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Summary: A veritable premonition
Review: Winston Smith is a pitiful lead character, yet we doubtlessly empathize with him and feel his infinite despair. His destitute disenfranchisement from any semblance of normality is not only shocking and frightening, it is downright abominable. I would hate to spoil this ingenious book for anyone, so I will refrain from dissecting the ending. However, I must say that it did leave an immensely pungent taste in my mouth - as is intended.1984 is as potent as it is mesmerizing. It is infinitely unique as there is no other book quite like it, albeit Brave New World is strikingly similar. Two Minutes of Hate is classic. Who cannot appreciate the ThoughtPolice, DoubleTalk, DoubleSpeak, and the many other Orwellian words that have been firmly implanted in the English language? 1984 could very well be the most profoundly provocative work of the 20th Century. 1984 projects an appalling, yet veritable premonition in lieu of our continually decreasing civil liberties. Highly recommended by this humble reviewer. Enjoy.
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Summary: Great Story
Review: George Orwell wrote 1984 to show us his grim view on what shape life would take by the year 1984. Orwell not only wrote about the world of the future, but also stood out by writing his idea of the supremely successful, and everlasting government, the anti-Utopia. Within the story Orwell created the Brother Hood, an evil organization with advanced technology and the desire for power, even at the expense of sanity. Winston, the main character of the story, is a comrade under the Brother Hood. He turns out to be quite the odd man out, since Winston is always seeking for some sort of salvation from the evil grasp of the Brother Hood. Since the Brother Hood watches everyone in Oceania, the country Winston lives in, twenty-four hours a day through two-way telescreens, all personal and social lives of its countrymen are eliminated. The Brother Hood skillfully takes apart all connections between its citizens, leaving them weak and alone, also preventing them from rebellious organization. The Brother Hood destroyed the bonds between family members by instilling pure fear, the fear that your spouse, or even your child will turn you in for thought crime. To commit a thought crime, it would have to appear that your mind is thinking in some way that is opposing the Brother Hood and Big Brother's, the supreme ruler of the Brother Hood, bests interests. This is the Brother Hoods way of controlling what you think; giving them the power to break a man's sanity, and mold him in any way they please. This society formed as the anti-Utopia has one advantage over other ruling parties, it does not promise love and equality for its citizens in the end, but sets forth to create hate, separation, and total inequality among people, making their rule everlasting and indestructible.
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Summary: Read Only If You Have Time To Think
Review: You can't always read a book merely because it's a "classic" and expect it to be "that good." Yet 1984 IS "that good." The first half of the book is a bit slow and stagnant, yet the end section of this book is absolutely frightening and marvelous. What happens to Julia and Winston is so incredibly sad that I cried. Yes, this is just a book. Yet, when you think in a broader perspective... if you rise above the "plot" and think of Orwell's message, you can't help but be in awe. Think about it, Orwell's three principles in the book: WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH How relevant is that to today?! When you answer that question, you realize WHY this is novel, written in 1949, is a "future" novel...yet you realize how the eerie future Orwell presents in his novel relates to modern times. A must-read...but don't just read it. It's more important to try to grasp Orwell's message in the book. Marvelous, wonderful, frightening, and more importantly, it makes you think.
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Summary: Unfortunately timeless
Review: I first read 1984 in 1982. I was in my early teens, the Cold War seemed anything but that, and the fear of nuclear annihiliation was quite real. Although this fear has resurfaced in the last year and a half, at least in those years there was an antinuclear movement that gave some hope for disarmament. On my first reading, Orwell's vision of a nightmarish future seemed relevant to both superpowers' hopes for world domination. What has stayed with me through the collapse of the Soviet Union, however, was Orwell's fascinating treatment of language and truth, his dissection of the ways people in offices of immense power, regardless of their political affiliation, distort reality to suit their purposes. The idea that resistance to such distortion begins with being true to oneself and decent to the people around you has sustained me through a dismal political era. In 1984, Orwell shows how such truthfulness and decency are their own rewards. I've read 1984 five times in twenty years and I've recently taught it for the first time. It's remarkable that Orwell's perceptions, written over fifty years ago, remain relevant regardless of the party in power, whether there are two superpowers or one, whether people read 1984 in the radio age or the Internet age. In a society whose citizens are linked more by their spending habits than their political outlooks, where many personal desires are shaped by images of inaccessible lifestyles, Orwell's perspective on language and truth, appearance and reality, become even more relevant than when they were first written. Readers often criticize Orwell's pessimism but he didn't underestimate our capacity to go along with things as they are. He might have avoided this criticism had he made Parsons, the loyal, dim-witted Party member, a more prominent counterpoint to Winston. Most of us, sadly, don't need to go to Room 101 to learn to love Big Brother. If we think of Big Brother as the various industries and ideologies that help us convince ourselves that seeing is believing, then we already, willingly, do.
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Summary: A novel for the ages...
Review: 1984 is not just a science fiction story, or a political book, or even a fantasy story, but a book on ideas, a book of thought and philosophy. Winstin Smith is us, men and women who believe in Truth and history, family and love and sex, if such things can be linked together. And Orwell shows us they CAN be linked, because they are freedoms, as important as the freedom to vote or speak. Without the basic rights that even many ANIMALS have, without the foundation of current passions and private memories, a free world can NEVER exist.
Maybe I am reading too much into it. But I feel the book goes beyond fears of the industrial elite within Western societies, big corporations and Communism. Or maybe it goes beneath these fears, to the root of them all, which is our fear of losing our way.
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Summary: Magnificent!
Review: I was required to read this in high school, I'm now a college student and I still love it! It is one of the best books I've read. The first time I read it, there were parts I was a little frustrated with, but at the end, I was certainly not disappointed! I highly reccommend this book to anyone. We all should read it!
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Summary: Read it!
Review: Why are you sitting there? Get up and read this book. It may show you how human you really are...
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Summary: Doubleplusgood!
Review: Most certainly a must read. This book shows how the government can easily take control of its power, and use it against the ordinary people. They control your memories. A must read for any conspriracy theorist,or just about anyone else. Big Brother is watching.
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Summary: Amazing.
Review: I really enjoyed reading this. It's a shame I didn't get the more expensive hardcover because I plan to keep this book and read it as many times as I possibly can in my life time. It's a brilliantly written satire of what our world would be like without the free will that some people take for granted. This book was so good that I would say that there should be a law that everyone read this, but that would kind of contradict what the book is about. I'm pretty confident that after you've finished, you'll be glad you bought this book.
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Summary: Required Reading
Review: 1984 is, quite simply, a book that everyone should read. It is one man's view of the world that we were, and still are, becoming, and it is a view that is not a pleasant one. Told through the eyes of an ordinary citizen living in London, George Orwell expounds upon the ways in which an unchecked government would intrude into our daily lives. From the cameras that are always watching, to the children who are brainwashed by the state to spy on "thought criminals," to the revisionist history that is nothing but pure propaganda, and the continual reduction of one's rations for military purposes, the country that is run by Big Brother is one in which there are truly no freedoms, and those who speak out are quickly silenced. It is also a story of hope, even in the face of such an invincible enemy. The main characters attempt futily to fight back, trying to find their own form of seclusion. Yet, whom can they trust? It seems as though everyone is on the government's payroll. In the end, they have to make a last ditch effort for a piece of freedom, knowing the consequences will be severe if they are caught. 1984 is, to some extent, a slow read, but this is necessary due to the intricate descriptions of the characters' ordinary actions. While news of the war is always heard of in the background, the front is far off, if it exists at all. Rather, we are taken into the homes, workplaces, pubs, and streets of a horrifying world in which we have no power, save that to succumb to the wishes of our rulers. 1984 is a warning to those who would place too much power into our government's hands, for as we have seen in real-life examples, the government is not afraid to abuse the power it is given.
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