1984

Rating:
Summary: A Quick Book on Totalitarianism
Review:
1984 is centered around a male worker by the name of Winston Smith. Winston lives in Oceania where Big Brother is everywhere and everything is the opposite os what is appears. The Ministry of Love deals with torture and hate. The Ministry of Plenty starves the citizens of Oceania. The Ministry of Truth creates lies, and the Ministry of Peace is involved with War. All around Oceania there are posters of Big Brother, and the Party's slogans are everywhere.

WAR IS PEACE.

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

This book is a great look at totalitarianism and the views of the world during the 1940s-1950s (WW2). This book requires thought, time, and patience, but it is worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Suprising, Intelligent, Frightening
Review: This book represents a possible future that Orwell foresaw as a result of man's struggle for power. It describes an entire world that has been corrupted, and the corruptors as well have made themselves blind to what they are doing. The story is well written and keeps you on edge for its entirety. Althought it leaves much to be figured out by the reader, it is extremely descriptive. Even if you follow the story closely, each new step is a shock, and every discovery will intrigue. The end especially will come as a surprise for those of us who are more used to predictability. A strong 5-star rating. You won't put it down!

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Orwell is brilliant. In '1984' he examines the effects of a totalitarian soceity. Winston is a deep and multi-dimensional character who we see change as the novel progresses. The depth of Orwell's novel is astounding, and even though the year 1984 didn't turn out the way Orwell had thought, the book is magnificent. Orwell warns us to never become the society that he depicts in '1984'.

Rating:
Summary: Ironic Paradox Roller-Coaster Ride
Review: The world of 1984 is one that is completely stained with hate and ironies. Winston Smith, the novels main character, strugles throughout the book to try to discover who he is and how to overcome the power that the Party has over its self-molded society. The Party, which is a perfect example of a complete totalitarianim government, has shaped the world of 1984. The Party has so much control over every aspect of human life,that power including love, sex, and the family enviorment. "The only recognized purpose of marriage was to beget childeren for the service of the Party. Sexual intercourse was to be looked on as a slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema."(57) The power that the Party has forces Winston Smith to rebel. He then falls in love with a young women, which is not only a crime, but is completely unheard of. The unlawful act is one that starts the roller-coaster ride that is this novel, and in trun, plays an important role in the theme. Orwell not only appeals to the readers emotions but also plays with ones mind. The themes of government, power, and isolation is what make this novel so fabulous. This novel could be best described as an ironic paradox in every sense of the words. 1984, by George Orwell is a futureistic novel that forces the reader to contemplate the world around them. The novel is so stratigically written that it can appeal to the modern reader. I would reccomend 1984 to anyone who enjoys a well written political satire.

Rating:
Summary: A misunderstood book
Review: George Orwell was a dedicated communist, but not in the Stalinist sense. Here he takes not just Stalinism to task, but also all societies that manipulate their citizens. If you don't think that western capitalism does not observe and manipulate you, think again. It is doing exactly that, but not using the technologies that Orwell conjured up in the 1940's. Read Vance Packard 'The people shapers' for an analysis of the scientific use of market research for getting into our heads and manipulating and exploting our basic needs and desires. Why else do politicians all mostly run the same lines and have their spin doctors in control of their pronouncements.

Rating:
Summary: Wow! Incredible book!
Review: One of the most unbelieveable books I've ever read! This shows what will happen if we keep allowing our dependence on government to grow and keep electing DEMONcRATS.

Rating:
Summary: History of The Comunist World
Review: No amount of positive reviewing will do justice to the importance and beauty of this book - you have to read if for yourself. What I really want to review are the reviews of some reviewers from Wstern countries. They like the book, but their reviews are of the kind 'This is a book about a hypothetical totalitarian dictatorshp, ..., etc.' What is wrong, is the word 'hypothetical' This book could have been titled 'Bits of the History of the Communist World (albeit a little allegorical)'

I don't know what people born in the West understand in this book. Not much perhaps. The very fact that Orwell is the ONLY Westerner I know of to have written an accurate description (though a bit allegorical) of communism in practice, suggests that most Westerners couldn't understand what was happening in the communist world. I suggest that they read it for what it is: History cast into an allegorical novel.

Now an example or two. There was a famous picture in history textbooks in communist countries. Lenin in a podium holding a speech, his hand streched to the masses listening. On his left you could see Stalin. Everyone of my age has seen this picture. What most people haven't seen, though, is an older version of it: Lenin holding a speech, and on his left, Trotsky. (Winston's job right)

Now my country (Albania) was great friends with USSR, until 1961, that is. Albania broke up with USSR (considering USSR a traitor of real socialism), to advance real socialism together with China. Not for ever of course - in 1978 China became a traitor of real socialism, too, having in fact never been really socialist. There was a famous picture in Albanian history textbooks. The Albanian B.B. (Enver Hoxha) was denouncing the betrayal of real socialism by the Soviet leadership. I have seen all three versions of this painting: In the first one, Enver Hoxha had Chou EnLai on one side and Mehmet Shehu (Albanian Prime Minister) on the other. This was valid between 1961 and 1978. When China betrayed socialism in 1978, Chou Enlai disappeared from the painting, and someone else took his stead. This second version lasted until 1981. That's because in 1981 Mehmet Shehu became a traitor, and 'was suicided'. So he disappeared from the painting, too. This is the last version of it. By the way, the painting stood in the Albanian National Art Gallery. Many people must have seen all three versions of it in original.

I could wrie a book longer than 1984, describing how accurate 1984 is.

Read 1984 as a history of the communist world; it is valid even for the four decades after Orwell's death.

Aleksander Coho

Rating:
Summary: It still may happen
Review: A disquieting novel, lucid and magnificent about totalitarianism. Winston Smith, an employee of the Minister of Truth, rebels against the dehumanized and mechanized world of 1984. He, a free thinker, hates the Party and Big Brother, as does Julia. She contacts him and they start a clandestine affair, in a world where passion is forbidden and sex is viewed with repulsion. O'Brien, another character, tells them that there is a secret society named "The Brotherhood", which fights against the Party. You will be chilled to know what happens next.

More than a novel, this book is a clear and horrible warning about totalitarianism and man's overwhelming lust for power, as well as about the misleading uses of technology. A terrifying view of what a society without history, memory, pleasure, love and family may become. It is not pure fiction: in 1984, the Soviet empire was beginning to be deconstructed, but for many years the story portrayed by Orwell had been basically real. There is no guarantee that it won't happen again. New technologies can be a blessing, a tool for the spread of freedom and information (e.g. we can exchange opinions in sites like this one), but they can also be terrible threats to privacy. There is no need to become paranoid after reading this book, but we would do well to be conscious of what might happen in the future (partly, because it has happened in the past). More relevant than ever, this book should be read and talked about. It can only be comforting to know that it is selling very well these days. So read it and think about it: you'll find traces of Orwell's society in the country you live in, no matter which one.

Rating:
Summary: A landmark book
Review: This book changed my life. I have talked to other people and they agree with me: once you read Orwell, you're not the same person anymore. Does conspiracy really exist?

Rating:
Summary: Hits a bit too close to home.
Review: It would be hyperbolic to say the world of Nineteen Eighty Four has arrived. But there are too many elements of today's society that evoke parts of the book. We hear a lot today about "Hate Crimes". A more accurate term for that concept is the one coined by Orwell -- "Thought Crimes". In fact, calling Thought Crimes by a different name in order to make the idea more palatable is simply a creative use of Newspeak/DoubleThink. I don't think I have to give examples of Big Brother -- you can supply your own. My point is that we may yet be a long way from a totalitarian state, but we have at least taken small steps in that direction -- and perhaps we should be concerned at how little we are resisting that movement.