Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

1984 by George Orwell

60 reviews

pr1ncessj's review

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Rape, Murder, Gore, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

susie_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The additional essays at the back of the book are excellent. They are about the use of language-in the book and in real life; the dropping of the atom bomb; and several short items written by Orwell’s contemporaries to him or about him. The extensive notes section is also helpful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Alcoholism, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Body horror and Body shaming

Minor: Child death and Suicidal thoughts

calamitywindpetal's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Torture, Death, War, Sexual content, Murder, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Vomit, Suicide, Genocide, Self harm, Sexual violence, Sexism, and Alcohol

Minor: Slavery and Racism

elia24's review

Graphic description of rape and sexual abuse. Also objectification of women

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Rape

daybreakreads's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

Painfully slow, dull writing. I normally enjoy dystopian novels but this one was just trying too har. Everything was for shock value, which ended up making nothing surprising. I find it ironic that the story involves sending a warning against scaring people into believing your political ideologies, but the author is a socialist and is advocating for socialism. The government claims to be socialist, but at one point it’s revealed it’s not actually socialist, and the only way forward is to become socialist. I don’t care what your political leanings are, there’s blatant hypocrisy by the author in trying to scare people into becoming socialist whilst advocating against scaring people into agreeing with your political opinions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Police brutality

Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, and Racism

Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, Sexual violence, Child death, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexism, and War

One n word usage

moscatel's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

não dei 5 estrelas porque há aspetos demasiado estúpidos, como

o início da relação do winston e da julia

, o orwell nem tentou

e fiquei chateado com o final.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Torture, and Police brutality

Moderate: War and Vomit

Minor: Suicide, Sexual violence, Slavery, Rape, and Sexual assault

milda_mark's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence

Minor: Alcoholism

smolmeg's review

1.25

weird book. female characters were written very badly. execution undermined a lot of the morals or underlying messages this book was trying to make.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

at one point, Winston confesses to Julia that he had fantasies of raping her and killing her with a brick. She laughs about it and they have sex immediately afterwards

to give you a good idea about how the female characters are portrayed

coralinejones's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I'm so torn right now.

I always hate disliking beloved books, especially classics and books where the message is very clear and in your face; 1984′s entire theme is living in a dystopian, censored, totalitarian government where said government (see: Big Brother) is quite literally always watching you. This way of society is feeding it’s civilians with propaganda night and day. I totally get it, and that’s the reason I wanted to read this book so badly in the first place. I can link points and themes from this book to modern society, which is what I wanted to do (because I did that while reading "The Hunger Games" and enjoyed it. Same with "Dune" recently. I love reading sci-fi and dystopian novels for this reason). However, I really can’t stand when the narrative of these stories, where the intent and point should circle around those themes entirely, get lost in misogyny, rape fantasizes, boring characters, and long winded passages that don’t feel like they serve a purpose. Don't get me wrong, I 100% get that this book is bleak and isn’t a “fun read” but I do have fun reading dystopian, bleak novels so that’s not really what I’m getting at, here.

I think this would work better as a academic essay of sorts... Like a Ted Talk rather than a novel.

It isn’t even that this book is a chore to read or that I necessarily dislike Orwell’s writing style (it’s not my favorite, anyway) but these problematic traits don’t even progress the book, in my opinion?? I think had he just continued expressing how the government is anti-sex and how sex is a political act without the “I hate women, I want to rape and kill them” the point would’ve still been made… in this specific case the distasteful commentary doesn’t advance the plot or do anything for Winston’s character and makes this book really displeasing in that aspect, not so much how realistic and true this is.

However....! The ending got me. The last few chapters absolutely drilled in the overall theme and I can't help but give this novel 4 stars. I understand why it's beloved and even referenced in modern media 'till this day. I can't give it 5 stars because of the above but I'm absolutely going to be thinking about this book for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexual violence

nicology's review against another edition

4.5

As the cover suggests, an eye-opening, terrifying experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual content