A review by coffeewithvivi
1984 by George Orwell

5.0

It took me nearly 6 months to finish this book. I dragged it with me through 9 countries - on work, leisure, and academia trips. I hated it, I loved it. Sometimes I couldn’t manage to even read one page, sometimes I read 100 in one sitting.

This book is made me think about everything, question my reality, triggered my anxiety at the same time. I had so many thoughts on it - this copy is one of the few that is heavily annotated now that I’ve finished reading it.
And I will read it again. Maybe next spring. And I am sure that after that, I will reread it again in like 5-10 years. And pile up my annotations and thoughts.

This story gains importance with every year. Especially now, with Brexit going on, reading 1984 feels like a parody of everything that is happening around me. The propaganda, the mind control, the zombie-like behaviour of the characters... all the things portrayed in the book are now reality - and that’s what scares and amazes me at the same time!

It is a book that I foresee to play a role in my life for many years. And I cannot wait to reread it at a different point in my life and see how fitting it will be then. It is a timeless critique of society, on human behaviour, and on power abuse.

I hated it. And I loved it at the same time. It is easily one of my favourite books I’ve ever read!