Fahrenheit 451 (part uno)

93 pages in (119 actually. I read ahead. Oops.) and I'm really enjoying Fahrenheit 451 so far. It's similar to Life of Pi in that the main character seems deeply disturbed and is continuously waging inner warfare in order to weed out his demons, which makes the book all the better. The way the future is portrayed is actually quite frightening, because it depicts the way that society is headed in a startlingly accurate manner. Bradbury does a fantastic job of avoiding straight narration, rather using conversation and deep description to bring the story along. In all honesty, the plot isn't a very developed one, from what I've read, but Bradbury still manages to spice the story up in a way that makes it enjoyable. In addition, the book has moments that are utterly hilarious. For instance, Captain Beatty's spiel on page 61 about tricking the average citizens into believing they're valuable and informed was hysterical. I thought that actually quite notable, in that it shared a characteristic with the book itself, in that the book is predominantly dark and cryptic but has sporadic flashes of fire, and the funny moments represent that fire. Loose connection? Undoubtedly.
As much as I like the book, I hate Mildred. She seems to represent the average people in this futuristic society, but she's SO STUPID. The more she became involved, the more I hated her. She represents that which I hate in real people: stupidity, at the highest of levels. The quick death of Clarisse bothered me a little bit, but after continuing to read, I kind of forgot about her, which is probably what Bradbury wanted the reader to do. Making the readers share traits with characters in the books, in this case disregard and short memory, is an immeasurable skill that few writers seem to have.
Overall I'm enjoying Fahrenheit 451, and having already read ahead a little bit, I will continue to like it. It's my favorite book out of the few we've read so far, and I hope the end is just as good as the beginning.