Rating: 
Summary: not a good read -- BUT -- an excellent discussion
Review: I, like so many others, was forced to read this book back in high school. I found it very hard to read & overall a big BORE. However, in class, I enjoyed the discussions the teacher & my classmates would have--interpretting the book, relating it to today's societies, etc...When I caught the movie on t.v. accidentally, I enjoyed it somewhat, so I decided to re-read the classic. Again, I found the book very boring. Reading it was like torture, but when I was done, I did appreciate Orwell's message & underlying theme. I enjoyed analyzing the book & discussing it with my peers. . (however, I'll stand by my statement that it is 294 pages of UN-EXCITEMENT). MY ADVICE: listen to other's interpretatin of it & possibly read the cliffnotes -- THEN read the novel. You'll appreciate it more.
Rating: 
Summary: Not just a "Political" Novel
Review: As Orwell's 1984 is conventionally viewed as a "political" novel, it's value lies more in the deeper psychological meaning the book conveys, as Erich Fromm eloquently expounds in his afterword. More in this respect can the book be viewed as meaningful across both time and nation. It definitely is not just a novel for the disgruntled paranoids in our time and country as the political point of view might have it. As Fromm basically explains, the book is fundamentally an expression of the "deepest alienation in the minds of organizational man". In light of that, you might say that Dilbert lovers would appreciate the book.
Rating:
Summary: BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!
Review: When I read this story, I was amazed. Though it's written 50 years ago, you can find some things that really exist in our time. Maybe not as terrible but terrible enough. This story is a vision on the future. A future that may come sooner that we expect. I recommend this book to every book lover, this one you can't miss, and remember: Big brother is watching you!
Rating:
Summary: Maybe not how the future will be, but still relevant
Review: this book simply changed my view of things in life. it sucked me in after a few pages, and the reason i really like it is that he writes one of the most engaging plots, yet he still has relevant views. i love his ideas, and how he carries it all to the extreme. i am now reading "Brave new world" which, although has a different idea of the future is really similar. I first read I984 when i was 11, and since then have read it countless times. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who thinks they can handle a good read.
Rating:
Summary: Orwell's Gift To The World
Review: A stunning book, that's really all I can say. Just make sure you read the chapter on the language, which is usually the last part of the book, first. If I were stuck on an island and could only bring two things I would bring the BIBLE (how things were and will be) and 1984 (how things must not be).
Rating: 
Summary: It's a love story...
Review: Many people will tell you about how it focuses us on warnings of totalitarianism and communism and the like. But you know, sometimes a book is just a book and there is no hidden meaning. Winston loves Julia and Julia loves Winston. I hate it when teachers and "experts" try to get you to see the "meaning" behind the book. What if it's just a fictional story about a man who lives in a future world where people live in fear of being found out and he falls in love with a woman? I won't give away the ending. I only gave it 4 stars because some parts of the book are a bit tedious...especially when Orwell(Blair) begins to tell you things that you know you read not 30 pages earlier. Just remember it's a love story...and a good one at that.
Rating:
Summary: This book should be read by every Jehovah's Witness
Review: George Orwell's novel 1984 is a dystopia about a world where authoritarian governments rule the world. Everybody should read this book, because freedom of thought is not something that comes naturally to all of us in every country. Even in democratic countries like the United States where people will cross the ocean to fight for democrazy, but can't be bothered to cross the street to vote in national elections, freedom of thougth is something each individual has to gain themselves. Apart from oppressive governments sometimes religions decide that they know what's best for people they have control over. Authoritarian religions and authoritarian governments have so much in common that Orwell's book could just as well be about religion. Sometimes those in powerful positions even decide that their subjects don't have to think for themselves, but blindly obey what the leaders think is in their best interests. I was raised a Jehovah's Witness. 1984 was one of the books that opened my eyes. Don't be afraid to think for yourself. A good start is to read this book. If you have a loved one whose mind is controlled by a religion this is an excellent gift for them. Because this book is not really about religion Jehovah's Witnesses can read this book, although they are forbidden to read material that is critical to their beliefs.
Rating:
Summary: A few corrections
Review: Certainly not a book for high school kids (I wish teachers were assigning more age-appropriate books). I first read it at 17, and that was too early. One of the greatest masterpieces of world literature. The book is too complex and multi-faceted to be discussed here. Indeed, it is like a Rorschach test - everyone finds something of oneself in it, or projects on it something that is not there. I would just like to correct some gross misinterpretations. 1) This is not a prediction. Maybe Orwell should've called it "Any year". The year 1984 came up simply because he took the number of the year when he was writing (1948) and reversed the last two digits. This book is not a prediction, it is a warning and a description. 2) This is not a satire or an exaggeration. OK, maybe to a small extent (governments still cannot read people's thoughts). It is certainly not a fiction about a made-up world and it is not just a philosophical musing on life and humanity. While to the people in the West it might sound exaggerated or absurd, to those from the Communist world it is very precise and factual. Orwell is the only Western writer who got a true description of totalitarian communist reality. He got it perfect down to tiny details, such as the absence of razor blades. 3) This is certainly about Communists, but it is more than just about Communists. By the time he wrote it, Orwell was not a communist any more. He was not a Trotskyite (in Animal Farm Trotsky/Snowball is just as much a pig as Stalin/Napoleon). He was not a socialist or an anarchist. He was an individual beyond labels. 1984 is a book about totalitarianism in whatever form and under whatever label. 4) This is not about all of us. One has to make distinctions. Modern U.S. is far from an Orwellian society, surveilance cameras and political correctness nonwithstanding and whatever paranoids might think. Most of the newspeak in the West is self-imposed: people prefer to be blind slaves. Should one of us desire to break their personal mental chains, doublethinks, etc., who is there to stop us? But there are some countries that are indeed Orwellian. A short list:
a) Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) - the most Orwellian of them all.
b) Burma. Sorry, Myanmar (they renamed the country, just like in "1984", England is renamed into Airstrip One).
c) Afghanistan - dictatorship in the making. ("1984" plus civil war).
d) Islamic Republic of Iran.
e) Libya.
f) Peoples Republic of China. "Ministry of Plenty" might be closed there, but "Ministry of Love" is certainly not. This country alone is 1/4 of humanity: how about that.
g) Iraq.
h) Syria.
i) Cuba.
j) Vietnam.
Plus most of Africa and quite a few other places. Plus all kinds of cults. As you see, the book is still quite relevant. It describes what was and is. Be grateful that you don't live there.
Rating: 
Summary: An idea carried to the extreme
Review: When I first started reading this book I knew it was going to be depressing. I knew Orwell was writing it to warn the world of the dangers of a totalitarian society, and he wanted to make it as horrible and realistic as possible. And the things that happened in the book were horrible, very horrible, but they weren't all realistic. I thought it was a good book up until where Julia and Winston were arrested. I think that's where Orwell stopped being realistic and he started letting his own cynical feelings get in the way of his writing. Orwell had a very sad life, and he was a depressed, bitter, and cynical man. It is good that we were warned about what the world could become, but realistically no government could ever control you to the extent that that government controlled Winston and Julia. When O'brien was torturing Winston he could read Winston's every thought. He knew Winston's every fear every doubt, and every feeling. He even knew what terrified Winston most in the world. He knew everything. He took something so precious from Winston. Someting that most of us take for granted. He took Winston's private innermost thoughts and changed them to fit the Party's ideals. I hated the ending to that book. That was the worst imaginable ending possible. If he would have lost everyting and been killed, but at least have died knowing that the Party was wrong I would have been happy. I think Julia was right. They can't get inside you. Another thing I found unrealistic was when O'brien spoke of how the party wanted only pure unadulterated power. Human nature has not changed in all the time humans have been on this earth. We are still selfish people that tend to want to go our own way, and do our own thing. It's unrealistic that whoever started the Party would desire only that people in the inner Party have only total power. The inner Party's only desire was to keep the Party alive and strong. Somewhere along the way someone would be selfish, and mess things up. I see Orwell's point on how a government can become so dangerously dominating and oppressing, but Orwell carried that idea too far. He carried it to the utmost extreme.
Rating:
Summary: Still a relevant warning...
Review: Although I have generally found Orwell to be a politically confused thinker, 1984 stands out as one of the best and most forward thinking works I have ever read. The amount of relevance this book has today is overwhelming, considering modern government propaganda techniques and the double edged sword of technology. This story serves as a warning to all who trust the government, especially in regards to privacy issues. Winston Smith, while not the ideal romantic protagonist, is still compelling in his own right with his inspiring (and finally tragic) fight against Big Brother. The struggle that takes place between Winston and the government in 1984 is psychologically thrilling and intense, and it is still difficult for me to put the book down each time I read it. I am particularly drawn to the character of O'Brien, who represents to me the culmination of a path that all seasoned politicians and government officials travel down. The year 1984 has come and past, but an extreme statist government similar to the one portrayed in the novel still may haunt us in the future.
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