1984: Julia

Julia by Sandra Newman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


George Orwell’s “1984,” about a totalitarian society which stamps out freedom so effectively (“a boot stomping on a human face forever”) is a classic of English literature. The Phrase “Big Brother” and “Ministry of Truth”, ironically named for its role in spewing out lies and misinformation, as well as War is Strength and maybe a lesser-known classic is Winston Smith’s plea that “we are the Dead” …all paint the picture and if you’ve read the story you know what happens…he falls in love with a mysterious woman who slips him a note that says, simply “I LOVE YOU.”

The woman is Julia and this book is her version of the story.

Julia is a mechanic who works in the Ministry of Truth, and for a while we see her before the fateful meeting with Winston…she has no ideology, no morals, she is a survivor, doing whatever she has to…but when she sees this scrappy little man, she is intrigued…
Julia then is a story about how such a regime would treat its women…think like the realization of Project 2025 but done in a series of Two Minutes Hates…Hate Week, Hate Month, Hate all the time, War all the Time. And an enemy that changes with the wind but also is told to be the same enemy it always was… A Big Brother would want to use women to progress the State. To give the State workers and productive little people to keep the boot firmly stamped on the face of humanity…Julia winds up being one of the lucky winners to be the mothers of the regime.

How this is achieved is one of the harder parts of the book.

It is a familiar story that takes us in a different direction from the original while also steering us back to the ending of that story…and then going beyond it.

You may ask yourself…is this necessary?

I think it is. The tone and the pitch of the novel builds on a world that was created long ago by Orwell. But Julia of this book is a fully-formed character rather than a plot device. And her story is one of a woman being used by the State. And if some people get their way, Julia will be a blueprint for the future that has yet to be written.






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