Rating: 
Summary: Proof that a must read is not necessarily a good read.
Review: Written in the late forties, Orwell's 1984 is clearly a product of its time; a time when the advent and eventual use of the atom bomb threatened the end of civilization. I admire Orwell for the amount of thought and imagination he must have put into the development of this book. It is an example of how a powerful imagination can teeter between extremes of pure optimism and, in this case, paranoia. In 1984, Orwell's vision of the future is grim: war is constant; freedom, as we know it, is an ancient and outdated concept; and love, for anything but government, is perverse. Winston, the book's protagonist, struggles with a lost sense of self and his fear of a government (the Party) that punishes the pursuit of individual fulfillment. Most disturbing is that, in the end, rather than die as a martyr, he embraces his oppressive government fully aware his capitulation will precipitate his own death. Orwell's commentary on the evolution of totalitarianism is profound. Orwell asserts that post-Neolithic governments, with the benefit of written history, were, over time, able to reduce the threat of overthrow using lessons learned by fallen predecessors. Orwell argues that throughout history people have been divided among high, middle and lower classes; and that, with the advancement of successive governments, the intent of the higher class to maintain power over the lower classes has become less explicit. This has left the lower classes less inclined to revolt. In 1984, the proletariat is under the illusion that their government represents their interest. The Party fosters this illusion, in part, by constantly "updating" any record of the past. As a result, people are unaware of how terrible their lives are relative to the lives of those who lived before them. Newspeak, the language created by the ruling party in 1984, is amazingly detailed and seems feasible. It is based on the English language, and its vocabulary grows smaller instead of larger every year. An appendix, included in the book, enumerates some of the terminology and syntax of the language, and explains how the language is designed to control the thoughts of those who utilize it. Orwell's prose is not noticeably good or bad. The book's strength is in its power to make people think.
Rating: 
Summary: Big Brother is Watching
Review: I've recently finished reading Nineteen Eighty-Four, and it has to be one of the best books I've ever read. It's about the life of Winston Smith, who lives in a alternate future, where the world is ruled by power-hungry socialists who control every aspect of people's lives, right down to their very thoughts.
Winston believes that he remembers a happier time before the revolution, when people were free, wars could be won, and laws dictated governments. He decides to rebel against the system, despite the threat of being killed, by starting a journal.
This is definitely one of the best books I've ever read. It offers insights not only into the possibility of a horrible future, but also into a confusing present. An example of this is how the book introduces the idea of "doublethink," a practice where a person holds two contradictory beliefs at once, and can still believe both. Orwell leads us to believe that this is but an evil communist idea, but in fact, he is satirizing the propaganda of our own "free world."
All in all, I immensely enjoyed what is undoubtedly the author's biggest masterpiece, and would instantly recommend it to just about anyone.
Rating:
Summary: eye - opening
Review: This book, which was George Orwell's basic predicitions for what to come can have many different meanings. It all depends on you, the reader. Not only does it make you wonder if your trapped, or in a totaltarism kind of the world, but it then makes you think your glad your not. (or are we?) I'm only a teenager, but I have a tendency to question authority. This is one of the best books I have ever read. 1984 is filled with intellectual thoughts and ideas. Youi will definitly NOT regret reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Greatest Book Ever
Review: Why are you even spending time to read reviews of this book. Any educated individual should read this masterpiece. What a book, what an ending, what does our future really hold?
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking and at times chilling
Review: Many have heard allusions to Big Brother through television or movies. Many have heard that they should read this book because it's a classic, or because of the amazing predictions from 1949 about life in the future. Everyone should read this book. If you read it hoping to find action, or hoping to find a tie to the world as we know it, you most likely won't comprehend the actual meaning of the words. You'll be most successful if you consider what we have today compared to what we had when Orwell wrote the book in 1949. Think of how much the world has changed, and how far there is left to go. Read this book, and every chapter think of the relationship to everyday life. This isn't a book that should be skimmed. Think of the implications of Orwell's predictions. Realize that it could happen. Is it a novel, or is it possible? Are we starting to live in Orwell's world?
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Summary: Increases its relivance in post 1984 years
Review: This is a spellbinding book. George Orwell has created in this book a society that could very well the most horrific situation any human being could ever find itself in. I loved every aspect of the book: the plot, the characterizations, the future shock, the political and religious allegories and the appropriate bleakness and gloominess that eventually wears you down towards absolute fear of the future. Though I loved the relationship between Winston Smith and O'Brien and their encounters in Part III of the novel, it was the affair of Winston and Julia that was central to the novel. With these two characters, Orwell gave us two completely identifiable and realistic characters that we like immediately. It was as though the two of them were thrown into a maze of oppression and tried to free themselves, just like any of us today would do. It is here that Orwell gives us the sense of hope that all humans have that good will of course triumph over evil and freedom will come from their slavery. Though it is obvious that they probably won't be succesful in their rebellion of Big Brother, we admire them for being human: to fall in love and to be distinct humans and to have regular thoughts, feelings and memories. In the end, when they are captured by the thought police, seperated, tortured like animals, brainwashed and released back into the collective, it is all the more heartbreaking that they, like human nature, has fallen prey to them enemy: communism. Their final meeting at the end is more heartbreaking in how they know they betrayed each other and have been conformed, resulting in the loss of their love for each other. I don't believe that this was a love story but I thought this relationship served as the means by which the reader would identify their rebellion of the Party and their failure. To those who felt cheated by this ending, it would have underminded and ruined every theme that Orwell made throughout the book about totaltarianism: a man cannot break free of the state and overcome it if the state can succeed in taking away his individuality and place the state within him. To give the book a pleasing ending would take away the message that communism should be feared; for if Winston could beat the Party, everyone after him can as well. To give him that victory would cheat the audience more. Above all, 1984 succeeds in how it will always be relevant in todays society. The U.S. now wants to monitor all activity over the mail and internet for security reasons because of Sept. 11. We are at the starting point of a war which may conduct itself over a long period of time. Security cameras are stationed at every corner in downtown london to monitor the activity of the citizens. We have experienced the serious threats and wide spread fears and panics of communism of the 1950s and 1960s and a cold war between captialism and communism which was very close to being an Orwellian Revolution of sorts. It is a great book in not only being entertaining but being insightful. It surpasses horrific masterpiece, it is a warning.
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Summary: The Mother of Dark Prognostication
Review: What simpleton compares "1984" to "Brave New World?" New World is a simple morality tale about a world forced into conspicuous consumption. Yawn. 1984 is the frightening tale of a future gone awry, and a brutal government well aware of its intention to maintain power at all cost. We follow Winston, an editor with an odd job, rewriting history. Wiston is forced to "double think" his way through a life he knows is contrived to forever remain stagnant. As Winston ponders the present, the war weary remains of Oceania's capital, London, he is forced to deal with memories of a very different past - and he fails to reconcile the two. Orwell's eye is a magic thing. A reporter at heart, his eye for detail in fiction and reportage is awesome. While reading 1984, one feels Orwell IS Winston, in his head and in his world. With any imagination it becomes easy to allow 1984 to become real, and Winston's desperation your own. Orwell side steps silly sci-fi detail (that dopey Huxley embraces too readily. What is it with all the helicopters in "Brave New World," anyway?)and creates a desperate world that, though written 50 years ago, seems perfectly plausible now. This chilling masterpiece is a must read for anyone who ponders the delicate balance of power and politics. More so, this dark tome considers the loss of individuality in an increasing global society. At first blush, it is easy to dismiss 1984 as completely off the mark, but after some consideration, one is forced to concede that maybe nothing here is really improbably. A must read.
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Summary: More than a great novel
Review: 1984 by George Orwell is the frightening classic about the loss of freedom of thought in a totalitarian society. Judging from the luminous exposition of the world of 1984's structure, found in latter bit of part 2, Orwell scholarlily traced the history of organized society to date and decided upon a strictly terrifying and inhumane future. The author's vision of 1984 (conceived in 1949) is a cold, shocking and quite believable one. The Americas and England are united under the banter of Oceania. Big Brother is the godlike icon that leads Oceania. The Party is its governmental body. Anything the party says, any moral it promotes, any record of the past (including who has died or who has ever been born) it keeps is correct. One is monitored by the Party at all times and should not find that uncomfortable. If one shows any sign of unorthodoxy, anything but love and obedience to Big Brother and the Party, he or she must doublethink it, let it submerge into the unconscious and be replaced by more appropriate feelings or else he or she has committed thoughtcrime. With the almost omnipotent Party's stringent regulation of thoughts, 1984's protagonist, Winston Smith, feels like a dead man before the narration even begins. Orwell takes readers along Smith's gloomy, hopeless path of deviation, from scribbling of "Down with Big Brother" in a furtive diary to his falling in love with the spirited, young rebel, Julia to his active mutiny to finally his inevitable detainment and terrifying rehabilitation, a process which takes readers to the black heart of the Party. Not only is 1984 a well paced, masterfully executed narrative, the concepts and principles it explores are awfully universal and still utterly relevant. One could apply Orwell's hypothesis's to both the adulation of figures from the American Revolution and how unquestionable we consider their policies and current events in the U.S. as explained by the exceptional review posted by Jim Brett on October third. 1984 is more than just a superb novel. It is a warning.
Rating:
Summary: outstanding
Review: this was an excellent book. the plot is great; it has suspence, and lots of other good things like that.
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Summary: 1984 and counting!
Review: Required reading. Unfortunately Orwell was not obvious enough. 1984 was not a prediction of what was to come. Orwell was writing about what already existed. As I read some reviews and talk to "educated" people, I'm amazed at how many believe that Orwell was not talking about America but rather some "evil" empire like Russia, China or Cuba. Wake up Winston! Big Brother has been alive and well for HUNDREDS of years. Could terrorism be our present "outside threat"? It depends on whether outside means inside. Ask Emperor Clinton. Does sex mean sex? Does Is mean is? Newspeak is here to stay. If you'd like to read something clearly written about government and society look for HOW TO SAVE AMERICA AND THE WORLD: The Elimination of Terrorism, Greed and Other Evils. (Available January 2002)
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