1984

Rating:
Summary: A literary masterpiece
Review: George Orwell's 1984 is one of the, if not the best science fiction novels of this century. A warning about the menaces of totalitarianism. The novel is set in an imaginary future world that is dominated by three perpetually warring totalitarian police states. The book's hero, Winston Smith, is a minor party functionary in one of these states. His longing for truth and decency leads him to secretly rebel against the government. Smith has a love affair with a like-minded woman, but they are both arrested by the Thought Police. The ensuing imprisonment, torture, and reeducation of Smith are intended not merely to break him physically or make him submit but to root out his independent mental existence and his spiritual dignity. Orwell's warning of the dangers of totalitarianism made a deep impression on his contemporaries and upon subsequent readers, and the book's title and many of its coinages became bywords for modern political abuses.

Rating:
Summary: 1984: A haunting revelation to the future
Review: 1984 would have to be one of the most intelligent, insightful novel I've ever read. It has a lot of major themes that we face today and because Orwell wrote this in the 40's, make makes it even more haunting. I would highly recommend this book to absolutely anyone. It is fantastic novel.

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Summary: Control language; control the world
Review: So much has been written by others on this classic text that I will limit my comments to that aspect of the book I feel is still the most important - the manipulation of language to control behavior. Orwell understood how crucial meaning and communication is to social and political behavior. The Bolsheviks first and then the Nazis both went to great lengths to manipulate meaning, creating an acceptable vocabulary of politically positive words and images and an equally negative vocabulary for that which was to be vilified and destroyed. Attempting to channel behavior into patterns predefined by these limited modes of expression represents the greatest part of the state propogandist's art. Orwell reduced the complexity of this enterprise to something that could be seen for the con game it is. His invention of 'newspeak' demonstrates the reducto ad absurdum of such verbal restrictiveness.

In our day, whether Big Brother is really watching or not, we suffer from some of the same contraints of limited language and, in term, limited behavioral options. On the one hand we suffer from a language of polictical correctness that strives to offend no one, but makes speech clumsy and artificial. On the other extreme we suffer from the limited categories that the professional news media use - the narrow meanings available to them for understanding and communicating what is considered 'news'. Since politicians contribute to this limited vocabulary and play off of it, it saves them from facing much real in depth analysis and critique and limits the public to shallow expositions that distort reality and make meaningful political choice impossible.

So 1984 has come and gone and we haven't fallen into the dramatic pit that Orwell pictured, but the language we use to deal with social and political issues has been so attenuated that we are in danger of becoming slaves to a limited set of possibilities because we cannot even articulate any alternatives.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing novel
Review: I find it funny that almost all of the reviews are 4-5 stars, or 1 star (with a few exceptions). Personally, 1984 is among my favorite books and is my favorite of the utopian/dystopian genre of books. No, I am not a paranoid McCarthyist nut--in fact I am an anarchist. However, I see a profound message in 1984 that is as relevant today as it was when it was first published in 1949. Among those who rated the book poorly, I found the following types of criticism:

1. "Oh, the book is too boring, too long, not enough action, too much description, hard to read, blah, blah, blah." To you I have one thing to say: Grow up. This book is less than 300 pages, significantly shorter than your average novel. Sure, it was longer than Animal Farm, Brave New World or any of the other books that fill the ranks of the genre, but only because it contained so much more.

2. "It was disgusting, the story was poor, Orwell is stupid/depraved, etc." I personally felt that the story was magnificent, and much more detailed than any similar book, but that is of course only my opinion. Every part of the story had intricate meaning. The sex scenes were vital, for they showed the importance of lust, and how they were defying the state by putting their lusts--not love, mind you--but sexual desires ahead of the will of the state. The torture scenes depict the degenerated position they forced him into--the only what they could break the will of someone so intent on either freedom or martyrdom.

3. "Orwell is just playing on Cold War paranoia to make a buck, he doesn't even know what communism is, he is plagerizing other people's work, the message isn't important anymore." I cannot see is how somebody could claim that he was working with a worn out subject or playing on Communist paranoia. It was published in 1949--the Cold War had only really been in existence for 2 years and very few people had any idea what was going on within the Soviet Union, much less the inspiration to writing about it. Furthermore, to those who think he was ignorant of the tenet of Communism, he was not. He was a member of the Communist party for a period of time in his life and he was neither stupid nor ignorant. He was both aware of what Communism was and was able to comprehend it and its implications. Furthermore, as he has said himself, he was NOT parodying Communism or socialism, but the totalitarian state that had arose in Russia and spread to its satellites, and which was masquerading as Communism (obviously what is depicted within the book is not Communism but a fascist society where the state controls commerce). Communism is a political system by which the state controls real estate and industry in order to ensure the rights of workers. Ideally, it isn't even totallitarian, but democratic, in political function. One reviewer I saw ignorantly proclaimed that Communism was an automated society where robots did all the work, right after claiming that Orwell was ignorant. Such hypocrits.

In conclusion, all I can say is that, if you're, stupid, ignorant and close-minded, by all means don't get this book, for it is far beyond your comprehension. However, if you are a reasonably intelligent person that doesn't need car chase scenes to hold your attention so long as there is a good story and a strong message, then this book is for you!

Rating:
Summary: A frightening profecy of the future
Review: This book was a fightening read. It seems so preposterous, and yet it's all true and all possible. We have to wonder when, not if it will happen. As soon as you put the book down your own future becomes insecure. Not for the weak of mind or heart! It's not just literature, it's history.

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Summary: Future Sight
Review: George Orwell looked ahead in 1984 to a time when totalitarianism might rule society. Written in 1949, Orwell wanted to force people to think about the possibility, real in his mind, that a government-Big Brother-could control our thoughts and actions. So the actual 1984 has come and gone, and nothing happened quite like Orwell might have thought. Still the book gives us something to think about and somebody to watch out for. Be careful. Big Brother is watching.

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Summary: All things to all readers?
Review: Reading all the reviews has been fascinating! A great and deep book is somewhat like a Rorschach inkblot, allowing the reader to place their own personality and ideas atop it.

1984 is part of the world's literary culture, something that is of value beyond the quality of the story and the writing. It's a satire, not a prophecy or prediction or a sci-fi novel. "Satire has, as its prime purpose, not to comment or wound so much as to reform. It seeks to mock, or invert, or exaggerate with the intention, that by doing, idiocies may be corrected." (Stephen Murray-Smith) The fact that dictatorships, of a wide range of colors, are currently in something of a decline suggests that Orwell's efforts at reform are slowly working.

There are many deep parts of the book. Orwell explores the psychological role of language and control of thought by language, something which seems to be an on-going experiment in the USA today. Despair, hopelessness, human frailty, human resilience, love, betrayal; Orwell deals with so many themes in this rich work.

Yes, it is deeply disturbing, as good satire should be. Yes, we can see the parallels in our own societies and lives. That is as it should be. 1984 is not an action book, as action and excitement are anathema to control. Satire can be very hard and not very funny, and can take us time and a sense of history and society to grasp properly.

It is good that the book is read in schools. You may not fully understand it at the time. Return to it over the years. It is a warning to our cultures and societies about possibilities, but you must understand something of societies and cultures to understand the book and its warnings fully. Let it be a guide to you, not a prescription.

Rating:
Summary: Not for the simple minded and/or immature
Review: A certain mental maturity is needed to appreciate this book. It is useless to prescribe it to silly bobby-socksers whose minds and interests can't go beyond TV shows about spoiled teenagers and/or Most-Popular-Boy-on-Whatyamacallit-School-Team. Go back to your Barbies, nitwits: you'll never be able TO READ.

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Summary: More like Propaganda
Review: Orwell seems to be trying to warn us against a highly unrealitic future, one that is the result of Totalitarianist rule. The book is a lot like Animal FArm. People have loved this book because it gives expression to nutcase conspiracy theories and a deep mistrust in the government. Also it leads people to believe that Democracy is the Ultimate Form Of Government. Communism in its idealistic form is a utopianistic social doctrine, NOT a totalitarianist government. It is perhaps unrealistic at the moment, but that does not mena democracy is the One and ONLY solution and the best. Democracy has problems as well- underrepresentation of minority groups, mob hysteria leading to irrational judgements(think the Maine and the Alamo and Vietnam) and finally suave politicians whose only purpose is to brag..brag...brag... until after election time. Communism never mandates surveillance or tyrranny. The Big Brother in this book is nothing more than the Hidden Enemy of a paranoid schizophrenic, and the whole book is highly propaganda-saturated and alarmist.

Rating:
Summary: SSSSSCARY!
Review: The book was scary! It woke me up about the governments absolute power. It is a scary, story about the geovernment controlling its entire population. Telescreens follow and record every movement, speaking to you if you are doing something wrong. It will scare you every word you read. I would recomend reading it, if you would like nightmares, about the government controlling you. Every foot step, "Big Brother is Watching You". WAR IS PEACE, FEEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGH. The thought police enforce the crimes that Big Brother makes. If you are involved in a thought crime, you will first disappear from the population, and you will never be heard of again. They government brings you to their jail, and it involves severe gang beatings, and tortures. Everybody works for the government, but their job descriptions are faint. On what exactly the do, Winston(main character) gets a list of names, and is told to delete them off the computer, but he does not know what for. He deletes everyones name and erases their past. The beginning gets off to a slow start, but it is well worth the ending. It wraps the whole book up. Giving the total image of the governments power.