Rating: 
Summary: A literary journey into room 101
Review: Possibly only equalled by Brave New World, 1984 is a dystopia which unfalteringly relays the full horror of dictatorship and social manipulation to the reader. This magnificent novel has an almost perfect structure - Orwell has so delicately considered not only how this society could arise (offering detailed explinations of new social "super powers" and how dominace and political power could be successfully sustained), but why. His successful attempt to offer the reader a philiosophy of the nature of humankind, eventually distilled to the nature of power, draws some disturbing, horrific conclusions. Orwell's philosophy is that man dominates simply for the sake of power - the only, unchallenged reason. His unsettling final symbol of the new order - a man's face being crshed by a boot - is a symbol not only of totalitarianism, but of political human misery, and all it's destructive connotations. An extremely disturbing novel which must be read
Rating: 
Summary: A little boring
Review: The book tries and does send out a good message for our future. Orwell warns against giving the government the ability to destroy our privacy and control us. Yet, I found htat the book as very slow at times. I almost had to force myself to read on.
Rating:
Summary: Portrait of Dystopia
Review: There are three novels I recommend to everyone, especially adolescents, to encourage critical thinking. These are Orwell's '1984', Rand's 'Anthem' (or 'Atlas Shrugged' if you have the time) and Huxley's 'Brave New World.' Orwell's vision of a totalitarian regime ruling its people under a microscope through propaganda and punishment is unfortunately realistic. It is also extremely well written. It is not chance that the symbolic "Big Brother" is so often referenced, feared, and loathed. Orwell christened a phenomenon: the increasingly observant eye of authority. The illustrative crushing of the human spirit is heart wrenching to bear witness to, but stands as a reminder of the value of our liberty. This is a must read for the freethinking individual.
Rating:
Summary: I never recovered from reading this book
Review: I first read this novel in 1983 as part of a British lit class in high school. I have never recovered from the hammer blows it delivered-- it is devastatingly thought provoking and eerily haunting. I have re-read this novel many times over the years, and still stand in awe of its power. I am thankful that this novel was required reading in my high school!
Rating:
Summary: doubleplusgood
Review: George Orwell's 1984 is unquestionably one of my favorite novels, if not my favorite (and not merely because the title is my birth year). Powerful and enlightening, it offers the reader a glimpse into a society in which the omnipotent State controls the populace through manipulation of language, alteration of the past, and other devices. With a population composed of brainwashed Party members and apathetic proles, the zeitgeist is characterized by contented and unthinking servitude to Big Brother. Yet Winston Smith (committing an odious, illicit act) begins to think negatively of the status quo, giving the basis of this thought-provoking novel. Admittedly, one section (but only one!) becomes a bit tedious, Goldstein's book. Keep reading! The immaculate third chapter soon follows, culminating in the most effectual ending that I have ever read. Its impact proves that Orwell successful captivated the reader throughout the novel. I wonder, considering that literature as chimerical as David Deutsch's Fabric of Reality gains placement as non-fiction, if 1984 has been incorrectly categorized. It would not surprise me if Pol Pot had used this novel as a guide book. Of course, elements are also apparent in modern American society, from the welfare state to political correctness to surveillance devices. The advice I give to the prospective reader is this: quit reading reviews (in a worst case scenario one might learn the ending) and read 1984!~pythia~
Rating:
Summary: have we escaped?
Review: One of the most irritating and literal-minded criticisms of this book is that the events in it didn't happen in 1984--as though Orwell were writing prophecy rather than social commentary or just plain fiction. In fact, the majority of thought-control processes he described are in full effect today, as Fromm's splendid addition to this edition makes clear.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than most
Review: The author has come very close to predicting the future, but we still have a long way to go. A very interesting story built around the future. Although 1984 has come and gone, the future of cameras watching our every move is very possible. As the war in Kosovo proved, some tactics are not just fiction.
Rating:
Summary: An incredibly powerful book.
Review: 1984 is unquestionably one of the greatest books in the history of English literature. A terrifying look at the dangers of totalitarian government, it is ingeniously written and scarily realistic. George Orwell is meticulously thorough in his depiction of a world that is bleak, hopeless, and horrifying--and perhaps not as distant as we think. The writing style is factual and almost impersonal, reflecting not only the government but the people themselves, who have been reduced to unthinking robots. Protagonist Winston Smith's resistance against Big Brother (the symbolic leader of the Party) and ultimate complete acceptance and execution demonstrate the debility and irresolution of the human mind and spirit. The authoritarian government itself is eerily familiar, complete with conspiracies, cover-ups, and double-dealing politicians. While the year 1984 is long past, the book is still a relevant and potent warning of what the future may bring if we let it. The concept of 1984 is brilliant, the writing is brilliant, and it is nearly impossible not to love this book. 1984 is a definite must-read for anyone. Enthusiastically recommended; 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking and hard to put down...
Review: This is one of my favorite books of all time (and Orwell's Animal Farm is on that list also). I had to read it my sophomore year of high school. If you enjoy reading books that really make you think, then 1984 is a good choice. Orwell has a way of writing so that a reader is interested and challenged at the same time.
Rating: 
Summary: Limited perspective
Review: I am going to go against the grain with this one. There are many other reviews of the exact details of the plot, so I'll just make a few comments as to why I think the book is limited in its overall social value, particularly in its assumptions about human nature. Whilst it may be true that the book serves as an educational warning against totalitarian thinking and so on, and while yes it is well written and widely regarded as a classic, I personally thought this book far too limited in its perspective of how human nature and society interact to justify its solid reputation. It is, in a nutshell, a very absorbing but deeply fatalistic analysis of political totalitarianism. The trouble is, is that this fatalistic perpsective is such a limited a picture of how people actually think, and how society actually functions, as to become self defeating. A large assumption pervades the book- human nature and society is largely fluid and 'infinitely malleable'. This so- called malleability, of course can be co-opted by psychopaths/etc into various forms of totalitarianism. But this process, of couse, is not inevitable, nor is it as pervasive a social process as Mr Orwell seems to think. In a nutshell, the books assumes that human nature, and biological forces in general, do not play a large part in society and politics. The problem here is that Mr Orwell creates a world in this book that transcends the relationship between socio-politics and human nature, in much the same way political ideology and totalitarian thinking does. It serves little purpose, for example, in analysing totalitarianism by committing, in turn, the same mistake totalitarians make-exaggeration and over-simplification. The books general negativity is rooted in the same political ideologies it is trying to expose and warn against. It fails to appreciate the nature of the underlying biological forces which shape, and are co-opted by political forces. For example, the moralisitic fallacy is wrong because what "ought", to be is not necasarilly what "is", which is a strong subtext in the views of both the resistance('brotherhood') and power brokers in this book. To gain a different perpsective, to that generally assumed by Mr Orwell, and to show why 1984 could only ever be a passing socio-political fad, I would recommend The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker. Societies do undergo revolutionary cultural transitions, and yes, these often become co-opted by psychopaths and dictators as a social system (often under the notion of 'the Blank Slate', together with the 'moralistic fallacy'), but these social systems inevitably fail and subside-primarily because of the grounding of human nature.
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