Rating: 
Summary: Everyone should read this
Review: I was amazed at the brilliance of this book! Incredibly powerful, I cried at the end. What I found the most remarkable was how well thought out the whole system was: newspeak, doublethink,etc. Read this!
Rating:
Summary: 1984 a must read
Review: George Orwell's book 1984, published in 1949, was an excellent book. I thought it was amazing that he used such imagination to come up with all aspects of this book. The fact that he wrote this book in the 40's and projected what life might be like in 1984 was very interesting. It makes you think. We think of 1984 as a punk era that is well in our past, Orwell thought of 1984 as the future, the far off future. Just as we thought that the year 2000 was going to be filled with flying cars and people living on the moon and mars, he thought of 1984 in a very different way than it turned out. Or did he. He didn't have any way to perceive all of the technological advances we would make, but he did make some very good guesses. He talks about a machine that is in every room and on every street corner. This machine is called a "Telescreen." This machine watches and listens to every word and every movement you make. The local government watches this and will arrest you if you are caught going against the government. Saying anything bad will get you in jail. In the year 1984, according to Orwell, the world has been split up into three superstates Eastasia, Eurasia, and Oceania. Oceania is were Winston Smith (the main character) lives. All of these superstates are run the same. They have a very strong central government that controls everything. These three states are constantly at war with each other and they have all created their own languages. The government in Oceania is called "Big Brother." This is where the phrase "Big brother is watching you" came from. In these states no one is free and everyone is an enemy. People are raised on false beliefs that the government has told them. The goverment would even take it to the extreme and collect all the newspapers and rewrite them and burn the old ones if the papers stated beleifs that the goverment doesn't have anymore. That is what Winston Smith did. He was a a rewriter of documents. The government of Oceania was one based totally upon mind manipulation. They used a term that they called "Doublethink" this was the power of holding two contradictory ideas in someones head and having them fully accept both. Big Brother raised all the people to be loyal to their government and be the government's slaves. The people saw this as being the way of things so they went along with it, having every second of their lives planned out and watched. Even people's children were more loyal to the government than their parents. Their was a scene in the book were a kid turned his parents in for speaking slander against the government. Even the language was cleansed and regulated. The government created a language called "Newspeak." "Newspeak" contained only words that were cleansed in thought. For example the word bad would be translated to "ungood." All in all, this book talks about the government and all the ways it is composed. But it does have a story line as well. The storyline is about Winston and this girl he meets named Julia. They both have the same strong feelings against the government and they often meet in very crowded places where it would be hard for them to be caught talking. They finally decide to join an underground group against the government. They meet with this guy O'Brien who claims to be in charge. The story starts to unfold after that meeting. This was very good book. It was very deep and intense. I loved hearing all about the Totalitarian ideas the government practiced. Plus it was cool to hear what a man in the 40's perceived 1984 to be like. In a way he was right, we are constantly monitored by satellites and surveillance camera's. GPS systems and even cell phones. "Big Brother" does exist just in a different way than Orwell perceived him. But we also do have our freedom to think and speak. These are two things that the citizens of Orwell's 1984 did not have. But keep this in mind "Big Brother" could be watching you right now.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting....
Review: I read this book, curious on government issues during the late 40's. I was shocked at what lie beyond the doors of this classic novel. Orwell has introduced me to a society where propoganda dominates. today, I can easily relate this to the media and press. Orwell wanted to clarify his stand on Communism and propoganda and did so with this intriguing work of literature. What lie beyond the doors of room 101? As I say, something worse then death....
Rating:
Summary: A Classic Piece of Literature
Review: This is not only a book, but a work of art. Orwell was ingenius in telling the horrors of a Totalitarianistic nightmare. Few people realize how important WWII truly was. If the axis powers had succeeded in their task the nightmare of Orwell's book would certainly become true.
Rating:
Summary: George Orwell's classic 1984
Review: I can't say anything that probably hasn't been said already. Orwell's most famous novel warns us against the power of propaganda. "Big Brother" has become common to our language and culture. This isn't Blair's best work, however. This and ANIMAL FARM are only really read because they warn against Communist propaganda. As mentioned in the beginning, Orwell was a social democrat (although, I would say libertarian socialist). He greatly sympathized with the anarchist movement in Spain (Homage to Catalonia). In fact, the communist attack against the anarchists is probably what inspired him to write stories like ANIMAl FARM and 1984. I was disturbed to see a previous reviewer say something like, "If this book is properly read and understood, you will become a Libertarian." Blair's best stuff is actually against propaganda systems found in so-called democracies like the United States and Britian. The Soviets had an extensive system, but it wasn't very effective. They kept people in line through violence, mostly. When the ability to coerece decreases (like in relatively free societies eg The United States) the need to propagandanize increases. This has really become apart of mainstream doctrine. To take a quote from someone not so mainstream, "Propaganda is to a democracy what violence is to a dictatorship." -- Noam Chomsky It should come as no surprise why Orwell's most popular works are anti-communist...
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good.
Review: I wonder what people in the early 50s thought of Orwell's view of the future. They must have thought it unimaginable, but to the current reader it appears to be less and less bizarre. I thought the book was well written and exciting for the most part, but it started to really drag when Winston started reading "the book". Overall I give 1984 three stars primarily because of the dragging toward end (I had to speed read some of it just to keep the pages turning), but also because the ending wasn't what I wanted--I can't fault him for that though. Good book.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Few Greatest Literary Achievements
Review: Twenty years after having read "1984", I can still feel its visceral and intellectual impact. IMO, it stands with "Lord of the Flies", "Age of Innocence", and "Name of the Rose" as the very best of the hundreds of fictions that I've read in my lifetime thus far. It's a testament to the power of Orwell's masterpiece that, after the title of the book has been relegated to the past, its message of warning is still more relevant today than ever - just look at Iraq, North Korea, Bosnia, Congo, just to name a few. A must-read for those who fight to preserve freedom of ideas, and also for those who seek to repress it.
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Summary: Nineteen Eighty-four is a good entertainer.
Review: Nineteen Eighty-four is one of those slow starters, but this does not mean it is not enjoyable. This novel takes place in 1984 when the whole western hemisphere (Oceania) is over-taken by Communism. Everything you say and do is monitored by the thought police through telescreens (television screens that have cameras built into them that monitor the place where they are placed). Winston, a man in his thirties who is against Big Brother, decides to secretly do small actions that go against the law, trying to avoid getting caught. One of these things he does is write a journal for the future describing the life now and his thoughts about the situations. During his out-lawful actions, he meets a girl named Julia. Together they commit small crimes and avoid the law. After the first part of the book, the author really gets you into the story and the environment. You feel like you have to be as quiet as possible so is not to get caught by the thought police as Winston and Julia avoid the law. I give this book three stars because though it has a slow start, it is very interesting and fun to read.
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Summary: 1984 - A Great Book for All.
Review: I feel 1984 is a great book. One of the best books I have ever read. A constant mind game that toyed with my senses. I loved the book start to finish, except for the excerpt from Emanuel Goldstein's book. I felt the passage was long winded and demeaned the excitement of the book dramatically. 1984 is a great book for people interested in politics, world domination, and totalitarian "negative utopias." Winston, the main character, is a wonderful figurehead for the hoplessness of freedom in the INGSOC reality. I personally loved this book, and I think many others will find it equally enjoyable and satisfying. 1984 was a fairly graphic book, not as graphic as others, but graphic still. Some parts of the novel were silly, others very serious, it is a roller coaster of emotions, events, and politics. Julia, a great supporting character who really moved the story along and forced Winston to take chances, without which the story would not be possible. INGSOC is a lot like the Russian communists and the German Nazis in their beliefs, but not in their actions. INGSOC plays a sinister role as a world super power that stomps out competition, except for its fellow super powers. In this colossal struggle of power and espionage, one thing stands true...Love, but in the end even that dies.
Rating:
Summary: It's coming!
Review: Winston Smith is a normal person in 1984. Constantly being monotored by a telescreen, he cannot do anything against the government, or the thought police will arrest him. His little hidden betrayals to the Party soon transform into a conspiracy. He knows inside him some day he will be caught and killed. Winston knows the Party is wrong, but cannot prove it. Maybe he is wrong, and the Party is right? The book is wonderful, and could very well open your eyes to what the government could be doing behind our backs. Winston is led to believe that he has a memory disorder that causes him to believe events that never happened have happened. The reader is led to believe that Winston is right, and is perfectly sane. Some slogans that seem to be oxymorons make perfect sense. "WAR IS PEACE" "FREEDOM IS SLAVERY" and "IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH" are a few. This book will have a very big impact on you, and your view of the world.
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