Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

29 reviews

castle_samj's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I have both simultaneously and impossibly completely read this book and wholeheartedly denounced its utter existence or potential to exist. 

I think I’m disappointed. I had long expected this book to contain some more SCIENCE to its -fiction, yet mostly it dealt with drama and confusing or blurring the lines of reality. I’d wager this was more intended as a political protest and warning tragedy of the existing world governments in the 1940s than a prediction of what was to come. While a lot of the meta-content has, in fact, evolved to become true, it equally mispredicted some changes, lending to its true purpose of protest. 

I can not recommend reading this book. Read a synopsis or something, or read Part 2 Chapter 09 and nothing else. I’m not even sure if Orwell was antisemitic by making the ‘villain’ be Jewish (

there’s no good closure on the purpose of Goldstein other than to be the scapegoat for the opposition to the Party, and nothing other than hateful rhetoric toward him or his ideology

) but he doesn’t do aftercare for any of the awful things; you just get a tragedy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction and Alcohol

Minor: Antisemitism, Grief, and Cultural appropriation

ferdie's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-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? Yes

4.0

1984 is infuriating. While it is not a 1:1 match, there are parallels to our world that make you want to scream and fall into depression. Power for powers sake corrupts absolutely.  Would recommend if you want a deep dive into societal coercion by fear. It wasn't an enjoyable read but It makes you reflect and engage with the ideas.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Grief, and Death of parent

ashsparrow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

vnfhcxksiw's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

maess's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, and Classism

gabriella_'s review against another edition

reflective tense medium-paced

• 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

3.75

why do British dystopians always have a nursery rhyme involved? it takes me out because it’s juvenile in an otherwise pretty heavy story 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lorraine19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

The beginning can be a bit difficult to understand and slow to get into. But once as you really get into it and appreciate the world building, it opens your eyes to why this is considered a classic. There is a deep examination on what it means to be human at the root of this book that I think is often overlooked in favor of the political debates. The characters are complex people in a complex world. It is a very dark read but not a "feels good" book if that's what you are looking for. I personally appreciate the seriousness and the depth of this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Cursing, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

mme_carton's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Grief

izzydelaya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Violence, Stalking, Murder, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Genocide, Infidelity, Slavery, Antisemitism, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Colonisation

ravensandlace's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-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

2.0

Title: 1984

Author: George Orwell

Genre: Adult Dystopia

Format: my own paperback book

Star Rating: 2.5 stars

tw: misogyny, antisemitism, war, parental death, assault, burning, torture, mind control

So, I read this book back in high school, over 10 years ago. I know, I am old. I remember thinking “Oh this is such a good book!” I also felt really proud of myself for reading an “adult” book. Up until that point, I had normally read young adult books. I found a beautiful paperback edition, while I was thrift shopping of course, and thought “Great! I’ll give this another go and see if it holds up!”

Ugh. This book sucked and I am so disappointed that I did not like it the second time around. Sure, the message was good. Big Brother is always watching, etc, etc. It’s a metaphor for the government and how if it goes left unchecked, bad things will happen. I get that. My problem was with the main character, Winston, and the ending. I’ll explain both. 

Winston is the absolute whiniest main character I’ve ever read about and I read Shadow and Bone (if you all have read that book, you know who I’m talking about). He wanted to kill a woman because he was attracted to her. Who does that?  In fact, he dislikes all women and had nasty things to say about them. He would constantly shit on women because they used their feminine wiles to get people to join some sort of group. He also had such an ego about him that was completely undeserved. He knew he wasn’t a catch but at the same time, still acted like he was better than everyone just because he didn’t think like the others.  

The ending made me so mad. This is going to be a spoiler of sorts so read this next paragraph if you don’t care about spoilers or if you have already read the book. We were made to root for Winston, fighting against the Party. That things were going to go well for the Rebellion and that maybe we would see the Party getting taken down. But no. Winson learns to love the party and therefore loves Big Brother due to mind control. I don’t remember if I liked the ending or not when I read it in high school. I really just remember being confused. But now, I’m just mad. Thank god I only spent like one dollar on this book.  

Overall, I believe this is an important book about government control. But don’t rely on Winston to be an example of how to defeat said government control. He is nothing but a whiny, misogynistic wuss. I still recommend this book. Just be prepared to be mad about the ending and about Winston.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and War