topbob's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Death and Infertility
night3aven's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
- 1984 - review
1984 may not be the best book ever written in terms of style and narrative, yet its powerful and ever-present themes certainly make it a masterpiece.
Orwell's style is capable of appearing analytical and rigorous, but also colourful and full of emotions at the same time, depending on what's necessary.
Moreover, the language in part I and many parts of part II is strictly logical and linear, while the parts where Winston and Julia fall in love
Spoiler
or the moment in which they believe they have really found a way to rebel against government (through the so-called "Brotherhood")Spoiler
In the same way, part III of the book displays the horrible state of mind in which Winston is reduced (and then even enslaved, we may say) by the Party and presents a load of different emotions, hence contrasting Winston's attempt to break free and his hopes with the tortures and the will of O'Brien and his other tormentors.The feeling is overall that of a slow and decadent decay, from freedom and happiness to sadness, humiliation, melancholy, suffering and, finally, blind obedience.
The author thus proves himself a master of writing, versatile and capable of telling different moments with different nuances. Furthermore, although act I and act II may seem boring at first, as soon as the reader finishes the book by travelling through
Spoiler
the challengingSpoiler
sharing all of Winston's hardships and struggles in the processSpoiler
and tragicallyOrwell's psychological characterisation of his characters is superb, with Winston being the protagonist and the main point around which the plot revolves, while giving also importance to the role of other characters, but always through Winston's eyes.
It is no surprise then, that many of the characters appear and behave differently than they really are:
- O'Brien
Spoiler
more than any other, initially considered a friend and a saviour, eventually turns out to be one of the worst - and therefore, one of the best - villains ever written- Mr. Charrington
Spoiler
, initially seeming like and old friend who is nostalgic for the past times and hopeful for a new future, eventually betrays both Julia and Winston for the Party- Julia herself
Spoiler
, seen always only through the main character's view, which is positive and blissful when Winston starts to date her and really loves her (giving also in this instance more space to her own ideas and opinions) but which in the end, after the torture they both endured and after they both betrayed each other, is totally cold and distant, partly still secretly wanting to get her back but still surrendering to the rules imposed by the Party and thus seeing her as something useless and bad for him.The most elaborate, important and essential part, still to this day, is however the precise and accurate way in which Orwell explores the ways through which a government can overpower and overwhelm his own citizens to become a dictatorship, or even worse.
The fact that each and every man, apart from the proles, is constantly monitored by tele-screens, hidden cameras and hidden microphones highlights the first step the government takes to gain power: the constant control of his citizens, followed immediately by punishment when someone doesn't do what the Party wants (something really relevant even in our age, where we are already increasingly surrounded more and more by technology)
Then, all the lies and propaganda through which the party indoctrinates its citizens, not only by constant lying but by making sure they are happy to lie to themselves (freedom of thought and freedom of the press are not only important, they are necessary, otherwise everything could get always worse and worse)
And in the end...
Spoiler
as explored in act III, a terrible procedure of torture and oppression that makes the individual not only renounce to his freedom to act, but also to his freedom to think and even his freedom to feel, then replacing the broken shells with blind obedience to the government and making citizens betray each other.(Power can be gained in many different ways, not only through a politics of the image ("image-politics") - which we see also really often today as well, though with different and certainly less evil goals - but also through widespread control of the state and the individual, by manipulating the popular masses and by means and terrible tortures that are always hidden)
It could be argued that most of Orwell's ideas might be too influenced by the historical era in which he lived and by his strong opposition to communism, however, even if we remove his personal views, the novel still maintains its clear and functional moral messages.
1984 is thus not only a book, but also a clear advice and a useful warning against how any of us might be manipulated and controlled, thus vindicating its role as a masterpiece for its highly cultural and historical importance.
Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.
.Spoiler
Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Classism, Confinement, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Body shaming, Slavery, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Murder, Deportation, Panic attacks/disorders, and War
seulgireads's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting and Violence
Moderate: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Kidnapping, and Confinement
Minor: War, Sexual content, Gun violence, Alcoholism, and Death
catandherbooks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Moderate: War
emmoon's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Death
Moderate: Violence and Alcoholism
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
leeyongjin's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Gaslighting
Moderate: Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Death and Body shaming
sp0okysandwich's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Classism, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Murder, War, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Death, Cursing, Confinement, and Sexual content
zams's review against another edition
challenging
dark
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Honestly I have to say I'm very glad I did not have to pick this book up to read it physically, because I found the plot fairly boring, and would have probably DNFed it, so yay to audiobooks I guess, because the message was amazing.
Julia and Winston's "relationship" weirded me out quite a bit. I think it came out of nowhere and was never really explained, and I'm a bit uncomfortable with the age gap to be honest, allthough it is definitly not to be depicted as the same as it would be in our current world compared to their day-to-day life.
And again, if I didn't have it read to me for hours on end while getting work done I would have not made it through because it was just so boring.
On a different note, the message about capitalism and authoritarianism were absolutely amazing. On top of that, the plot twist in the end absolutely shattered me. This is definitly an insanely important book in my opinion, and just from that view point it would immediatly be a 5 star read, and I'm sure I missed a lot of important remarks in all of the layers of this work. It's just the writing style and side plot that makes it not really work for me so well.
Julia and Winston's "relationship" weirded me out quite a bit. I think it came out of nowhere and was never really explained, and I'm a bit uncomfortable with the age gap to be honest, allthough it is definitly not to be depicted as the same as it would be in our current world compared to their day-to-day life.
And again, if I didn't have it read to me for hours on end while getting work done I would have not made it through because it was just so boring.
On a different note, the message about capitalism and authoritarianism were absolutely amazing. On top of that, the plot twist in the end absolutely shattered me. This is definitly an insanely important book in my opinion, and just from that view point it would immediatly be a 5 star read, and I'm sure I missed a lot of important remarks in all of the layers of this work. It's just the writing style and side plot that makes it not really work for me so well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Minor: Death of parent, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
vikito_botz's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A great book but clearly written by a man. 1984 had me feeling nauseous, anxious and spiral into philosophical discussions with myself. Not sure why exactly but it really got a visceral reaction out of me every time I picked it up. Mostly the ending had me in a choke and I needed to take a break between some chapters to continue forwards.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Physical abuse, and Death
Moderate: War
Minor: Rape
sugar_fox's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
(Copied from my Goodreads account)
4.5 stars.
The only possible way to describe 1984, is disturbing.
It’s not from extreme gore or violence, though there certainly is some. It’s from the ideas that this book presents, and the way in which it was executed.
1984 was one of the original dystopias, or at least the one that first gained major worldwide attention (as far as I’ve read), and boy can I understand why.
In my opinion, you don’t read this book for the characters alone- though they are extremely intriguing, so much say I could write an essay on the psyche of Julia and Winston- you read it for it’s frankly quite frightening themes.
In the past, 1984 was seen as a possibility. A possible future for the world to take, one ruled under an iron fist, when even thinking your own thoughts become impossible. While this is a far cry from the world that we live in today, it is interesting to compare the two worlds, and see the path that the world could’ve- and could (unlikely) still- take.
The only reason this book misses out on the extra 0.5 stars, is because of the characters. When I read this book, as I stated previously, I didn’t read it for the characters, and perhaps upon a re-read that will change. I will stop becoming fixated on the world that 1984 presents and will focus enough on the characters. And while I still did care for them, I just felt like something was missing, it may even be, that in comparison to the unique masterpiece of world building that 1984 presents there was no way for the characters to compare.
If this rant somehow hasn’t convinced you to go ahead and buy or borrow 1984, this is your reminder:
Read this book.
4.5 stars.
The only possible way to describe 1984, is disturbing.
It’s not from extreme gore or violence, though there certainly is some. It’s from the ideas that this book presents, and the way in which it was executed.
1984 was one of the original dystopias, or at least the one that first gained major worldwide attention (as far as I’ve read), and boy can I understand why.
In my opinion, you don’t read this book for the characters alone- though they are extremely intriguing, so much say I could write an essay on the psyche of Julia and Winston- you read it for it’s frankly quite frightening themes.
In the past, 1984 was seen as a possibility. A possible future for the world to take, one ruled under an iron fist, when even thinking your own thoughts become impossible. While this is a far cry from the world that we live in today, it is interesting to compare the two worlds, and see the path that the world could’ve- and could (unlikely) still- take.
The only reason this book misses out on the extra 0.5 stars, is because of the characters. When I read this book, as I stated previously, I didn’t read it for the characters, and perhaps upon a re-read that will change. I will stop becoming fixated on the world that 1984 presents and will focus enough on the characters. And while I still did care for them, I just felt like something was missing, it may even be, that in comparison to the unique masterpiece of world building that 1984 presents there was no way for the characters to compare.
If this rant somehow hasn’t convinced you to go ahead and buy or borrow 1984, this is your reminder:
Read this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Death, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Sexual content