Rating: 
Summary: An all too often misunderstood masterwork
Review: was Animal Farm predicting that pigs would walk in the future? NOI say this after hearing other peoples reviews, summaries and opinions of 1984. One should not look at 1984 as a prediction of the future, because it was not truly meant as such. George wrote this as a attack on the dictatorships of the USSR and Spain. It is a satirical work, and a brilliant one at that. However , because it is written so well, it takes on a somewhat timeless quality.This may be why so many people mistake the novel. Those foolish proles. tisk tisk tisk.
Rating:
Summary: ASTONISHING!!
Review: While I enjoyed Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD more than this novel, this is worth five stars. Orwell has a great gift in describing the setting like no other. I could see everything about BIG BROTHER through my minds eye. It was terrifying! To think that anything like that would ever happen to the world is the most frightining thing we could think of, more so than in any Stephen King book I have read! There are some scenes in this novel that are very disturbing, but yet genius. It is hard to put this in any genre, it truly deserves a genre of it's own, it is very unique and original. But by far the most appauling and astonishing part of this novel are the last four words. Those words will make the hair on your neck riseup higher than they've ever rised before. For those who do not know 1984 is about what George Orwell thought 1984 would be like in 1947, there is no privicy..and no escape from 'big brother's' evil wrath...everyone LOVES big brother because he has brainwashed them..everyone except one man!!! What happens? You will have to read a find out!!! Dont forget to vote YES if this review was helpful.
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Summary: The Most Boring Book I Ever Read
Review: I think 1984 is not very interesting. The words are difficult. I had no clue what was really going on. It would be less boring if it was shorter and broken down so it would be easier to understand. You might like this book if you are interested in predicting the future and you can read lots of difficult words and know what they mean. Keep your dictionary close!
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not the best!
Review: Orwell's vision of the future is well done, but is becoming more obsolete than its predecessor, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. 1984 is more based on communism, whereas Brave New World is more focused on the future of Western industrialism. Brave New World is even more in focus because its use of changing the genetics of humans, which we are more likely capable of now doing after the cloning of the sheep, Dolly. Orwll's version is great, I recommend you read this, but if you read this, you should also read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
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Summary: Thank goodness our gov't isn't like this!
Review: Orwell's 1984 is a fascinating account of Winston Smith and his world. This world is ruled by a collective oligarchy with "Big Brother" in charge of everyone. And yes, Big Brother is watching over everyone through the use of telescreens, which can be found everywhere in Oceania, his country. Winston works for the Ministry of Truth, where he changes the past to correlate with the future. While working there, he meets a coworker named Julia who has similar beliefs. They meet several times for love which builds the story into the climax. The theme of this book relates to the effects of negative Utopia. It refers to the total opposite of Utopia, which is defined as "an imaginary place considered to be perfect or ideal". Hardly anything is perfect or ideal for the characters in this book. Big Brother promotes this idea as it makes society as efficient as possible. The national slogan "WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH" will certainly make any reader believe that Winston Smith is in a negative Utopian society. Orwell certainly makes a dramatic nightmare of what society may become. There are few characters that operate as individuals in this collective society. There is a deep relationship between Winston and Julia, as they become rather involved, and consequences later result. This book was quite different than anything else I have ever read. I have never thought how much a government could control a society, but this book shows how easily a totalitarian government can take over. It makes me wonder if our government today is spying, as there is certainly the technology to do it. I wouldn't want to have telescreens dangling from every wall watching me no matter where I go! George Orwell has created a masterpiece and an excellent example of science fiction. Through reading this novel, I realized how many famous things about the proles and Big Brother have resulted from the context of this novel. This mesmerizing novel tells how Big Brother takes over Winston and all the other residents of Oceania through telescreens, Newspeak, the Party, and hate. Big Brother and his Party are controlling all aspects of life that are sometimes taken for granted. They control people's destiny, your occupations, dress, social status, meals, residence, family, and their minds. Thank goodness the year 2001 in America (or anywhere in the world for that matter) is not like the year 1984 in Oceania.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting
Review: The book takes the manifestation of totalitarianism to the worst imaginable degree. George Orwell described a world where people are constantly under surveillance by its totalitarian government. By employing two-way televisions and police in civilian clothes, the government monitors people's behavior, deed, and most frighteningly - their minds. No individualism is permitted, and anyone who remotely opposes the government will somehow be caught and completely distroyed. The idea of the book is as far-fetched as it is realistic. That's what's so haunting about the book. The described totalitarian practices may seem absolutely impossible, while when compared to the world we live in, we see more eerie resemblences than not. Moreover, the writing itself was splendid. The descriptions were so vivid that you literally feel yourself a persecuted citizen of the world described. On the negative end, perhaps in an effort to accentuate the point of atrocity of the negative utopia described, the author employed too much descriptions and time on the actual persecution process. The descriptions were grotesque at some points that you really have to have the stomach for it. My advice is, read it, but read it in small dosages. I read the second half of the book in one day, and was gravely depressed for three hours after I finished.
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Summary: the most brilliant book I have ever read
Review: Growing up, I didn't read many books purely out of interest (most were school-assigned), but 1984 is one of the first I ever chose to read. I could not put it down. So much more than a fantasy or a sci-fi tale, it is so real. It says the ironic truths that governments throughout history were afraid to admit. Containing a language within a language (Newspeak) and a book within a book (Goldstein's book), I can't possibly regard anyone as being a literary genius above Orwell. He plays with readers' minds, turns truths inside out, and turns paradoxes into perfect sense like no one else. Reading this book will make you a lot less naive about the world. After reading 1984 and Animal Farm, I will surely read everything else Orwell has written too.
Rating:
Summary: Genius
Review: What an amazing book. It is much better book than both We and Brave New World. Besides, Emanuel Goldstein is the greatest!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Read it.
Review: This is the best negative utopia book of those to choose from. It's much better than Huxley's Brave New World in that it is more creative and inventive. Like Catch 22, elements of Orwell's 1984 have embedded themselves into our culture. His concept of "Big Brother" has not lost strength, in fact it is now the title of a TV show. Whether the show is good or not is another matter. Anyway, 1984 is one of those books you need to read, and it's one you will never forget.
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Summary: Orwell's Brillant, Scary Foretelling
Review: Just as Edmund Burke, during the French Revolution, predicted the subsequent horrors of Robespierre's Reign of Terror, so did George Orwell brilliantly foreshadow the nightmarish life that was ubiquitous under the rule of 20th Century totalitarian states. In 1984, the main character, Winston Smith, struggles to gain personal freedom of mind under the Big Brother government that has taken over London, England and the rest of Europe. The constant chatter of the "telescreens" (written before the days of TV) and other mediums of propaganda are virtually inescapable in this frightening world. Orwell's monotone (but vivid) narrative demonstrates his genius because it makes the scene so much scarier, yet all the more realistic to the reader as well. The novel races up to the climax, before its conclusion with an ending (and final line) that is among the most famous of any from the 20th Century. If you've never read 1984 and only heard it referenced, you need to read it because you may be surprised to see how similar its terms are to life in the modern, "free" world. At the same time, you will see why it is ranked among 20th Century classics as well.
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