The Hearth and the Salamander

When I opened this book, the first sentence took me completely off guard. I read the line a few more times until I was sure that what I read was correct. "It was a pleasure to burn." You couldn't imagine how many things were already flying thru my had at the moment. I continued on, and found myself trying to make my mind understand that the firemen I was reading about didn't put out fires, or save people from burning buildings, no. No, on the contrary, they started the fires, and were immensely frustrated when a person happened to still be on the premises, in a attempt to save their precious books, which seem to be the single motive of the terrible fires; it seemed to complicate their sanity when a building wasn't empty, make them feel guilty in a small way that was easy to ignore on all other accounts.

It took me so long to actually understand that Montag had met and was talking to a strange girl rather than an ex-girlfriend or something, someone who may be stalking him. I analyzed every word that she said. She spoke of times of peace. Then, the scene switches to Montag in his home, finding that his wife had OD on some sort of pills. I was so confused!! It was really disconcerting to me, how he described somehow already knowing that he would kick that little silver bottle. And it started to get interesting to me, these series of events: how he would always see the girl, the near-attack by The Hound, the conversation he had with his fellow firemen about how things used to be.

I really do like this book. It is exactly the nonsense that I would read(as my mom would say after reading the first page). I look forward to reading the rest of the book. Cheer up Elvis!