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Summary: 1984 - Review or thought crime?
Review: 1984 must be called an epic. Few stories have so firmly entrenched themselves into the fabric of our society like Orwell's masterpiece. From the concept of Big Brother to those of "newspeak" and "thought crime," this book has filled several voids in our language. Perhaps the book has frightened us into paying it homage. It hits us at home by addressing issues such as our right to privacy, the extent of control a government should wield over its people, the boundaries of patriotism, the value of love. This novel runs deep in my veins for these reasons and more. In case you hadn't noticed the 6 movies, 15 albums and 3,645 features on 1984, it is the story about life in a hypothetical future. At the time Orwell wrote the novel, the year 1984 was a far-off place in the future. Now it belongs to an era with which we associate opulence and injurious Presidents. For the sake of argument, however, 1984 represents a hypothetical future in any era whereby government has reached too far down our pants. We follow the life of poor Winston, smoking his Victory cigarettes and drinking his Victory coffee, who has the unfortunate affliction of thinking for himself. We follow Winston through the dim corridors of his housing facility hoping that he remembers, BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING. Big Brother is watching Winston and the rest of the community to make sure they stick to the law. After all, they must keep up in their perpetual war with Eurasia and Oceania, the ENEMIES. Of course, Winston has the misfortune of falling in love with a woman, which has no place in the effort to win the war. You'll have to read the book to find out what they do with Winston... This novel builds on a brilliant premise that makes the reading - and learning - fascinating throughout. Read it before the government tells you that you can't.
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Summary: Orwell's 1984 was a compelling, haunting book.
Review: Orwell's 1984 was a compelling, haunting book. I liked this book and would give it an "10" because, although it dealt with large contemporary political issues, it addressed them in a personal way. The reader was forced to see that human dignity, intellectual integrity, freedom, and personal needs of love, passion, family, warmth, and security were mankind's true imperatives. This was a message worth both sending and receiving. It was conveyed on an individual scale that engendered an effective emotional reaction. I liked Winston; I wished to free him. I hoped he would escape into the "prole" world with Julia and be content. When Winston was captured I wanted his torture to cease; but most of all I longed for his intellectual integrity to survive-its destruction was devastating. For me, therefore, Orwell created an effective warning. Winston told Julia "we are the dead," since because of their individuality, private beliefs, and his intellectual integrity they were doomed. Thus, Orwell vividly reminded us that we must value and safeguard our personal freedoms.
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Summary: A masterpiece!
Review: I found 1984 to be a fascinating and realistic portrayal of human nature. Orwell's insight into the nature of governments is amazing and enlightening. He has this detached, slightly pessimistic attitude toward human nature that I love. He is so frank about man's selfishness and greed -- not only as it relates to the governments in 1984, but also to the rebels like Winston who, in the end, care only for themselves. There are no glamorous heroes in 1984 just as there are any in real life. Orwell has stripped man of all glory and glamour and shown him in an honest, if unflattering, light. I was also very impressed with Orwell's thoroughness. He described the society, the history and, most of all, the language of the futuristic Oceania in such detail. 1984 is truly a masterpiece.
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Summary: The classic warning of the dangers of collectivism
Review: I don't consider this book to be science-fiction. I consider this to be science-future. Leaving aside any criticism of current political parties, lets just say that 1984 is a warning about allowing the individual to be ruled by the state, about allowing the individual to fall into the collective. It can be a difficult book to read, because the concept itself is difficult in this day and age...the struggle to retain an individual mind. The book is about Winston Smith, living in a future world (1984 WAS the future in 1949 when the book was written) which is dominated by an all-present and all-powerful government which is partly based on Stalin's Russia, Hitler's Germany, and (gasp!) England and America. But the government which is symbolized by 'big brother' not only dominates the professional and personal world of Winston Smith, it also controls his thoughts, using constant brainwashing through media and imagery. Smith begins to assert his individualism, starts a love affair with a similar thinking woman and joins the resistance, which may only exist in his own mind. But Smith is doomed, there is no happy ending...only a warning to us all about trends in society. 1984 may have come and gone on the calendar, but IngSoc and Big Brother live on and continues to gain. This book has become the classic metaphor for the evils and failures of collectivist societies, and will haunt your ideas of political solutions to society's problems.
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Summary: Ten Strike- One of the most profound books of Century
Review: Alright, George Orwell was largely wrong in one of his major premises- technology ended up undermining totalitarianism. Technologies like the Worldwide Web have lubricated the flow of ideas; government hacks are too incompetent, lazy and stupid to crack down effectively on computer users. Orwell, a democratic socialist, was anti-Stalinist to his core and this book is a brilliant attack on the whole Stalin machine. Sometimes the best critics of a system or idea are those who share some of the same assumptions. No right-winger has ever been as effective (with the possible exception of Solzenhitsyn) in bludgeoning Stalinism. Orwell is unusually prophetic in his use of the Telescreen as a government propaganda device and indoctrinator. Remember, television was in its infancy when Orwell wrote this book in the late 40s. Television has become a propaganda device though it is not used as crudely as in the Big Brother state of Orwell's 1984. Television has effectively dumbed down the population with insipid, trite programming to the point where the average bloke is as intellectually tame and lazy as the Julie Christie character in Fahrenheit 451 (one has to believe that Ray Bradbury was heavily influenced by 1984). Television has numbed the brains of a majority in the Western world to where they are compliant to the whims and wishes of the current ruling classes. One last night- George Orwell's mastery of language is a thing of beauty. Read him for the robust joy of the written word.
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Summary: Reality is internal
Review: This is an incredible book. It'll totally change the way you think. That's the irony of the book. Orwell seems to be trying to make you think, Don't let people control what you think. Irony aside, this foul little book seems to be a commentary on both bourgeousie and socialist society, which makes it ever more timely. A great companion for Brave New World and Animal Farm.
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Summary: 2+2=5
Review: This is a wonderful book almost every moment is gripping. I'm 14 so the parts that I found less interesting or lost the storyline I probably misunderstood the message. I gave it a 9 because the end made me angry I feel winston should've still hated big brother.
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Summary: The book that restore mi into life.
Review: I have a good time with reading this book. It whas better then the "Animal Farm". When i read this, i was happy that Walesa was alive(pl. ze Walesa zyl), that now im free, that mi moves is like that what i wan it to be.
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Summary: How my sanity was comprimised.
Review: This book was the greatest read of my negative utopia period. In high school, between watching the JROTC guys (myself somewhat included) get brainwashed, the first season of the X-Files, and other books like Zamatin's IT and Huxley's Brave New World, I was a little skittish. I chose to leave the genre behind me.
Definitly a read. It will make you question your surroundings.
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Summary: Depressing, dark, complicated, yet one of the best books...
Review: Conspirisy therories aside, Orwell's prolific masterpiece '1984' tells of the struggle to remain human when faced with insurmountable odds. Orwell's unique vison, formed in the desperation of post-war Europe in 1947, descibes a future in which a totalitarism government controls all. The main character, Winston, is not set up to be a likeable, hopeful, hero-type protagonist, but rather, is created in the image of all men. He loses hope, attempts to fight the system with small rebellion of his own, and fails miserably, as anyone would under the circumstances. His affair with a woman is the subject of censure in many reviews of this book, but again, it was not set up to portray a loving, human relationship, but to serve as irony in it's most bitter form. When love, honor, compassion, and other words of that calibure are erased from the human vocabulary, you have 1984. And Orwell's vision may serve as the correct one. People today lose their humanity with alarming swiftness, and we are faced with the simple choice Winston must make: fight or flee. Fight Big Brother and the government, or flee the mind and become another faceless drone like other characters in the story. While depressing, this novel also raises some interesting questions. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever questioned the fate of the human race. In short, everyone should read this book.
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