Scan barcode
accio_gays's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Antisemitism, Abandonment, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Alcoholism, Slavery, Vomit, Grief, and Alcohol
cdt96's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcohol
marthadude's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Fatphobia and Gun violence
Minor: Racism and Rape
antoniaodernein's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.0
Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Vomit
bibs's review against another edition
- 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? N/A
3.0
I had pretty high hopes for this book, everyone that I talked to loves it, and when I started it after years of wanting to read it I was shocked at the misogyny expressed that no one had told me about. This fact put me off reading it and may have tainted the rest of the experience for me; this review is solely my experience with it given my background and expectations, if you like this book and don't mind the problems it may have in my eyes, that is totally valid!
I think the book (personally) doesn't hold as the masterpiece it is said to be; I find the messages to be all very in-your-face, nothing is left for the reader to think about and form their own opinion on. This doesn't really hold as a good criticism of Socialism, either, because it basically makes a strawman argument against it (I've heard that "Animal Farm" is better in that regard).
Before I list my problems with this book, I want to say that Winston is a pretty unlikable character.
Main Sins:
- The descriptions of fat people are all pretty bad and made me want to burn the book because they had no relevance to the plot;
- Winston just hates all women and thinks that they're all dumb, blind Party-followers or just weak, until he finds one that says "I love you" and then he suddenly stops hating women *sigh*. Also pretty big TW for rape bc this mas is honestly crazy;
- He has some hope that poor people can change the current situation but overall he isn't that nice to them in his narration (writing their lines with grammar errors was a pretty low blow in my opinion), for the most part, they just mindlessly accepting anything that is thrown at them;
- The representation of Communism/Socialism seems more like a Capitalist Society with some mentions of food and clothing stramps for Party-members
Also, George Orwell acts like older generations don't spend their days complaining about the current state of society, and saying that young people are all degenerates (I understand that under a totalitarian system people won't have the same freedom to express their ideas, but the proles seem to live with pretty little surveillance compared to Party workers/members and they still don't emit any opinions like "When I was young...")
Conclusion:
That said, I still think that this might be a worthy read if you're aware that this is a book with very outdated views regarding some issues and you feel like it can still be interesting, you should go for it. It wasn't mindblowing for me personally but this is a favorite for many of my friends.
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, and Police brutality
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Antisemitism, and Death of parent