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Summary: 1984: our responsibility for democracy in the world
Review: Someone wrote that 1984 shows us how the world would be like if the governments obtained complete power over the populace. But HOW is this power obtained? As citizens in democratic (?) nations we have a duty to work for democracy around the world and to see to that all aspects of democracy are maintained. If we fail, the nightmare of 1984 can turn into reality.
Orwell's 1984 really makes one think. The novel stays on your mind, and hopefully it will never go away.
How would I react as a citizen of a totalitarian state?
Would I have the guts to stand up for democracy and human rights, knowing that it could get me killed?
Even if 1984 is a nightmare, small parts of it become reality every day, throughout the world.
So maybe George Orwell's great novel isn't just a warning?
And hey, look out for Newspeak!
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Summary: a shattering ending to a rather slow book
Review: Though I consider this book a masterpiece I personally like "Animal Farm" better. The ending of 1984 is fantastic..shocking and all around genius...but before reaching that climax, one is exposed to a long and dreary relationship that is based more on hate of their surrounding then actual love. I wish Orwill had paid just a little more attention to the characters. They could have made the book go by a little faster. then again he was a conceptual writer and never really paid much attention to his charactes. Its the message that counts not the content...and the message is a warning about big government presented by BB himself.
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Summary: A great book, makes you believe in how good a story can be
Review: "Under the spreading chestnut tree I sold you and you sold me: There lie they, and here lie we Under the spreading chestnut tree." 1984 is a powerful book about communism and one mans defiance against it. Imagine the world split up into three huge superstates which all are communist. The government controls your way of life, where you work, what you think, how to love, what your provisions will be, and everythiing in between. It is a stunning tale of passion and rebellion that ends with a BANG. A must read for anyone who loves a good story. BEWARE OF ROOM 101.
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Summary: One of the best satires of all time
Review: This is perhaps the best book I have ever read, it's basically a book that's against the government becoming too watchful over it's people, it's about how society functions in a state were there is no democracy, were there is a totalitarian government, that won't admit, and a place were "Big Brother" is always watching you, where you're deepest darkest most private fears are known by all, and used against you, most of all this book is about the evils of communism, drawing symbolism between Big Brother and one of the most tyrannical and oppresive leaders of all time, Josef Stalin, this is a great book and I recommend it for everyone to read
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Summary: A Fiction Book Come Startlingly True
Review: The book is gripping and holds the reader captive for the majority of the book. The characters tale is told intelligently and the plot has all of the litte things it takes to make a good book. However, towards the end of the book it becomes boring unless you really have the perserverence to go on. On a less technical note the book tells a story that you can see in the lay of tomorrow and it is not a good prospect. A time when propoganda is the daily news and and you love your government, dead or alive. They say that love will always find a way, and here it does. For a short time that is. The government goes even so far as to control a persons personal life, and the struggle against them is fruitless, if not gripping. Definetly a good book for everybody.
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Summary: 1984 is the definition of extreme intrusive Socialism
Review: By revealing the extreme; George Orwell, in 1984, described a chilling reality. This reality was a testimony to the extremes that a government could reach if given the license to do so. Big Brother is a microcosom for the greater socialistic atmosphere that was created in the Soviet Union of the 1940's.
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Summary: Outdated now but is it?
Review: I read 1984 when I was in High School and its still amazing how many of us remember it and refer to "big brother" in our everyday lives. After all 1984 has come and gone but has the concept of an all seeing government watching our every move? We are in a digital world we every bank transaction, movie rented,item we buy can be electronically tracked that allow others to see more of our private lives than we realize. Doesn't it ever make you wonder where all the junk mail comes from? The concept is still valid and probably more so...it would be interesting to see what the generation X'ers think.
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Summary: Of continuing relevance
Review: When 1984 was first published, Orwell's fellow socialists denounced it for its clear criticism of Stalinist Communism along with the Nazi regime and all other forms of totalitarianism. After two generations, the common view was that 1984 was on-target for its time but was now dated as the Communist regimes evolved into ordinary authoritarian ones. Today techno-enthusiasts like Peter Huber say 1984 was based on fallacies, because the spread of information technology aids freedom, not oppression. And to today's teenagers, the totalitarian experience seems to be ancient history. Why should anyone still read 1984? Partly, of course, they should read it for the same reason they should read Wiesel, Milosz, Solzhenytsin, and many others-- because we ought to remember the evils of this century for memory's sake. But the autobiographies and histories written by those who lived under these most evil of regimes-- important as they are-- necessarily offer a bottom-up view of them. 1984, among many other things, offers insight into the psychology and mindset of the rulers, the torturers, the propagandists. Through reading a (possibly forged) samizdat manifesto, through his conversations with O'Brien, and through his knowledge of the workings of the Party's rewrites of history and language, Smith learns-- and through him, we learn even more-- about the tight links among cruelty, terror, and power over the body and the mind. At the moment we are mostly free of the specific kinds of regimes Orwell attacked, though we should not lightly assume that they will never return. We are not and probably will never be free of those who seek power for power's sake, of those who use torture and terror, of cruel and evil rulers and would-be rulers. We are not free of the corruption of history and language by politics. 1984 is in that greatest of categories of fiction-- the literature that allows its readers to understand reality better.
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Summary: Terrifying vision of the future
Review: I didn't expect much from a book written in 1949. I thought I was going to read about ideas which we would view as humorous living in the 90's. But Orwell's vision of the 1984 might as well be called any year in the future. For one simple reason, this could happen too easily. The three powers Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia are in fighting a war that keeps there citizens in oppresion. Only a handful of secretive revolutions toil in the dirty, drab society of 1984. To read this book is to almost read a non-fictional work of the struggle of man and the over powering forces of government at work. Winston Smith is an ordinary character who leads us through the innermost thoughts of human psyche and the truthes and terrors which lie within. This book is scarier than any work by Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft or Dean Koontz. Quite simply put the dangers of the olligarchy collectivism seem to real and are just as close to home as they were to readers of the 50's and 60's.
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Summary: Big Brother is STILL watching you.
Review: In George Orwell's terrifying totalitarian dystopia, technology was a primary means of control. COMPUTER INDUSTRY GIANTS COMBINE TO OFFER INTERACTIVE TV Censorship extended to the seizure and destruction of all unofficial works of art. RENTERS OF OSCAR-WINNING FOREIGN FILM ARRESTED Every detail of a citizen's life was monitored and kept on file. BOOK PURCHASE RECORDS SUBPOENAED BY SPECIAL PROSECUTOR Any individual eccentricity was ruthlessly forbidden. PRINT JOURNALISTS SUBMIT TO PRE-EMPLOYMENT URINE TESTING The flesh was suppressed as the most subversive of all. MAJOR BOOKSTORE CHAIN INDICTED IN TWO STATES FOR SELLING WORK OF CELEBRATED ART PHOTOGRAPHER The State tightened its control by the mandatory shrinkage of language and the outlawing of logic. ANTI-DISCRIMINATION MEASURE ATTACKED AS BID FOR "SPECIAL RIGHTS" There was no privacy. PERSONAL COMPUTERS SEIZED AS EVIDENCE Happy Golden Anniversary, Big Brother!
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