From the Bookshelf of Should have read classics…

1984

George Orwell

Start date: December 15, 2010

Finish date: January 31, 2011

Discussion: Group Book Discussions

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What Members Thought

Mar 26, 2017 Melissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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This was not a pleasant book to read. It's quite disturbing ... in that way that just leaves you feeling empty and hollow after finishing the story. There is no joy in reading this story. This is 100% about thought. I didn't give this book four stars because I liked reading it. I gave it four stars because it has made me think deeply ... and mostly uncomfortably.

This is actually the second time I have read 1984. I read it the first time in 1984. I was only 13, and I am quite certain that I had N This was not a pleasant book to read. It's quite disturbing ... in that way that just leaves you feeling empty and hollow after finishing the story. There is no joy in reading this story. This is 100% about thought. I didn't give this book four stars because I liked reading it. I gave it four stars because it has made me think deeply ... and mostly uncomfortably.

This is actually the second time I have read 1984. I read it the first time in 1984. I was only 13, and I am quite certain that I had NO IDEA what I had read. I remember reading the book, but I know that I did not interpret it with the same degree of horror and unease that I interpret it now thirty years later. This is the ultimate example (maybe one of the first examples) of a dystopian novel. What makes it such a disturbing book is not that it is so over the top in its description of the horror of the world of Oceania, but in the similarities that can been seen in our own modern world. No, we do not live in such a horrible, awful society. Our government is not such a model of totalitarian repression and horror. But there are elements of this world, its philosophy, and social contract, that can be found in our modern political discourse. I can see why this book rocketed back into the best seller lists after the election of Donald Trump. I will not go so far as to say that the U.S. is heading in the direction of Oceania exactly. That would require the genius of forethought and actual social planning, and I'm not convinced that there is anything going on right now that is actually being deeply thought out. But when I read this description of necessary elements in creating a utopian society:

To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies -- all this is indispensably necessary.

...well, my mind can't help but be drawn to the "alternative facts" that seem to be thrown around willy nilly these days. Seriously, much of the latter half of this book felt like being inside a Sean Spicer press conference. Spooky.
But lest this only seem like a commentary against the bizarro Trump presidency, in reality this book is a condemnation of the tendency of "groupthink" that all of us rush into, no matter the political or social philosophy. I especially thought it was interesting to see how the Party used and manipulated language in order to repress thought. Language matters. I can't help but feel grateful for an independent and free press after reading a book like this. I can't help but be grateful for public education. But even feeling grateful for those things, I also recognize that truth can be manipulated. History is written by the victors. All of the knowledge we possess is vulnerable to outside influence. It kind of freaked me out a little. I hope that we are discerning readers who are able to see truth as it is and not allow ourselves to be manipulated by the powers around us, whether it be government, social, or economic powers. But after sitting for two hours in a car with someone who was spouting off conspiracy theories she had heard on some radio show as if they were true ... theories that had been proven false over and over and over again by respected authorities ... I can see that scenarios like the ones shown in this disturbing book are not so far from the realm of possibility. If we hear lies enough times, suddenly they become our truth, I'm afraid. Unless we fight back with knowledge and light.

I refuse to accept the reality of the ending of this novel. Light will always conquer the dark. Always. There is still hope, and the hope is in us. Happy reading. ...more

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