A HANDMAID'S TALE

Right now I am reading A HANDMAID'S TALE for the very first time and I am enjoying it a lot. I would hate to live in a future like what Margaret Atwood describes in the book. It is real depressing with all the rules and regulations they have to live by. Another time period I would hate to live in is the one in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Unfortunately I have never gotten around to actually reading the book though I have seen the movie several times. To live in a society where they burn books seems terrible. I know I would be one of the people living in the secret society where they memorize their favorite book word by word so it will live on after they die and will not be lost for future generations. Why don't they all just sit down and write the book down on paper instead of learning how to memorize an entire book? I think I would have a very difficult time trying to remember one of Stephen King's long books like IT or The STAND FOR THE FIRST TIME COMPLETE AND UNEDITED Edition or even of Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles to name a few. I guess they burned all of the libraries and bookstores in their society.

Librarianwannabe

One of the reasons they memorised the story word for word in Fahrenheit 451 was that it was an offence to own a book. You couldn't write it down because then it could be destroyed. By containing it in your memory and passing it on that way, there is no physical book itself. You have no way of knowing if a person contains a book in their memory unless they tell you. Anything written down is immediately obvious what it is.
I would highly recommend reading Fahrenheit 451. While the film is great, the book is much better (as is usually the case) and it deals with the whole situation much more deeply.

Thanks for the advice dreamlikecheese. I will have to put the book on my TBR list. The film is very disturbing in its own right. What you say does make sense to me now since I was never certain why it was considered an offense in the first place to own a book. The society must have been afraid of the knowledge that comes from reading books. The movie version doesn't go into detail about why it is that way.

Does the book explain what happened to all of the libraries and bookstores? If owning books is an offense to begin with it makes me wonder where all of the books came from in the first place. You never see anyone behind the scenes who is responsible for actually making the law in the first place. All you see are the people who are responsible for going around and burning all of the books they can find. One of the ironic parts of the film is the people who burn the books are called Firemen and instead of putting out fires they burn books instead. I remember seeing the film for the first time in the late 60s when I was in the 5th or 6th grade. Even at that young age the thought of someone going around burning books was very offensive to me. I think every once in awhile the Sci-Fi Channel, TNT,USA or some other Cable Channel will get around to showing it.

Librarianwannabe

The real issue with Fahrenheit 451 is it is all about thought control. They actually prefer people not to think in the first place, that way lies, trouble.

This was the first book I read in the dystopia genre. It blew me away. I'd love to hear what you think of the ending.

I saw the movie several years ago and was disappointed with the translation to film.

Definitely read the 451 book, it is much better than the movie... it's very relevant for our time, without being caught up in the trippy 60's-ness of the film...

Handmaid's Tale is also very good, and if you enjoy YA fiction at all, Lois Lowry's The Giver is similar...

heck, even if you don't like/read YA, try The Giver!