1984 in Around the World in 80 Books

Sep 12, 2014 Bogdan rated it really liked it

Shelves: asian-flavor

I was long expecting the time to read this famous dystopian novel as I was sure I will like it. And it fully delivered (better no, exceeded) my own already high expectations. This book has inspired tons of materials and reviews, many a lot better than mine. So I will just focus on a brief analysis of the couple of aspects I usually take into account in order to set a rating.

The premise is the central point of the novel: the ugliness of any totalitarian regime. Indeed as many other readers have p I was long expecting the time to read this famous dystopian novel as I was sure I will like it. And it fully delivered (better no, exceeded) my own already high expectations. This book has inspired tons of materials and reviews, many a lot better than mine. So I will just focus on a brief analysis of the couple of aspects I usually take into account in order to set a rating.

The premise is the central point of the novel: the ugliness of any totalitarian regime. Indeed as many other readers have pointed out it is mainly about how the world would look like if we would drop out ideals of liberty and democracy. Even if these ideals are far from perfect in today's "free world" the human condition will be crushed and ultimately distorted by a absolutely totalitarian regime that it is worldwide spread. I absolutely think that this may be a book that should be read by as many as possible people in order to avoid the horrors of absolute powerful oligarchies that ruled big parts of the world in recent past (most of 20th century). Thus my rating is 5 for premise.

Regarding the form, sets in the not so distant future, George Orwell uses skillfully the present day elements in the dystopian future. So the reader is recognizing the 1984 society as a potential future for humanity. Apart from that, the novel is spartan as it is stripped of poetic language, as it is with the baren world envisioned by the author. For me this was a great choice as I would dislike long melancholic chapters comparing that world with present. The reader does it using his/her imagination. On top of this, the innovation in the language is great. Some words or concept invented by Orwell like double-think, Telescreen or Room 101 have entered everyday use. I will thus rate it with a 5 for form.

In terms of originality, dystopian novels were not new at the time when it was written, but the genre was not also very popular among writers. And in a period when socialism and communism were trendy, these kind of novels were pretty rare. But as Orwell also acknowledged, he was heavily influenced by Zamyatin's "We". Apart from that inspiration source, the novel is fairly original. So I will give it a 4 for the level of originality.

The characters are not necessarily the focus in this novel, as the author wanted to put the emphasis on the message. Despite this, there are some interesting inner dialogues especially (or maybe only) for the main character. The other characters are mostly one dimensional or vaguely explored. But I liked a lot how the Big Brother non-character is created. As I agree that Orwell did well not too focus excessively on characters, I'll rate it for this with 4.

Regarding the complexity and difficulty, I felt the novel is having more messages apart from the main one. And if I would read it again, I am sure I could obtain more than in the first lecture. Thus, I will rate it then with a 5 for complexity and difficulty.

In terms of credibility, except some minor discrepancies, the world of 1984 is very well created, making it believable. It is not easy to do that in imagined future worlds, therefor my rating for credibility is 5.

The last criteria is edition. Unfortunately, my ebook had a lot of errors, like bad spelling or extra spaces. This hindered a lot the reading and only the good translation saved it. I appreciated the translation as the Newspeak words invented by Orwell for the novel is hard to translate correctly in foreign languages. Thus, I will rate it with a 3.

To summarize, for me, this is one of the best novels I have ever read. Too bad for the issues with the edition, as otherwise, I would be able to rate with maximum points. All in all, my final rating for this book is 4.43, which I will round it to 4 on Goodreads system.


+--------------------------+-----------------+
| Criteria | Rating |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Premise | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Form | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Originality | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Characters | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Difficulty/Complexity | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Credibility | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Edition | 3 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Total | 4.43 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+

For more details on how I rated and reviewed this novel, please read these guidelines. ...more

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Feb 08, 2014 Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance rated it really liked it

Shelves: post-apocalypse, the-great-american-read

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

It's an alternate world and it's not a pretty one. Our main character, Winston, is a party official in a totalitarian world:

"War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength."

Big Brother is always watching. Winston is not totally under the thumb of Big Brother, however; soon he is sought as a "thought criminal," for his acts of insurrection that include such simple acts as keeping a journal and thinking for himself. ...more

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Mar 20, 2009 Amanda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio-books, total-read, 2007-reads, favorites

It is an injustice that I wasn't forced to read this book earlier in my life. My telescreen should have made me.

Seriously, I really enjoyed this book. PB and I listened to it on audiobook and we were so engrossed that we were looking for reasons to drive around to keep listening. On more than one occassion we stayed in a parking lot or driveway to get to a good breaking point.

I can really comment on the book itself - I'm sure I have nothing left to say that someone else hasn't said before (and m ...more

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Jun 18, 2009 Alexis rated it really liked it

So glad I finally read this. It is one of those books I have been meaning to read for a very long time, but never got around to it. Really enjoyed it, but it was a little frustrating/depressing. Still, good read.

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