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Thursday, August 27, 2009

Books You Got Pictures In My Words: Fahrenheit 451

Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 3:14 PM

What's the book? Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation by Ray Bradbury and Tim Hamilton.

What's it about? Der, it's an adaptation of Fahrenheit 451.

What's the art look like?

Do you recommend it? Well, on the one hand, it's a fine adaptation. But on the other hand, it's completely unnecessary. If you really want to read Fahrenheit 451, the book doesn't take more than a couple hours to breeze through. And the adaptation, lovely as the art is, doesn't really add anything to the experience. I suspect it'll just be really popular with kids who get flummoxed by Cliff's Notes.

Comments (5) RSS

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I went through a period where I read every short story by Ray Bradbury that I could get my hands on - and there are well over a hundred of them. I read Fahrenheit 451 because Bradbury had written it, but I remember thinking at the time that it just felt like he'd tried to write a short story, but longer. The narrative pacing just didn't work, and I felt like the book should have been 60 pages shorter.

Posted by arts&letters on August 27, 2009 at 3:34 PM

Despite the genius of its conception, I find Fahrenheit verging on unreadably bad prose. Yes, there are gorgeous poetic passages, but the narrative becomes confusing at times just because Bradbury is talking fancy. If Paul think it can be breezed through in a couple of hours, he has a patience for preciousness and tortured syntex which I lack.

Posted by Stace

on August 27, 2009 at 3:38 PM

I actually got this for my kid as a step towards reading the original. There are a lot of graphic adaptions of neat books out there that make it easier for people to read the original later because they're familiar with the ideas and the flow. They're good literacy tools for kids, and adults who aren't regular readers.

Posted by Patti on August 27, 2009 at 3:39 PM

Do yourself a favor and go see Alphaville instead.

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on August 27, 2009 at 4:25 PM

@3 beat me to it. Graphic novels adaptations of the classics are one of the best literature gateways for reluctant readers. I gotta get this for my school library.

Posted by Rotten666 on August 27, 2009 at 4:53 PM