Yes, I am aware that 1984 is the go to book now because of recent events in the US, but I just want to make it clear that this review is for entertainment purposes only. This review will NOT contain any political talk or any of my political views. Everything written here will be about the book, George Orwell and Orwell’s views only. I would never put y political views in my reviews because I know better. Also, any comments that do not pertain to the discussion to the book or attacks on anyone will be deleted. I don’t want this to be a political discussion that will get out of hand. With that…
1984 is considered to be George Orwell’s magnum opus with some even saying Animal Farm is. For those who don’t know, 1984 is about Winston Smith who lives in what used to be London, England but now called Airstrip One in a mega country called Oceania ruled by a man named Big Brother. In this new world, there is only one government called Ingsoc that watches over everything people. Basically, a totalitarian state. Winston, a lower level party member, is having doubts about his government which is a crime called “thought crime.” His life changes when he meets the beautiful Julia who only strengthens his hatred for the government.
As a book, for the most part, the writing keeps the reader interested and the world is well developed. Winston is an interesting character and Orwell does a fine job of showing how scary this world is. There are TVS called telescreens that basically allow Ingsoc to see and listen to your every move and there’s the fear of being taken away as a thought criminal.
Orwell makes these characters interesting is how he shows how each character can be a potential thought criminal, even Syme who is fanatical about Newspeak (the official language of Ingsoc.) It creates tension in that Winston can be taken away and killed at any minute.
The big negative of this book is when Winston gets ahold of Goldstein’s book (Goldstein is basically the bad enemy and the leader of an underground rebellion.) While, yes, it does go into more detail about the world, it comes across as a massive info dump written in the dryest, most boring language you can think of. It’s a huge tonal shift that takes the reader out of the story and will make some people skim or quit outright (I quit the first time I read it.)
Now the hard part: Why has this book lasted so long? Simple, Orwell made it abundantly clear here, in Animal Farm and all of his writings that he hated communism. He also lived in a time where the threat of communism taking over was a real threat and he feared for humanity’s future. In the afterword of the Signet Classic edition of 1984 by Erich Fromm, one of Orwell’s fears was that people will basically become like mindless robots and just do what the government tells them to do.
Basically, this is a political doomsday essay written in the form of a novel. The difference here is that Orwell knows how to write a story and make an entertaining one. He also doesn’t become preachy like some stories of this kind do.
Sp. should you read 1984? Yes, but not just to quote from it but also read it as any other literature. Yes, it has a massive downer ending, but once you think about it that’s the point.
Categories: Novels
Tags: 1984, 1984 review, George Orwell.
Sanrock Reviews 