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Summary: Timeless
Review: I recall the flurry of TV and print documentaries that appeared in 1984, all striving to answer the question "How close are we?" I thought that generally they missed the point.Yes, Orwell's classic was ostensibly about Totalitarianism, but on a deeper level, it is all about control. 'He who controls the past, controls the present' is Orwell's brilliant insight. And, as such, his thesis is applicable to an astonishlingly wide variety of modern situations. How do ... religious leaders get their followers to blindly accept everything they say? Simple application of doublethink, though policing and control of information. How do modern conglomerates get away with collecting and selling your personal information? Tell you that its all for your own protection, that's how. 1984 is a brilliant, timeless book. It explores the strange quirks of human psychology that make it inevitable that we will always be controlled. And, to this day, it still sounds a prescient warning.
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Summary: Big Brother in the back door!
Review: Well here we are in 2000, the year 1984 just a memory. Our fears of Orwell's book being a prophecy fully abated. Like most people I first read this book in school. Like most people I came away with the idea that the collectors of information will end up like Big Brother. I too cried '1984' when the government tried to collect even more info on us. Shortly after Princess Diana's death, though, I read this book for a second time. I then realized that we have been looking for 'Big Brother' in all the wrong places. Big Brother isn't the collector of information, he is the controller of information. Who controls information today? The media. Compare Princess Diana's life to Winston's. Very good book. Well worth reading again as an informed adult. At least that is this proles opinion.
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Summary: 1984-OK Computer
Review: A while back I started listening to a record by Radiohead. At first two songs really struck me as "Whoa" but I couldn't figure out why. I listened to the rest of the songs and they soon struck me as "Whoa." I continued listening and I wanted to know what other people thought. I found a comparison between the book Nineteen Eighty-Four and this album. I didn't read anything more than the idea because I knew that I wanted to investigate for myself. I read the book and for the longest time I could not figure out any minute connection between the two. I listened day and night and eventually it made itself clear. OK Computer is the soundtrack to 1984. Each song has some relation to this book. This book is great, and everyone should read, while listening to radiohead. yeah.
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Summary: I Love Big Brother.
Review: This book is very engrosive and is what I consider "literature." In my mind literature is what makes you think. And take my word for it, it definetly makes you think.
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Summary: Down with Big Brother
Review: Excellent, Thought-provoking. I was assigned this book in an English course. Years later, I read it again. I will most likely do so again. Winston Smith, the main character, is a man who lives in constant fear of the Government. His job is to break down the langauge we once had into smaller words. History is kissed goodbye....Yet Winston holds on. He doesn't want to be subjected to the vision of the party. He holds on to what he remembers...will Big Brother catch on? You will have to read this book to find out!
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Summary: 1984...perhaps 2084
Review: George Orwell's classic '1984' was absurd to me when I first read it in 1984 at the tender age of sixteen. Now, at twice that age, I realize how close we really are to the horror he envisioned. It is a cynical and depressing look at how weak the human spirit really can be. Even now, it is appalling to see my generation sacrifice liberty for security at every turn. The novel leads you along expecting the best for our protagonist, but in the end his doom is sealed not by his own unwillingness to fight, but the unwillingness of mankind. A society where people would gladly live in shackles (even in the metaphorical sense) rather than make a stand for the right to live free, is not so hard to invision. The society described in Orwell's nighmarish future is only off by a few generations...we are on the road to "doublethink". WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. This novel should be read by all high school students, and read again by all parents.
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Summary: anyone else scared?
Review: Just how far off was Orwell with the possibilities that communism presented. This novel was written so far ahead of its time its scary. Even today, many years after 1984, we are reminded of this story through qoutations of the book that have become everyday sayings. I would tell you more but I mustn't doublethink, Big Brother is watching. Read the book, because when you've finished you'll want to read it again.
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Summary: Orwell's 1984: Not too Far Off the Mark
Review: George Orwell's novel 1984 is an intriguing piece ofliterature. It is interesting, inspiring, and terrifying all at thesame time. Published in 1949, the novel's unyielding dystopian realism gives a warning that concerns the menaces of totalitarianism that Orwell feared could completely grip the world in the near future. The novel is set in an imaginary future world that is dominated by three constantly warring totalitarian police states. The novel's hero, Wnston Smith, is a minor party official in the Ministry of Truth, where the motto is, "he who controls the past controls the future, and he who controls the future controls the past." Ironically, it is Winston's relentless longing for 'truth' and decency that leads him to secretly rebel against the government and its esteemed leader, Big Brother. In doing so, Smith becomes involved in a love affair with a like-minded by the name of Julia. Together, with the purpose of overthrowing the totalitarian government, they join an underground organization called the Brotherhood. Unfortunately, they are both apprehended by the Thought Police shortly after their admission into the organization. The ensuing imprisonment, torture, and reeducation of Winston and Julia are intended not merely to make them submit or to break them physically, but to root out their independent mental existence and spiritual dignity to the point that they betray the only thing that they have ever loved: each other. This novel made a deep impression on me. Orwell does an excellent job of getting his warning across while at the same time touching on romance and the natural instincts of the human heart. The daunting part about reading this novel is that it is very realistic and possible. 1984 is a novel that should be read by everyone, and the warning that it gives should be heeded. By Alicia Crawhorn
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Summary: A Mind-Boggling Read
Review: 1984 was the most mind-boggling book I read. George Orwell'simagination captivated the mind throughout the novel. One constantlyforgot that Orwell was a man of the 1940s writing his view of what the world would be like in 1984. It was amazing to read Orwell's perception of the future in such vivid detail. This is the story of an entirely new world. Just as people thought that the world would become utter chaos in our far future, the year 2000, George Orwell believed that in his far future, 1984, there would only be three superstates in existence: Eastasia, Eurasia, and Oceania and the world would live under complete government control. ...The totalitarian government present in Orwell's novel is in many ways similar to those which have existed throughout history in Russia, China, Germany, etc. It is fascinating to think how Orwell was impacted by the events going on around him. This novel was the means by which George Orwell warned the nations of the possibility of complete loss of individualities and freedoms. 1984 screams to be read by all. It is a disturbing leap into the reality that these circumstances could come to be, but it is also a novel of great imagination and creativity and tells a story that one could never forget.
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Summary: One of my favortie novels ever!
Review: This book had a profound effect on me. It showed me how all thought is subjective, and showed me the fear of a totalitarian society. If you ever have the time of day, please read this book. And remember, two and two makes five...
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