mme_carton's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Gaslighting, Racism, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Racial slurs, Vomit, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, War, Injury/injury detail, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Gore, Violence, Antisemitism, Classism, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Sexism
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Alcoholism, and Homophobia
mdugas'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
3.25
Spoiler
The psychological torture may have been realistic for the scenario but it was too graphic for me.Graphic: Classism, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Violence, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Torture
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Drug use, Deportation, Abandonment, Ableism, and Misogyny
This book may be triggering if you struggle with trauma relating to privacy, paranoia, and sexual assault, among other things.laurenu8's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Blood, Gun violence, and Death of parent
chaosandwildflowers'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? Yes
2.5
First issue: the writing style. It's so...dry? Like even when things get interesting towards the end, it's a bit of a slog to get through. And this might have been the fault of my particular edition, but the paragraphs were SO long and blocky, especially once I got to the book within the book (don't even get me started on how useless I found the book within the book).
Second problem: the characters. To put it bluntly, I hated every single character. All of them. Except for the clothesline lady, I liked her well enough lmao, but everyone else I just wanted to strangle with my bare hands!! And I understand, I get it, I realize that this is part of the book's commentary, but what I've learned from reading this book is that it doesn't matter how ~deep~ the commentary is, if the character whose thoughts I'm reading is hateable and a loser, I just could not care less about what they have to say! And Julia? Equally hateable. She and Winston are, even at their best, SO self centered, I just honestly wanted to throw the book across the room the whole time either one of them was on the page, which was the entire time.
When I take a step back and look at this through the perspective of having read it, I see how Orwell was using every detail to get his message across, this whole idea of warning us of totalitarianism and the danger of not knowing the past, and all of that, but I don't think I will ever willingly read this book again.
So, at the end of the day, would I recommend this book? Yes and no. If you're looking for an entertaining dystopia on the level of The Hunger Games, you're not going to find that here. Buuuuuuut if you're in the kind of headspace where you're ready to read an unentertaining, repetitive, dryly written book with exactly zero likable characters to be seen; if you think you're ready to slog through all that, then yes would recommend it because I think its the kind of book everyone should read at least once. Just don't go into it expecting to root for the characters or care more than a little about the plot.
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Death, Child death, Racial slurs, Murder, Injury/injury detail, Gaslighting, Blood, War, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, and Sexism
Minor: Fatphobia, Rape, and Death of parent
aravenclawlibraryx'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? Yes
2.0
Moderate: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Blood, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Violence, and War
mailuss's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Death
Minor: Sexual content
ellythequeen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Blood, Genocide, War, Violence, and Vomit
meganpbennett's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
1984 is a terrifying look at what could be. It was also not intended to be an instruction manual, but a look at what happens when things are taken far, far, far too far.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Death, Genocide, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, War, Addiction, Alcoholism, Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Blood, Grief, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Body horror, Classism, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Injury/injury detail, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Excrement and Vomit
erin_forgie's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.75
There are some vile comments on women: wanting to k*ll and r*pe them.
Spoiler
Even after O’Brien mentally and Physically abusing Winston, Winston still idealises himGraphic: Death, Violence, War, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Alcoholism, Blood, Classism, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Alcohol, Misogyny, Injury/injury detail, and Torture
jenna_justi2004's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death, Drug use, Gore, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Grief, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and War