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Summary: oh yes. this is a good one.
Review: this was the first novel ever that i have finished (i tend to read the first few pages and quickly move over to the end). yes. like a winter in london under heavy smog, this novel has a gloomy, cold, and a bit cynical perspective. but there's something pulling you in. it's the secret love between winston and julia. so beautiful. soon to be crushed like a flower under some fat tires, though...
Rating: 
Summary: 1984: A book for it's time
Review: By giving it 2 stars I'm not saying the book had no affect on me, 2 stars means it's ok, now my review. When I read Animal Farm by George Orwell, I was blown away, it was a great book, with such a great meaning behind it. So when I decided to read 1984, I was hoping it'd be better, but when I started reading it, I almost fell asleep. It is said to have a warning for Governments behind it, and I guess in 1943 it did, but in the year 2000, I dont think it warns anyone. He was trying to say, that when a government or anyone tries for a Utopia(perfect place) that it falls in on them, and can never work out. Just like The Giver, by Lois Lowry, that book was very good, where a boy grows up in a town where it's all black and white, and people ride bikes everywhere. The people ride bikes so there is no pollution, and also because they dont leave their little town, it blew me away, and maybe you should read it, if you already haven't. But as for 1984 I dont know, I guess I was expecting too much, and didn't get what I was hoping for. Jesse
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Summary: Extremely scary--A Warning for all future generations
Review: When reading this book, one is dragged through the emotions of love, hate, betrayal, despair, and utter, unabashed rage. This novel tells a story of negative utopia in which the government knows all and sees all. The citizens are worthless except as workers. Winston and Julia go through a secret love affair despite better judgement. The use of allegory for socialism is impressive. Many parallels, obvious and subtle, can be drawn between the two. The story is enthralling and the book is hard to put down. The reader may feel safe from the situation in this book, but it is not impossible. Of course, 1984 has come and gone, but we must realize that such situations are possible. That is why this book deserves 5 stars. 1984 uses exaggeration to prove a point. Freedom and capitalism are definately worth the drawbacks. We see that if we give the government our freedom, we will eventually become slaves to the government. Orwell was brilliant in this work. We are forewarned. Everyone should read this book (at least once) and try to take a lesson from it.
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Summary: 1984
Review: a dark anti-utopian book with under lying meanings about history in foreign countrys
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Summary: 1984-A World of the Future
Review: In a utopian society there is no pain. There is no disease, and there is no jealousy of any sort. What would happen if there would be no thought allowed too? Would not this eliminate pain, worries, and jealosy? Would it be chaos, or would it create the ultimate utopian society? In the city of Oceania, one man would dare to question the paradisiacal utopian society which was created. Winston Smith was alive during the glorious revolution, when Big Brother and the Brotherhood commandeered control. From then on, there were three basic rules: war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength. Big Brother was supreme. If you uttered a word against him, you would be vaporized, and erased from society. Who controls the present controls the present controls the past. Those who control the future controls the present. Winston needs to find a way to end the reign of Big Brother, and time is running out. The Thought Police are coming for him, and by the time he finds how to vanquish them, it may be too late.
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Summary: 1984 is Here!
Review: Anyone who read George Orwell's classic 1984 when they were younger and didn't enjoy it, needs to give it another read. I understood its freightening warning much better when I read it as an older more mature person. I just saw a show on MSNBC the other night about real "Big Brother" technology that is in use today. Some cities in England are using stratigicly placed surveillance cameras that can actually automatically focus in on suspicious looking characters and run a picture of their face against a database of known criminals. Another example of "Big Brother" technology is electronic toll collection systems that allow the "authorities" to track your whereabouts. Certainly, doublespeak is often used in politics and to shape public opinion today. Bombing innocent civilians and causing widespread destruction is now the meaningless term "collateral damage". The "Defense Department" is more of an offensive international policing agency that is ready, willing, and able to wreak havoc on any country which is diagreeable to the United States. Nuclear missles are dubiously named "peacekeepers". IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH is America today. How many people in America actually educate themselves about the issues of the day and about the real nature of the politicians running for office? It's pretty obvious to anyone who has bothered to educate themselves that many politicians often don't practice what they preach. People are too quick to just accept sound bites as facts, and don't bother to educate themselves regarding the issues of the day. The only way we can prevent a totalitarian regime like George Orwell described in 1984 from becomming a reality is for every person to be vigilant about protecting their rights and the rights of others, and for people to constantly question things and educate themselves. Unfortantely, I don't have much hope that people will actually prevent George Orwell's nightmare vision from becoming a reality. We're closer than most people realize. 1984 is here!
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Summary: Still a very good story
Review: 1984 was for me the most interesting book I've read in 2000. Though the book is written in a time in which the political spectrum in the world was totally different, this book still has a high warning rate for everybody who is thinking that freedom, or better said, being free, is something that is well assured nowadays. The treath of being dominated by 'things', and not , is with the continuing rise of the technological influence in modern society still a great treath. Besides, we already have a Big Brother. The TV-program with the same name, which started in my home country, is now conquering the world. As if this program doesn't demonstrate the fact that we are about to loose our knowledge for making ethical decisions. 1984 is still a warning for everybody, and therefore highly recommendable.
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Summary: 1984 - Frighteningly Realistic
Review: George Orwell's horrific representation of Oceania, a world power and dominating force throughout the story, is a frighteningly realistic presentation of how governments work. Orwell displays the common theme of disinformation (called "doublethink")used by government powers. Although 1984 has come and passed, the idea that governments can gain totalitarian control through complacent, uniterested citizens is not far from present conditions. 1984 is an excellent read, filled with wondrous insight for everyone.
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Summary: Orwell's 1984
Review: Nineteen Eighty Four The book nineteen eighty-four is a novel of fiction written by George Orwell in 1948. Orwell's book is set in the year 1984 and is an account given by the main character Winston smith. In the book we find the world is broken into three different governments (Oceania,Eastasia,and Euraisa), and that Smith is a citizen of Oceania. Oceania is ruled by a tyrannical form of government known as the Party, which is controlled by a dictator referred to as Big Brother. The Party is broken-up into several branches called ministry's, and Smith is employed at the Ministry of Truth, which falsifies any records that would hurt the reputation of the Party. So the society in which Smith is accompanied essentially believes everything they are told, what to do, say, believe, and so on. Smith however gains a conception that this is not right an that freedom is better than tyranny. This however is constituted as one of the most serious crimes in Oceania; it is referred to as thought crime. In this society people are punished for not believing what the government tells them even if what they proclaim is absolutely ridicules. For instance, that 2+2=5, and if there is no evidence either supporting or conflicting that, what they have said must be true. At the end of the book Smith is tortured for committing thought crime and eventually released virtually unable to think for himself. I believe, if there is anything we can take from Orwell's novel,it is that freedom is precious, and should not be taken lightly or for granted, and that we as Americans should never forget the price that our fore fathers paid to receive it.
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Summary: Good Read as Both Sci-Fi and Analysis of Society
Review: This is one of those books that you here so much about before you have a chance to read it. It makes you seem to think that you know what to expect from cover to cover. You are flat out wrong. Yes, with an overbearing government and a subversive hero this work had me riveted and unable to put it down until I had read it twice. The book can also be likened to a modern day example of Machiacelli's "Prince" and had definite anarcho/commune supporting undertones. One of the members of the Inner Party takes the time to explain in detail how a political group can stay in power. The surreptitious "Book" explains all there is to know about class struggle and how to eliminate it. Fantastic as both a political and as a literary work.
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