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1984

George Orwell

Start date: November 1, 2011

Finish date: December 1, 2011

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What Members Thought

Jan 02, 2012 Sheila rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed, favorites, 100-must-read, classic, prometheus-award, world-lib-100-best-books

If there's one imaginary world I wouldn't dream of escaping into, it would be George Orwell's Oceania in 1984.

In this world, a slight movement of your body or your face or a flicker of thought could betray you and get you arrested in the middle of the night. In this world, history is as precious as a long-forgotten singing game. In this world, everyone can't be trusted, even children.

Winston Smith knows all of the rules of the party. He wakes up, goes to work, comes home before curfew. But one ...more

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Aug 03, 2011 Barbara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, read-in-2011, fantasy, classics, recently-reread, group-banned-books-club, read-a-long-time-ago, published-in-1940s, group-reads, science-fiction

Believe it or not, I had to stop reading this last night. I just need a break from it for a while. (I made it to page 270, so I only have around 40 or so pages left.)

It's not that I don't like the book. I think I couldn't finish it for a few reasons:

1) Probably the main reason -- I've been very stressed lately due to deadlines at work and numerous other reasons, so I think my concentration level is very short right now.

2) Although I know that this is considered one of the best books ever writte ...more

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Aug 16, 2010 Ali rated it really liked it

Shelves: ap-english, 2012, high-school, rory-gilmore-book-challenge, classics

I'm bouncing between 3 and 4 for this. I loved the concept because I've always been fascinated with dystopian situations. And this is the quintessential dystopian novel. But I guess I was expecting... more? This book spends so much more time on the philosophy of the environment (including a 17 page book within a book just preaching on socialism. Because you know I didn't get enough of that from Native Son and The Jungle) rather than an actual plot. Book 2 was the best part and is the reason I pu ...more

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Jun 17, 2011 Philip rated it really liked it

I read 1984 for the first time in school, in 1982. Though I enjoyed reading the book, the classroom discussions and my overall impression from the book was one of sheer terror. Totalitarianism then, at least for a school boy in the United States was forever linked to our concept of the Soviet Union and evil. While in grade school, I was subjected, as all young people at that age are, to the usual Nationalist propaganda that is the usual curriculum of those in power. My personal experience and ba I read 1984 for the first time in school, in 1982. Though I enjoyed reading the book, the classroom discussions and my overall impression from the book was one of sheer terror. Totalitarianism then, at least for a school boy in the United States was forever linked to our concept of the Soviet Union and evil. While in grade school, I was subjected, as all young people at that age are, to the usual Nationalist propaganda that is the usual curriculum of those in power. My personal experience and background then and still are at odds with the concept of America the Beautiful, the Shining White City on the Hill. I am primarily Native American in ethnicity, and the cultural inheritance I learned from my birth family were always at odds with the shiny, clean image of America, which I was forced to learn as a young school boy. Interestingly, though the curriculum and the school books we were given at the time presented facts which should instill nationalistic pride in America, the classroom discussions we had at the time were far closer to the truth than the American History exams we were forced to take at that age. I consider myself fortunate to have had school teachers who taught us that even the Shining White City on the Hill had cracks and fissures in it's rotting foundation- and to look more carefully at what was happening in the news, than what we were being quizzed on in Elementary and Junior High School.

I read 1984 before I saw the movie adaptation, and what I recall was considering at the time what kind of cinematic presentation could capture this book- the one thing I was sure of - was that the movie should be in Black and White- and it was.

I can't say I enjoyed George Orwell's writing, but his philosophy and the inherent warnings for the near future were disturbing to me then as they are now looking back at my own innocent view then- and when I consider my view of the world now.

Others have commented Western Societies falling far short of the freedoms enshrined in its founding documents, and I won't rehash any of that here. Consider Room 101 as our سجن أبو غريب‎ or Guantanamo Prison. This is a good read for young people and a book which started me thinking on the concepts of freedom, Totalitarianism, dystopia and οὐ-τόπος. ...more

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