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A review by inquisitive_chap
1984 by George Orwell
4.0
Spoilers included
This book is very thought provoking and, in many ways, far sighted. The main point of the book is that centralisation of power ultimately leads to a government that wants power for power's sake. Ideologies all ultimately become subservient to retaining control and power. The concepts being raised are highly insightful. But the execution of the idea falls short for me.
In terms of its prescience, while we (in the West) do not live in dictatorships, the idea of a device listening to everything you do is almost a reality in many homes (Alexa / Google Home are constantly recording). While history is not 'rewritten' in the same way Orwell set out in this novel, the emergence of both genuine 'Fakenews' (where fake facts are disseminated) and the tendency of political leaders to ascribe reports they dislike as being 'fakenews' (regardless of the merit of the point being made) is most definitely a manipulation of people's understanding of history and the present.
As a novel, the first part was genuinely gripping, raising questions about how the world Winston inhabits works. The second part - where Winston simply reads out of a book that explains how the world really operates - felt a bit of a blunt way to do the 'big reveal'. And the third part where he is tortured and his soul ultimately destroyed felt to me too extreme an outcome. But then maybe that's the point: to raise a fear of where such tendencies end if unchecked.
I think this is just about a 4 for me (concept and idea is a 5; execution a 3)
This book is very thought provoking and, in many ways, far sighted. The main point of the book is that centralisation of power ultimately leads to a government that wants power for power's sake. Ideologies all ultimately become subservient to retaining control and power. The concepts being raised are highly insightful. But the execution of the idea falls short for me.
In terms of its prescience, while we (in the West) do not live in dictatorships, the idea of a device listening to everything you do is almost a reality in many homes (Alexa / Google Home are constantly recording). While history is not 'rewritten' in the same way Orwell set out in this novel, the emergence of both genuine 'Fakenews' (where fake facts are disseminated) and the tendency of political leaders to ascribe reports they dislike as being 'fakenews' (regardless of the merit of the point being made) is most definitely a manipulation of people's understanding of history and the present.
As a novel, the first part was genuinely gripping, raising questions about how the world Winston inhabits works. The second part - where Winston simply reads out of a book that explains how the world really operates - felt a bit of a blunt way to do the 'big reveal'. And the third part where he is tortured and his soul ultimately destroyed felt to me too extreme an outcome. But then maybe that's the point: to raise a fear of where such tendencies end if unchecked.
I think this is just about a 4 for me (concept and idea is a 5; execution a 3)