my memory. One of the first quotes that really struck me was when Montag is talking to Faber. Faber says, "Books, so the damned snobbish critics said, were dishwater. No wonder books stopped selling. The public, knowing what it wanted, let the comic books survive." Oh, the irony. The novel itself is a diminutive little thing. I read it in just a few hours - I've read much longer books in about the same time. But we now need a comic book adaptation of a book about how the public's attention is too short for more weighty material.
Another quote that stood out is "I saw the way things were going, a long time back. I said nothing. I'm one of the innocents who could have spoken up but I did not speak and thus became guilty myself." If there is ever a sentiment that needs to be remembered it is this hearkening back to Martin Niemoller's quote:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
(from the Holocaust Encyclopedia website)
It may be an odd thing, this adaptation. But even if it helps to give this sort of ADD generation a chance to understand the power of the ideas inherent in books, it has done an incredibly important job.
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