It’s an odd sort of a story at the start especially when you hear about the fireman and his job. But once you start digesting it the scenes become more appealing. Ray Bradbury presents before us a world that hates books. Not only it hates books but also having books in the house is considered a serious crime against the government. Guy Montag who is always on the move to eradicate the written literature from the face of the earth finds himself in a fix the day he met his new neighbor.
Montag was not the sort who would like to go against the authority or the culture of the day but its Clarisse that changes his perception all of a sudden when he tells him that books will rule again. The fever of keeping books in the house suddenly begins to rise and it bothers Guy so much that he fails to fight it anymore.
His wife commits suicide without any reason. The neighbor suddenly vanishes as if he was in his dream only. Thus Guy has nothing to do except to store books in the house. And storing books means he is setting up his grave. The spookiness reminds us of The Martian Chronicles and Something Wicked This Way Comes as these novels also share the same terror. However, this time it’s increased by the narration of Tim Robbins who really uses a whispering tone throughout.
The narration never slips from the standard of excellence and finishes the novel in an extraordinary way. Ray too perhaps wanted such sort of voice for the display of his masterpiece.
