Reviews with content warning for Violence - 1984

"War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength."

This is a reread. I decided on an audiobook this time around because it was free on Audible, and I've been too busy to sit with a physical book.

But OMG! If this read ain't as relevant as ever.

Orwell imagines an authoritarian socialist Britain that is based on Nazi Germany and Stalinism. A world in which even one's thoughts are controlled by Big Brother. There is no past. Only the present. The powers that be keep re-writing history and known facts to the extent that 2+2 now equals 5.

I love that Orwell uses math to show how ridiculous the Party is. The answers to equations are the one thing we should count on to never change, but they have brainwashed people into believing Math is wrong 🤣

But Winston is different. He refuses to forget and is keeping a diary of his thoughts. He's even taken a lover, a big no-no since sex is no longer for fun. Winston and Julia find freedom in defying laws. Laws the people in charge break because these laws aren't in place to better society. It's all about power. A power they have no plans of relinquishing.

They've tricked the majority into thinking war is necessary. That they're no longer slaves to society since they're all stripped of their identity and free will and are only of one thought: to love Big Brother and only Big Brother. That there is strength in not reading and simply parroting what Big Brother tells them is true.

The end result is people losing their humanity.

Simon Prebble is an excellent narrator. I felt the desperation in his portrayal of Winston. His will to remember and his defeat when he realizes the Party is just too powerful.

This banned book is required reading.

Content Warnings

lizzie74's review against another edition

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dark 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? No

3.5

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brethetech's review against another edition

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dark reflective 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? It's complicated

2.5

I know it’s a classic for a reason and that it laid the foundation for so much more but please don’t go into this book thinking you’re going to gain much from it like I did.

At several points it felt like I just had to get through it to keep my promise to myself that I would read at least one classic this year.

The pacing was nice it skipped large swaths of time and lingered in moments but it always felt right.

But I was never attached to the main character, or any character at all, I didn’t learn anything, and I wasn’t entertained for more then a brief 50 or so pages where I wanted to know what would happen next.

If you want to read this for antiauthoritarianism, or because it’s a dystopia there are better picks nowadays that are both going to be more interesting and dive deeper into the topic. And in fact that is my main gripe with this that the facts that it presents are not novel to me, and it just keeps hammering them in instead of going deeper. I know they were novel at the time and even perhaps for a while after, or to a specific audience where this is a new topic but not to me, or probably anybody interested in reading books on this topic today.

Or maybe I’m just stupid and am missing something idk.

Content Warnings

lotta_8's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

The book and its plot are heavy. It definitely took me a few chapters to get into the story. The plot itself is not very pleasant, however, it is impressive in what detail an author in 1948 was able to predict what was to happen e.g. in Germany just a couple of years later. Not a light read but definitely worth the effort.

Content Warnings