Book Description
"Monday burn Millay, Wednesday Whitman, Friday Faulkner, burn ’em to ashes, then burn the ashes." For Guy Montag, a career fireman for whom kerosene is perfume, this is not just an official slogan. It is a mantra, a duty, a way of life in a tightly monitored world where thinking is dangerous and books are forbidden.In 1953, Ray Bradbury envisioned one of the world's most unforgettable dystopian futures, and in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, the artist Tim Hamilton translates this frightening modern masterpiece into a gorgeously imagined graphic novel. As could only occur with Bradbury's full cooperation in this authorized adaptation, Hamilton has created a striking work of art that uniquely captures Montag's awakening to the evil of government-controlled thought and the inestimable value of philosophy, theology, and literature. Including an original foreword by Ray Bradbury and fully depicting the brilliance and force of his canonic and beloved masterwork, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is an exceptional, haunting work of graphic literature.
Look Inside This Stunning Adaptation of Fahrenheit 451
In the panels below, fireman Guy Montag returns home after a night of burning books and encounters Clarice, a teenager who changes his life.
Click on each image to enlarge. |
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 Impressive! I enjoyed it thoroughly |
| Review Date: August 12, 2009 |
| Reviewer: M. Helmke, |
I first read about this graphic novel adaptation of Ray Bradbury's classic book about a month ago. I was immediately intrigued. The original book is one of my all time favorites and I wanted to see if a graphic adaptation could do it justice. In short: it does.
Tim Hamilton and the folks at Hill and Wang, with the blessing of Ray Bradbury, who writes the introduction to the book, have produces a beautiful and well crafted retelling of the classic story that is both true to the original and able to stand on its own.
For those unfamiliar with the story, Guy Montag is a fireman, only in his world firemen don't put out fires, they start them. Books are banned and are the target of the firemen's activity. One day, Montag meets a person who intrigues him with her joie de vivre. He has never met anyone so alive and vibrant and he wonders why. He also begins to look at his own life and realizes he is not happy, that there is something missing. The rest of the tale revolves around his struggle to find meaning in a sterile, inoffensive world where everything is brought down to a common denominator of homogeneous agreeability. I won't spoil your enjoyment by revealing more than that.
Those of us who know the story well will note a few details are missing from this adaptation. Like when a movie is made, in this graphic novel it appears that some details of the written story were sacrificed to enable a cleaner telling in the new medium. Again, to avoid spoilers I won't mention here what has been left out, but I will say that the overall structure and message remain intact and the story does not suffer from the loss. Instead, those who move from this as an initial taste will find the book richer and even more enjoyable.
What about the artwork? That is the main point here, isn't it? I loved it. The artist chose a wonderful style to convey the emotion and action that is reminiscent of the minimalism of 1940s propaganda art, with a limited color palate on each page and just enough detail to convey the main point. Please don't read that to mean the art is simple or simplistic. On the contrary, Hamilton does an amazing job of choosing which details are most important and distilling the scenes down to only those which further the plot, emotion, or scene. Extraneous information is nowhere to be seen. That can only be by design and due to the disciplined intent of the artist. Detail that is useful is everywhere, and throughout the book the art complements the text beautifully while taking nothing away from it. That is an achievement.
I confess, I am a reader. I always have several books being read concurrently, stashed here and there for convenience. Fahrenheit 451 is a book I have read several times and which I love. I admit there was some trepidation when I heard about it being adapted into a new form. In this case, none was needed. I am not only pleased by the quality of the graphic novelization, but happy to recommend it. In fact, this makes me want to request a few other classic novels to be adapted, not as replacements, but as introductions to whet the appetites of the curious in the hopes of satisfying their initial curiosity about the works as well as convince some who might not otherwise to delve in and read the originals. Now, I wonder where I put the publisher's email address? |
Review of `Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation'
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| Review Date: August 8, 2009 |
| Reviewer: John P.R., Brooklyn |
Review of `Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation' GN
ICv2 Stars: 5 (out of 5)
"Hamilton's artwork is just realistic enough to make the scenes even more powerful, important when working with prose
as strong as Bradbury's. His version of the entertainment walls, and their contents, is even more frightening than
when huge-screen televisions were still science fiction. Soap operas, giant fish and killer clowns become
essential to lives devoid of meaning, or even thought. His depiction of the burning of books
(and occasionally their readers) is traumatic to anyone who loves the printed word."
Because of scenes of violence, this book is for teens and up.
-Review by Nick Smith |
Fahrenheit 451, the graphic novel
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| Review Date: August 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: David Mcalpine, New Hampshire U.S.A |
| I think all of Ray Bradbury's stories are difficult to capture in movies. I think most of them have bombed. It's a shame that a writer that captures the imagination and illustrates it so well can't be translated into movies (so far). However, after reading this graphic novel, I believe Tim Hamilton was able to capture the visual magic of Bradbury's best novel in pictures. My message to younger people who have never read 451 (the book), but are picking up this graphic novel for the first time, need to read the book! Although this graphic novel is brilliant and works wonderfully as a graphic novel, it is abridged from the book. Since the whole subject of 451 is about the value of a book and it's ideas, the graphic novel should never replace the book, only add to its color and life! Have fun leafing through the pages of this great graphic version of 451! |
Great Adaptation
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| Review Date: August 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: James R. Carr, Columbia, MO |
I read the original novel while on a 6 hour train ride to Chicago 6 years ago. While in the book store browsing for a book to read while on a similar trip to Chicago, I discovered this graphic novel on the bookshelf and thought it'd be fun to re-read it in graphic novel form.
Let me say, I loved it! I was impressed to see that the illustrations in the graphic novel were able to match up completely with the images I a imagined the first time I read it. :) |
Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation
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| Review Date: August 30, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Patricia Suhoski, Phoenix, AZ |
| This is a good book, beautifully illustrated. My grandnson and I read this book after reading the original Fahrenheit 451 as part of his required summer reading. He liked seeing the illustrations and reading the text. Very well done. |
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