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1984

George Orwell

4.19 · Rating details · 3,317,145 ratings · 74,418 reviews

George Orwell’s 1984 takes on new life with extraordinary relevance and renewed popularity.

“Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power.”—The New Yorker

In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where Big Brother is always watching yo George Orwell’s 1984 takes on new life with extraordinary relevance and renewed popularity.

“Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power.”—The New Yorker

In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions.
Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.
Among the seminal texts of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a rare work that grows more haunting as its futuristic purgatory becomes more real. Published in 1949, the book offers political satirist George Orwell's nightmare vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one poor stiff's attempt to find individuality. The brilliance of the novel is Orwell's prescience of modern life--the ubiquity of television, the distortion of the language--and his ability to construct such a thorough version of hell. Required reading for students since it was published, it ranks among the most terrifying novels ever written.
 AMAZON Book’s TOP Seller and World Wide Phenomenon a Must Read.

Lionel Trilling said of Orwell’s masterpiece, “1984 is a profound, terrifying, and wholly fascinating book. It is a fantasy of the political future, and like any such fantasy, serves its author as a magnifying device for an examination of the present.” Though the year 1984 now exists in the past, Orwell’s novel remains an urgent call for the individual willing to speak truth to power.

Abouth the Author:
GEORGE ORWELL (1903-1950) was born in India and served with the Imperial Police in Burma before joining the Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War. Orwell was the author of six novels as well as numerous essays and nonfiction works.
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Kindle Edition, 281 pages

Published December 30th 2017 (first published June 8th 1949)

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May 28, 2007 Bill Kerwin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book is far from perfect. Its characters lack depth, its rhetoric is sometimes didactic, its plot (well, half of it anyway) was lifted from Zumyatin’s We, and the lengthy Goldstein treatise shoved into the middle is a flaw which alters the structure of the novel like a scar disfigures a face.

But in the long run, all that does not matter, because George Orwell got it right.

Orwell, a socialist who fought against Franco, watched appalled as the great Soviet experiment was reduced to a totalita
This book is far from perfect. Its characters lack depth, its rhetoric is sometimes didactic, its plot (well, half of it anyway) was lifted from Zumyatin’s We, and the lengthy Goldstein treatise shoved into the middle is a flaw which alters the structure of the novel like a scar disfigures a face.

But in the long run, all that does not matter, because George Orwell got it right.

Orwell, a socialist who fought against Franco, watched appalled as the great Soviet experiment was reduced to a totalitarian state, a repressive force equal in evil to Fascist Italy or Nazi Germany. He came to realize that ideology in an authoritarian state is nothing but a distraction, a shiny thing made for the public to stare at. He came to realize that the point of control was more control, the point of torture was more torture, that the point of all their "alternative facts" was to fashion a world where people would no longer possess even a word for truth.

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.

Orwell’s vision of the world is grim; too grim, some would argue, for it may deprive the faint-hearted among us of hope. But Orwell never wanted to take away hope. No, he wished to shock our hearts into resistance by showing us the authoritarian nightmare achieved: a monument of stasis, a tribute to surveillance and control.

Here, in the USA, in 2017, our would-be totalitarians are a long way from stasis. Right now they’re stirring up chaos and confusion, spreading lies and then denying they spread them, hoping to gaslight us into a muddle of helplessness and inactivity. They are trying to destroy a vigorous democracy, and they know it will take much chaos and confusion to bring that democracy down. They hate us most when we march together, when we occupy senate offices and jam the congressional switchboard, when we congregate in pubs and coffee houses and share our outrage and fear, for they know that freedom thrives on solidarity and resistance, and that solidarity and resistance engender love and hope. They much prefer it when we brood in solitude, despairing and alone.

Which reminds me...one of the things we should never do is brood about the enemy’s ideology (Is Steve Bannon a Fascist? A Nazi? A Stalinist?), for while we try to discern his “ideological goals,” the enemy is busy pulling on his boots, and his boots are made with hobnails, with heel irons, and equipped with toecaps of steel.

Finally, it does not matter who heads up the authoritarian state: a bully boy like Mussolini, a strutting coprophiliac like Hitler, a Napoleonic pig like Stalin, or a brainless dancing bear like Trump. Whatever the current incarnation of “Big Brother” may be, the goal is always the same:

A nation of warriors and fanatics, marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting - three hundred million people all with the same face.

...more

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Dec 07, 2007 Silvana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: dark-matter, sci-fi, mine-mine-mine, dick-lit, scary-stuff, dead-trees, classics

WAR IS PEACE.

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

Those words keep sounding in my head since I read this book. Gosh, probably the most haunting not to mention frightening book I've ever read. 1984 should also be included in the horror genre.

1984 describes a Utopia. Not Thomas More's version of Utopia, but this is one is the antithesis, i.e. Dystopia. Imagine living in a country, whose leaders apply a totalitarian system in regulating their citizen, in the most extreme ways, which make Hitler WAR IS PEACE.

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

Those words keep sounding in my head since I read this book. Gosh, probably the most haunting not to mention frightening book I've ever read. 1984 should also be included in the horror genre.

1984 describes a Utopia. Not Thomas More's version of Utopia, but this is one is the antithesis, i.e. Dystopia. Imagine living in a country, whose leaders apply a totalitarian system in regulating their citizen, in the most extreme ways, which make Hitler, Mao, Stalin and that old bloke in V for Vendetta look like sissies.

Working, eating, drinking, sleeping, talking, thinking, procreating...in short living, all are controlled by the state. Any hint of obedience or dislike can be detected by various state apparatus such as the Thought Police, telescreen, or even your children, who will not hesitate to betray you to the authorities. Even language is modified in such ways that you cannot express yourself, since individualism is a crime.

The past is controlled, rewritten into something that will strengthen the incumbent ruler. Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past. There is no real truth. The "truth" is what the state says it is. Black is white, 2+2=5, if the state says so.

The world in 1984 is divided into three states, originated from the ashes from World War II: Oceania (British Isles, the Americas, Pacific, Australia), Eurasia (Europe & Russia), and Eastasia (the rest of it). Continuous warfare between those three (who hold similar ideologies) is required to keep the society's order and peace. Si vis pacem para bellum. That's describes the first slogan.

The second slogan, freedom is slavery, means the only way to be free is by letting you lose yourself and to be integrated within the Party. That way, you'll be indestructible and immortal.

Ignorance is strength, means the division on high, middle, low classes in society will never be changed. The middle wants to be the high and they'll act "on behalf of the low" to dethrone the high. Afterwards, a new middle class arises, all will change except the low. The high and middle make and uphold the law, the low (proletarian) is just too stupid to revolt. The state maintains its structure by torture, intimidation, violence, and brainwashing.

Blimey, Orwell's Animal Farm is already depressing, but 1984 gives "depression" a new meaning, at least for me. ...more

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Jul 28, 2007 Dave rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

In George Orwell's 1984, Winston Smith is an open source developer who writes his code offline because his ISP has installed packet sniffers that are regulated by the government under the Patriot Act. It's really for his own protection, though. From, like, terrorists and DVD pirates and stuff. Like every good American, he drinks Coca-Cola and his processed food has desensitized his palate to all but four flavors: sweet, salty-so-that-you-will-drink-more-coca-cola, sweet, and Cooler Ranch!(tm). H ...more

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Aug 12, 2007 John Wiswell rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Classics readers, political readers concerned with overreaches

1984 is not a particularly good novel, but it is a very good essay. On the novel front, the characters are bland and you only care about them because of the awful things they live through. As a novel all the political exposition is heavyhanded, and the message completely overrides any sense of storytelling. As an essay, the points it makes can be earthshaking. It seems everyone who has so much as gotten a parking ticket thinks he lives in a 1984-dystopia. Every administration that reaches for po ...more

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Feb 19, 2018 Maria rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I'm gonna ask myself a mandatory question and say nothing more.

Why the fuck had I not read this book before? ...more

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Dec 05, 2010 Emily May rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopia-utopia, classics, clothbound-wishlist, sci-fi

This was the book that started my love affair with the dystopian genre. And maybe indirectly influenced my decision to do a politics degree. I was only 12 years old when I first read it but I suddenly saw how politics could be taken and manipulated to tell one hell of a scary and convincing story. I'm a lot more well-read now but, back then, this was a game-changer. I started to think about things differently. I started to think about 2 + 2 = 5 and I wanted to read more books that explored the i ...more

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Dec 15, 2018 Jesse (JesseTheReader) added it · review of another edition

This was an up and down kind of read for me. There were parts that I really enjoyed and parts that I found extremely difficult to maneuver through. I'm glad that I decided to pick it up and give it a go, because it's one that I've been curious about for a long time. I can definitely see why so many people love this book. It explores a lot of things that we see happening in the world today. I can't say I'm leaving it as a massive fan, but I'm sure it's one that I'll continue to think about. ...more

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Aug 28, 2008 Stephen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-favorites, 6-star-books, easton-press, 1930-1953, science-fiction, audiobook, favorite-ideas, classics-european, literature, world-in-the-shitter

I am a big fan of speculative fiction and in my literary travels I have encountered a myriad of dystopias, anti-utopias and places and societies that make one want to scream and.....

...(with or without contemporaneous loss of bladder and other bodily functions)....

Simply put, George Orwell's 1984 is unquestionably the most memorable and MOST DISTURBING vision of a world gone ~~mad~~ utterly bat-shit psycho that I have ever experienced. Ever!!! Despite being published back in 1948, I have ye ...more

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Jan 06, 2011 Lyndsey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: my-top-dystopian-or-utopian, 3rd-person-limited, reviewed-2010, reviewed-2011, experience, reviewed-5-stars, favorites, about-dystopia-or-utopia, i-recommend, pov-primarily-male

YOU. ARE. THE. DEAD. Oh my God. I got the chills so many times toward the end of this book. It completely blew my mind. It managed to surpass my high expectations AND be nothing at all like I expected. Or in Newspeak "Double Plus Good."

Let me preface this with an apology. If I sound stunningly inarticulate at times in this review, I can't help it. My mind is completely fried.

This book is like the dystopian Lord of the Rings, with its richly developed culture and economics, not to mention a fully ...more

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Oct 11, 2008 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 1001-book, classics, literature, dystopia, 20th-century

547. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell

Nineteen Eighty-Four, often published as 1984, is a dystopian novel published in 1949 by English author George Orwell.

The novel is set in Airstrip One, formerly Great Britain, a province of the superstate Oceania, whose residents are victims of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance and public manipulation.

Oceania's political ideology, euphemistically named English Socialism (shortened to "Ingsoc" in Newspeak, the government's invented langua 547. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell

Nineteen Eighty-Four, often published as 1984, is a dystopian novel published in 1949 by English author George Orwell.

The novel is set in Airstrip One, formerly Great Britain, a province of the superstate Oceania, whose residents are victims of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance and public manipulation.

Oceania's political ideology, euphemistically named English Socialism (shortened to "Ingsoc" in Newspeak, the government's invented language) is enforced by the privileged, elite Inner Party. Via the "Thought Police", the Inner Party persecutes individualism and independent thinking, which are regarded as "thoughtcrimes".

عنوانها: 1984؛ ۱۹۸۴؛ هزار و نهصد وهشتاد و چهار 1984؛ نویسنده جورج اورول؛ (نیلوفر)؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش سال 1982میلادی

عنوان: 1984 (۱۹۸۴)؛ نویسنده: جورج اورول؛ مترجم: صالح حسینی؛ تهران، نیلوفر، 1361؛ در 272ص؛ چاپ دوم 1364؛ سوم 1367؛ چهارم 1369؛ شابک: 9644480449؛ پنجم 1374؛ ششم 1376؛ هفتم 1380؛ هشتم 1382؛ یازدهم و دوازدهم 1388؛ شابک 9789644480447؛ سیزدهم 1389؛ در 312ص؛ چاپ چهاردهم 1395؛ عنوان گسترده: هزار و نهصد وهشتاد و چهار؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیایی - سده 20م

مترجمین دیگر خانهما و آقایان: رضا زارع، در 384ص، قزوین آزرمیدخت، 1392؛ خدیجه خدایی، در 318ص، تبریز، یاران، 1391؛ نرگس حیدری منجیلی، در 352ص، تهران، اردیبهشت، 1389،؛ مریم فیروزبخت، در 392ص، تهران، حکایتی دگر، 1389؛ زهره زندیه، در 400ص، قزوین، آزرمیدخت؛ کتایون شاهوردی، در 465ص، تهران، فراموشی، 1396؛ فهیمه رحمتی، در 400ص، تهران، ماهانه، 1394؛ امیر سالارکیا، در 384ص؛ تهران، هنر پارینه، 1394؛ مرتضی، سعیدی تبار، در 384ص، کرمان، انتشارات ولی، 1393؛ محمدعلی جدیری، تهران، اختر، چاپ یازدهم 1392، در 399ص؛ چاپ سیزدهم، تبریز، سومر، 1393، در 283ص؛ وحید کیان، تهران، کارگاه فیلم و گرافیک سپاس، 1394، در 375ص؛ حمیدرضا بلوچ، در 288ص، تهران، گهبد، 1384، چاپ دوم 1385، سوم 1386، پنجم 1388؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، مجید، 1386؛ در 288ص؛ چاپ هشتم 1392؛

کتاب «1984» را «اریک آرتور بلر» با نام مستعار «جرج اورول»؛ نویسنده و شاعر بریتانیایی بنوشته اند، و تا‌ به‌ امروز به بیش از شصت و پنج زبان گوناگون برگردان، و میلیون‌ها نسخه از آن فروخته شده است.؛ با توجه به تصویر روشنی که «اورول» در داستان از نظامهای تمامیت‌خواه ارائه می‌دهند، انگار کنید بیانیه‌ ای سیاسی، برای رد همه ی نظام‌های توتالیتر، و کمونیستی است.«جهان اورولی، 1984؛» داستان «وینستون اسمیت» را روایت می‌کنند؛ فردیکه نماد یک شهروند عادی دگراندیش، در دنیای اورولی ست.؛ رمان در سال 1949میلادی نوشته شده، زمانی‌که جنگ دوم جهانگیر به‌ تازگی پایان یافته بود؛ و جهانیان، خطر تسلیم‌ شدن در پیشگاه دیکتاتورها را، نیک فهمیده بودند.؛ در آن زمان، جنگ سرد هنوز آغاز نشده بود، و در دنیای غرب نیز، هنوز روشنفکران بسیاری بودند، که از کمونیسم هواداری، و دفاع میکردند.؛ در واقع «اورول» کتاب را، برای اخطار به غربیان، برای گوشزد کردن خطر گسترش کمونیسم، نوشته اند؛ اما داستان این اثر را، می‌توان به شرایط حاکم بر تمام جوامع تحت سلطه‌ ی حکومت‌ها‌ی استبدادی نیز، گسترش داد.؛ داستان در سال 1984میلادی (سی و پنجسال پس از تاریخ نگارش کتاب) در شهر لندن، رخ می‌دهد.؛ پس از جنگ جهانگیر، حاکمان کشورهای توانمند، به این نتیجه رسیده‌ اند، که اگر جهان، به روند افزایش ثروت ادامه دهد، ارکان جامعه‌ ی طبقاتی، به خطر می‌افتد؛ و حکومتها سرنگون میشوند.؛ آن‌ها تنها راه جلوگیری از این امر را، نابود کردن ثروت تولید شده، در جنگی بی‌ پایان می‌بینند.؛

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 21/05/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Lyn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

This changed the way that I looked at ideologies and changed the way I looked at leadership. Cynical, scathing, and not without its flaws, this is still a stark, haunting glimpse at what could be.

“War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”

Chilling.

The closing lines still come to me sometimes and remind me of depths that I can only imagine.

“He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to ...more

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Jun 09, 2018 Sean Barrs rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: fahrenheit 451 fans

Shelves: 4-star-reads

“The best books... are those that tell you what you know already.”

Just about everything Orwell says in 1984 is a maniacal truism. In some twisted form, everything reflects the truth of reality.

Of course there are exaggerations, though nothing is far from plausibility. We are controlled by our governments, and often in ways we are not consciously aware of. Advertisements, marketing campaigns and political events are all designed for us to elicit a certain response and think in a des ...more

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Jun 06, 2008 Amanda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club-made-me-do-it, kick-ass, blog

I've put off writing a review for 1984 because it's simply too daunting to do so. I liked 1984 even better after a second reading (bumping it up from a 4 star to a 5 star) because I think that, given the complexity of the future created by Orwell, multiple readings may be needed to take it all in. I thought it was genius the first time and appreciated that genius even more the second time.

Orwell had a daunting task: creating a future nearly half a century away from the time period in which he w I've put off writing a review for 1984 because it's simply too daunting to do so. I liked 1984 even better after a second reading (bumping it up from a 4 star to a 5 star) because I think that, given the complexity of the future created by Orwell, multiple readings may be needed to take it all in. I thought it was genius the first time and appreciated that genius even more the second time.

Orwell had a daunting task: creating a future nearly half a century away from the time period in which he was writing. This future had to be its own complex, independent society, but it also had to be the natural end result of the totalitarianism Orwell witnessed in the communist and socialist regimes of World War II. That's part of the horror of 1984: this future is a recognizable one, even in the 21st century. It's easy to see how those in control can, through manipulation and propaganda, maintain that control simply for the sake of sating their own power hunger. It's easy to say "no one could ever tell me what to think or what to do," but the Party's use of Big Brother, the Thought Police, the Two-Minute Hate, and Doublethink make it easy to see how a person's ability to think independently and discern fiction from reality can be eroded when there is no touchstone to fact. Revising and rewriting the past to make certain that Big Brother and the Party are always correct has effectively eliminated historical accuracy. How can one think and reason in a society where everything is a fabrication?

Another facet of 1984 that I find fascinating is the relationship between Winston and Julia. Winston claims Julia is a "rebel from the waist down," engaging in promiscuity and hedonistic indulgences forbidden by the Party. She doesn't care about social injustice or defining "reality"; she only longs for what will make her feel good in the moment and only rebels far enough to get what she wants. By comparison, Winston is an intellectual rebel, constantly worrying over the issues of truth and freedom and the real, unvarnished past, but limited in how far he's willing to push the boundaries (until he meets Julia). Together, they make a complete rebellion--physical and mental, but apart they find themselves impotent to stand up to the Party.

A cautionary tale, social commentary, and exemplary example of dystopian fiction, 1984 is one of those perfect novels that not only entertains, but forces one to think about the danger associated with giving any one person or entity too much power or control over our lives--issues well worth consideration in post-9/11 America.

Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder ...more

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Nov 09, 2017 Leo . rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Is Orwell turning in his grave? Does his epitaph read. "I fucking warned you! Don't say I never told you so! "

Did he have a crystal fucking ball?

***
If you want truth, go out and see

Not like in 1984, Richard Burton on TV

Orwell must have been psychic, or was he in the know

Cos' what's going on in the world clearly shows

That humanity is programmed through a TV screen

Since its conception, its all its ever been

News, films, dramas, sports, soaps and cartoons

Leaving the masses wide eyed, like Buffoons

Al ...more

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Feb 08, 2017 Joe rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Social media is a cage full of starved rats and all of us have our heads stuck in there now, like it or not.

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Jan 08, 2013 Matthew rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, sci-fi, favorites, political-thrillers, audio, hoopla, read-more-than-once, post-apocalyptic-dystopian, 2016

Yes! This book! Amazing! Terrifying, brutal, intricate, prophetic - and, in one big word, GENIUS!

This was a reread - the last time I read this was over 20 years ago and I wanted to see if the 5 star rating and its standing in one of my top 3 favorite books held up - and it most certainly does.

If this book was written today in the midst of the slew of dystopian novels that come out, it may not have stood out. But, this book was way ahead of its time. Written in a post WWII era where the fears of ...more

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Mar 27, 2017 Starjustin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

What can I possibly say about this amazing novel, 1984 by George Orwell, that hasn't been already said by many who have read the book for over half a century. When it is said that the book is 'haunting', 'nightmarish', and 'startling' any reader would have to agree! This well known novel grips the reader from the beginning and does not even let go of the grip at the finished reading. A classic you won't want to miss if you haven't taken the time to read it yet.
I actually listened to this novel ...more

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May 02, 2015 Zoë rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Goodness gracious this was very unsettling. I'm already a pretty paranoid person, so the idea of Big Brother was both very intriguing but also extremely frightening.
I really enjoyed reading this, but there were moments when I wasn't invested in the story and wanted to take a break from it, mostly in the last half of the book. Still DEFINITELY worth the read, though! ...more

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Jan 12, 2016 Joey Woolfardis rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ce20, champion, bookshelf, masculine, sterling, 2016

Read as part of The Infinite Variety Reading Challenge, based on the BBC's Big Read Poll of 2003.

"For, if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realise that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away."

Nineteen Eighty-Four is an insanely relevant novel in this day an Read as part of The Infinite Variety Reading Challenge, based on the BBC's Big Read Poll of 2003.

"For, if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realise that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away."

Nineteen Eighty-Four is an insanely relevant novel in this day and age, but it's also a rather soothing novel that contains some of the horrors that could never come to pass, though there are some horrific parallels between the England in the book and some countries around the world in the 21st Century.

Winston is a very complex, sane person in a world full of insanity and utter destitution. Julia is on par with Winston, but other than the charming and mysterious O'Brien, no other character is developed enough to be anything but a filler, someone to push the plot along. In any other novel this would be a bad thing, but in this world it is perfect, and it's exactly what those people are in any case.

It is so superbly written I cannot fault it at all concerning that. At the beginning I was drawn in so far that I was almost in love. It was a five-star book up until Julia turned up: whilst I completely understand her character and her paradoxical nature (being so openly physically against Big Brother and yet intelligence-wise and mentally not), I did not like her even remotely, but I understood her character fully. The other thing that put me off was the huge info-dump. Whilst I completely understood that this was an intentional info-drop and it really could not have been conveyed to either the reader or the character in any other way, it really made the whole thing very disjointed. Again, it felt hugely intentional but I still did not enjoy it.

Overall, there's really nothing I can fault except my own opinions. Good writing is Fact: punctuation in the correct places, the right use of words, syntax and all that; building up worlds and characters to a certain degree of solidness. Enjoyment of writing is Opinion: characters being likeable, understandable; worlds being full or non-descript. This was a perfect book that I simply had a few too many low opinions of to be delighted by it completely.

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Mar 29, 2017 Emily (Books with Emily Fox) rated it liked it · review of another edition

I know this is a well loved classic and I definitely enjoyed some parts... but some times I found myself a bit bored :S

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May 30, 2008 Cecily rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, dystopian, scifi-future-speculative-fict, language-related

Revised for 2017, with added "Alternative Facts"

Ten Shades of Grey?

The colour of this book is grey, relentless grey: of skin, sky, food, floor, walls, mind, life itself. Added piquancy comes from general decay, drudgery, exploitation, chronic sickness, and malaise.

There is also sex and (non-sexual) bondage, domination, and torture.

I don’t expect a dystopian book to be happy reading, but this reread was far grimmer than I remembered it, partly because I read it immediately after the lyrical beaut ...more

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Sep 21, 2017 James Trevino rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I reread this recently, knowing my mind from a few years ago is different from my mind now. But it was surprisingly just as scary! Maybe even more so, if that is possible!!

I wonder if there is someone who has read 1984 and has not felt angry and helpless. It is a good book. It is so good that it made my want to throw away my Kindle. And that is a lot, considering the last time that happened was when I read about The Red Wedding in George R.R. Martin's series.

I also wonder if this world Orwell d ...more

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Feb 27, 2020 emma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, reviewed, library, 3-and-a-half-stars, non-ya, sci-fi, dark

i'm not making any point in particular...just that if you have any intention of reading a book about totalitarianism and apocalyptic government, written by a man who believed in democratic socialism as the solution...well, now might be a good time.

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full review

I had been meaning to read this book for a long time, but I finally did it based on a friend’s (hi Dario) insistence. It took me way longer than expected to finish it, and once I managed, said friend requested (in all caps) a text-messag ...more

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Feb 25, 2014 Leonard Gaya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

1948: Europe was only starting to recover from the slaughter of World War II. Nazi Germany had been crushed by the Russian army in the East and by the Anglo-American forces in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. The totalitarian regimes of Hitler, Mussolini and Imperial Japan had just been defeated. Stalin was going strong. Franco was undisturbed. However, the war was not quite over: the Allies, Russia on one side, the USA (+ Britain and France) on the other, were now superpowers staring stonily ...more

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Jun 25, 2014 Lisa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, havanas-en-masse, postliterate-fiction, so-good-it-hurts, unforgettable, orwell, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die

Doubleplusgood Maxitruth in Oldspeak on Doublethink and Crimestop!

(Translation from Newspeak: Excellent, accurate analysis of oppressive, selective society in well-written Standard English reflecting on the the capacity to hold two contradictory opinions for truth at the same time and on the effectiveness of protective stupidity as a means to keep a power structure stable.)

There is not much left to say about this prophetic novel by Orwell which has not been said over and over again since its pu ...more

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Jan 13, 2017 Joe Valdez rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-general

My preparedness for the regime change taking place in the United States--with elements of the Electoral College, the Kremlin and the FBI helping to install a failed business promoter who the majority of American voters did not support in the election--begins with 1984 by George Orwell. Like many, this 1949 novel was assigned reading for me in high school. What stood out to me then was that I needed to finish it because there would be a test. Studying how civics is supposed to work in 3rd period ...more

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Nov 07, 2019 Anne rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, read-in-2019, audio, dystopian

Well, shit. That was depressing.

description

On the upside, the government doesn't actually need Big Brother to keep an eye on us, as we freely head to the internet to type out every excruciating detail of our lives - all while taking pictures of ourselves and then tagging our location.
Bravo, humans!

Ok, but in all honesty, I wasn't all that crazy about this book. There were a lot of things I thought were just bananas. I mean, I get that it's a cautionary tale, but there was just nothing that represented an ...more

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Oct 24, 2011 Justin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Hello friends. Let’s chat for a second here.

This is 1984. It was written by George Orwell. Maybe you were forced to sit down and read it in high school, and you hated it because you were in high school, and you had to take quizzes and write essays and stuff as you read it.

But high school is over, alright?

You’re out there in the real world right now being an adult (I’m not going to say “adulting” because, come on, that’s stupid). You’re out there in the real world, you’re working, maybe in col ...more

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Jul 13, 2016 Cas rated it did not like it · review of another edition

my favourite part was when winston was reading the book to julia and she fell asleep

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Mar 20, 2012 Brent Weeks rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

When I was a high school freshman, I picked up 1984 off the shelf at the school library. Older kid I didn't know came up to me--Hispanic guy from some big city in a maybe 90% white, small-town Montana school, always dressed like a gangster, ran with a rough crowd--I'll admit I felt a little threatened. He said, "Hey man, you gotta read that. My dad told me when he first read that book, he'd take two hits of acid, read a chapter, and then take two more hits of acid. He didn't leave the house for ...more

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About George Orwell

George Orwell

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Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. His work is marked by keen intelligence and wit, a profound awareness of social injustice, an intense opposition to totalitarianism, a passion for clarity in language, and a belief in democratic socialism.

In addition to his literary career Orwell served as a police officer with the Indian Imperial Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. His work is marked by keen intelligence and wit, a profound awareness of social injustice, an intense opposition to totalitarianism, a passion for clarity in language, and a belief in democratic socialism.

In addition to his literary career Orwell served as a police officer with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma from 1922-1927 and fought with the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War from 1936-1937. Orwell was severely wounded when he was shot through his throat. Later the organization that he had joined when he joined the Republican cause, The Workers Party of Marxist Unification (POUM), was painted by the pro-Soviet Communists as a Trotskyist organization (Trotsky was Joseph Stalin's enemy) and disbanded. Orwell and his wife were accused of "rabid Trotskyism" and tried in absentia in Barcelona, along with other leaders of the POUM, in 1938. However by then they had escaped from Spain and returned to England.

Between 1941 and 1943, Orwell worked on propaganda for the BBC. In 1943, he became literary editor of the Tribune, a weekly left-wing magazine. He was a prolific polemical journalist, article writer, literary critic, reviewer, poet, and writer of fiction, and, considered perhaps the twentieth century's best chronicler of English culture.

Orwell is best known for the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (published in 1949) and the satirical novella Animal Farm (1945) — they have together sold more copies than any two books by any other twentieth-century author. His 1938 book Homage to Catalonia, an account of his experiences as a volunteer on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War, together with numerous essays on politics, literature, language, and culture, have been widely acclaimed.

Orwell's influence on contemporary culture, popular and political, continues decades after his death. Several of his neologisms, along with the term "Orwellian" — now a byword for any oppressive or manipulative social phenomenon opposed to a free society — have entered the vernacular. ...more