Customer Reviews

The most unnerving novel ever written, but it must be read
I do not much enjoy reading the works of George Orwell; they are far too grim and pessimistic for me. Despite their unpleasantness, however, Orwell's books are amongst the finest ever written, particularly "Animal Farm" and his masterwork, "1984". Having recently experienced "1984", my being is still in a state of disarray, as will be that of anyone who encounters the novel. "1984" challenges everything humankind stands for, examines what it means to be human, and then spits on the face of humanity. It does more than that, though - it also tears out all our insecurities and flaws, exposes them in bright sunlight, and then strips us of all confidence and hope, leaving us feeling like little more than dust in the wind. And yet still "1984" is as much a celebration of humanity as it is a ghastly warning of the dystopia awaiting us should we allow the human spirit to be corrupted.

Orwell's novel was written in 1949, shortly after the end of World War II and the detonation of the atomic bomb, and the paranoia and fear that arose from those conflicts as well as from the threat of communism (which even at this time Orwell was well aware of) clearly spawned "1984". The book is set in 1984, probably (because in the future no one can really keep track of the years). The world has been grouped into three opposing forces: Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. Winston Smith is a citizen of Oceania (which grew from America and England, among others), living in London. In this society, you are monitored at all time, primarily through "telescreens" placed in every room (a telescreen being a device which transmits and receives information simultaneously). When you are alone, you are never really alone. Individualism is not only discouraged against - it is forbidden. Everyone must work toward a better Oceania. Sex is frowned upon, and is to be used strictly for reproductive purposes. The only music and films are those put forth by the government, and there is no such thing really as "entertainment". One's time should be divided between work and community activies, such as joining the Anti-Sex League or, for children, joining the Spies, a group which encourages youth to turn in their parents should they commit "thought crime". Thought crime is when, even for a moment, one should think a negative thought about the government. Crime is monitored by the Thought Police, an elite and secretive government organization which "vaporizes" criminals - that is, takes offenders in their sleep and erases all records of their existence. In essence, this future society is a far more perturbing version of communism.

Winston is 39 years old and works at the Ministry of Truth, a division of government dedicated to revising old news articles so that any record of something being slightly different from the way it is at the present does not exist. (Time is shaped and controlled, even, by the government.) Winston is a dreamer, however, and he suspects that things were not always this bad. Not that that could be proven; any real documents detailing life before the last few years say only that it was very bad. One day he buys a journal and begins writing in it - an act punishable by death, should ever it be discovered by the Thought Police. He fantasizes about a future when the "proles", the majority of society, the peasants, will rise up against Big Brother (the mascot and ruler of Oceania) and overthrow the government, returning things to the way Winston believes they once were. Winston doesn't think of any way to begin this revolution on his own, however, until he receives a note from a co-worker whom he suspects to be a member of the Thought Police. Then Winston discovers the ultimate way to rebel: he falls in love.

How grievous an existence George Orwell must have led. "1984" is the work of a man not only perturbed, but horrified of the future he saw looming ahead. Fortunately, 1984 has come and gone and present society is not anywhere near as terrible as Orwell's dystopia, but under the control of George W. Bush and our current government it is growing nearer. Thus the message of "1984" comes across strong as ever, and the "inevitable" future it predicts remains the most horrific thing imaginable. Indeed, "1984" is very probably the most unnerving novel ever written.

Nevertheless, it MUST be read. It is the strongest message one could send about staying true to the ideals of those who founded the United States of America, but more than that, it is the strongest warning one could make about violating human rights. Human rights must be protected, whether the human in question is black, white, American, Japanese, man, woman, criminal, innocent. Otherwise, society will turn into the nightmare predicted in "1984", and that is the most tragic thing I can conceive.

It's endlessly terrifying, entirely bleak, and ultimately hopeless, but "1984" is a brilliant novel and unquestionably one of the greatest ever written. George Orwell set out to concoct the most powerful and timeless warning he could, and "1984" was his grandiose success. The human spirit must not be oppressed, lest all that should remain are humankind. And what is humankind without humanity?

Thrilling and surprising
1984 can do without my review I suppose, it's been around for more than 50 years and it's a classic. So that means you must read it! Unless you are very sensitive, because some of the tortures described leave you with a strong sense of impotence. The book also has very surprising and unexpected plot changes.

A horrifying but wonderful book
This book was great but made me so afraid for the future. The book was written sometime in the 40s or 50s and takes place in England in 1984. In this futuristic world Big Brother is the boss and everything he says is right even if he's wrong. Everyone is under constant surveillance and history can be erased or changed at Big Brother's whim.

The form of government in this book is similar to that of any tyrant totalitarian. What happens in this book is something that I believe could happen to society if we let the government obtain too much power over the people. It really gave me a new perspective on just how easily things can change in the world. Overall I was really nervous for the future of the world, but I couldn't put the book down. It is really well written and it kept me guessing until the end.

I felt really badly for the two main characters. I couldn't even imagine what I would do in their situation. This was a great book. I love it. This is a must read for everyone.

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown - the UK's own Big Brothers.
Were you aware that Tony Blair and The labour party are almost universally despised in the UK?

Tony Blair is finished, but the way that Gordon Brown arrogantly swaggers about, becoming more presidential by the day, tells me that the poisonous Labour Party still has plans for us.

This is a tricky book to review. So much has been written about it since its publication that the question has to be: what on earth can be said about it that hasn't already been said or written?

This is a horror novel - pure and simple. Smith's predicament is awful and utterly believable, all thanks to Orwell's bleak, desperate prose and brutally insightful imagination. It could also be described as prophetic, I think.

The novel opens with the totalitarian government already in place, the masses already beaten into submission - but how did it all start? No government could shift from Democracy (however false), to this novel's style of complete control and brainwashing overnight. I would love to know Orwell's thoughts about how the transition was made - and how long it took...

Would Orwell take a look at the style of government we have now, and see the beginnings of dangerous state interference at work? The way Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have created a government based on deception and manipulating the public may sound alarm bells in Orwell's mind - if only he were here to have his say.

People have pride in their national identity - their nation's history, as well. So that needs to be eroded first. How would Big brother do that in the novel? Maybe it started with opening the country's borders to anyone that fancied it, so that the national identity that binds people together could start to dissolve - all in the name of "diversity". Maybe early Big Brother insisted on smearing anyone who argued against this as "racist". Sound familiar?

But Big Brother wouldn't stop there, would it? It would need to quicken the
Eradication of National Identity by binding as many nations together by whatever means it could; a single currency, a common foreign policy between nations, perhaps? Maybe that's how Orwell would have written it if 1984 contained Big Brother's back story. That would just be the start, wouldn't it?

Perhaps Big Brother would construct the largest DNA database in the world, and try and force the people to carry ID cards containing DNA samples? Maybe it would want to bug the cars on its streets so that the police would automatically know who had broken the speed limit, and where the driver was when they did it? Sound familiar?

It's impossible to know how Orwell would have handled Big Brother's back story, and also ridiculous to say that such a society and government could never exist. Ask a Romanian.

In a few years you could ask a Brit

A more terrifying book has never been written
"1984" is a book which perhaps needs no introduction. It is a dreadful, dreary tome which evokes the very nature of despair in the attentive reader who is also aware of how close civilization teeters near Orwell's fictional precipice. In a very real sense, George Orwell futuristic view of a world dominated by three superpowers perpetually at war is actually a treatise on the destruction of an individual's soul.

Winston Smith is a lonely man employed by the nation of Oceania's Ministry of Truth. His job is largely the correction of documents which were written incorrectly; i.e., have information pertinent to the doings of a person who does not exist--or rather, a person who does not exist anymore and who the government wishes to phase out of existence altogether, past, present, and future. The what of this job is making someone an unperson, a concept which is both noun and verb.

Citizens are always watched and closely monitored by Big Brother, an omnipresent, omniscient representation of the Party leader. Even dissenting thoughts, thoughtcrime, are punishable offenses. Winston Smith is cursed with an above-average intellect and ability to remember things...such as, in direct opposition to Party rhetoric, Oceania has NOT in fact always been at war with Eurasia (one of the other three superpowers). This, slowly, eats into his psyche until he commits two grand offenses contradictory to Party dogma: he falls in love and rales against Big Brother's dictates in his own mind. These two acts of resistance set the stage for the book's climax where Winston's status of plebian worker bee versus enlightened man will be ultimately decided.

This book, in the vein of "Darkness at Noon", not only explores the idea of life under a totalitarian government, but also how persons of power, through threat, force, intimidation, logic, or seduction are able to literally change one's thinking. Manipulation of thought, as suggested by these two books, is simple for a dedicated, organized, and powerful entity to accomplish, as all human's beliefs are essentially as malleable as gold, though less valuable. This idea is the real heart of "1984", while the futuristic environment, Newspeak, and illustrations of single Party influence are only interesting backdrops. Manipulation of an individual's thought, even as these new beliefs contradict old beliefs or even known reality, constitutes the destruction of the individual's soul.

*spoiler*
The 20-30 page interrogation of Winston Smith in the final portion of the book shows, through vivid dialogue and Smith's own internal monologue, our protagonist's gradual acceptance of Big Brother's truth as his own. In Soviet Russia, before a dissenter's execution, it was important to the Party that one publically announce all one's "crimes." In George Orwell's "1984", Big Brother wants much more...he wants you to believe what you are saying as you publically renounce yourself and admit your crimes. The interrogation and oft-borrowed "Room #101" scenes are some of the finest writing in modern literature.
*end spoiler*

"1984" is a must-read for everyone on Earth. Once we realize how truly easy it is for organized groups or charismatic individuals to get us to believe virtually anything they want us to believe, we will finally become more careful about what we "know" as "fact".

As an aside: this book is often placed in the same category as Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World." I am extremely familiar with both books and personally believe that grouping them together is similar to saying that "The Island of Dr. Moreau" and "The Island" should be grouped together simply because they both have the word "island" within their title. "Brave New World", while not valueless, is a markedly inferior book to "1984", almost juvenille in it's depictions of social isolation of the quasi-protagonistic "Outsider" and in the protrayal of future life in the ethically-challenged, biologically-dictated caste structure of Huxley's future vision. Spare a moment to read "Brave New World", but group it not into Winston Smith's dire future world.