Reviews tagging 'Grief'

1984 by George Orwell

23 reviews

lorraine19's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

The beginning can be a bit difficult to understand and slow to get into. But once as you really get into it and appreciate the world building, it opens your eyes to why this is considered a classic. There is a deep examination on what it means to be human at the root of this book that I think is often overlooked in favor of the political debates. The characters are complex people in a complex world. It is a very dark read but not a "feels good" book if that's what you are looking for. I personally appreciate the seriousness and the depth of this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, War, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Confinement, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Genocide, Gore, Grief, and Gun violence

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Murder, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Stalking, Cursing, Infidelity, Ableism, and Homophobia

mme_carton's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Grief, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Rape

izzydelaya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Gaslighting, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Chronic illness, Body shaming, Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Eating disorder, Cursing, Classism, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Murder, War, Violence, Emotional abuse, Stalking, and Abandonment

Minor: Infidelity, Colonisation, Antisemitism, Murder, Child death, Genocide, Grief, Death of parent, Stalking, and Slavery

ravensandlace's review

challenging dark informative slow-paced

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

2.0

Title: 1984

Author: George Orwell

Genre: Adult Dystopia

Format: my own paperback book

Star Rating: 2.5 stars

tw: misogyny, antisemitism, war, parental death, assault, burning, torture, mind control

So, I read this book back in high school, over 10 years ago. I know, I am old. I remember thinking “Oh this is such a good book!” I also felt really proud of myself for reading an “adult” book. Up until that point, I had normally read young adult books. I found a beautiful paperback edition, while I was thrift shopping of course, and thought “Great! I’ll give this another go and see if it holds up!”

Ugh. This book sucked and I am so disappointed that I did not like it the second time around. Sure, the message was good. Big Brother is always watching, etc, etc. It’s a metaphor for the government and how if it goes left unchecked, bad things will happen. I get that. My problem was with the main character, Winston, and the ending. I’ll explain both. 

Winston is the absolute whiniest main character I’ve ever read about and I read Shadow and Bone (if you all have read that book, you know who I’m talking about). He wanted to kill a woman because he was attracted to her. Who does that?  In fact, he dislikes all women and had nasty things to say about them. He would constantly shit on women because they used their feminine wiles to get people to join some sort of group. He also had such an ego about him that was completely undeserved. He knew he wasn’t a catch but at the same time, still acted like he was better than everyone just because he didn’t think like the others.  

The ending made me so mad. This is going to be a spoiler of sorts so read this next paragraph if you don’t care about spoilers or if you have already read the book. We were made to root for Winston, fighting against the Party. That things were going to go well for the Rebellion and that maybe we would see the Party getting taken down. But no. Winson learns to love the party and therefore loves Big Brother due to mind control. I don’t remember if I liked the ending or not when I read it in high school. I really just remember being confused. But now, I’m just mad. Thank god I only spent like one dollar on this book.  

Overall, I believe this is an important book about government control. But don’t rely on Winston to be an example of how to defeat said government control. He is nothing but a whiny, misogynistic wuss. I still recommend this book. Just be prepared to be mad about the ending and about Winston.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Blood, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Violence, and War

meganpbennett's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

1984 is George Orwell's dystopian look at the future. Dystopias are drawn from the present, taking one or two things that are and exaggerate them until they become what could be. Some are more accurate than others, and the more accurate a dystopia, the scarier it tends to be, The surveillance state coming out of the Second World War and the Red Scare of the Cold War, all lead into the Telescreens, the retconning of history, Thought Police and Big Brother. 

1984 is a terrifying look at what could be. It was also not intended to be an instruction manual, but a look at what happens when things are taken far, far, far too far. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Death, Genocide, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, War, Addiction, Alcoholism, Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Blood, Grief, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Body horror, Classism, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Excrement and Vomit

jenna_justi2004's review

adventurous challenging dark informative sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death, Drug use, Gore, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Grief, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and War

bella_01's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.0

I didn't enjoy this book much. The story is well written and easy to read (besides searching the meaning of a few words). I was not a fan of the antisemitism woven through the book.

I did not enjoy the 'book within a book'. I begrudgingly read it because I was unsure whether it was important to the story or not. I found the ending of the book a bit trash too. I have searched for an explanation of it, but haven't felt satisfied.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Torture, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Classism, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, and Suicide

Minor: Antisemitism

cottage_kaare's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

An amazing exploration of more political sci-fi fiction. An amazing piece to set the real world into perspective, as a lot of the plots in it are relevant to different parts of the world we live in. Classic Orwell political Satire. And a personal alm time favorite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Police brutality, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, and Antisemitism

Moderate: War

Minor: Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Death, Torture, Vomit, Abandonment, Hate crime, and Violence

It was hard to tag but this book is so heavily drenched in gaslighting and institutional brainwashing through propaganda. Also

Our main character Winston, ends up not changing his mind, but rather falling subject to the brainwash, which I felt was personally hard to witness. The whole time he is fighting this bad regime, and we are so used to the main characters getting a satisfying and predictable ending. But in a way it was perfect, because it really sets in stone just how Strong this hellish fictional government is.

liagorash's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, War, Gore, Gaslighting, Death, Violence, Torture, Police brutality, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Bullying, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Death of parent, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity, Infertility, Slavery, Suicide, Rape, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Stalking

accio_gays's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective sad 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

4.25

Had to read it for English Lit. It was slow and a slog in some places. I hate Winston with a passion,

especially after what happens in room 101

. The ending was so disappointing, NGL. I really wanted

Winston to have revolted and won over The Party, and for him to escape the dystopian world in some way

. It was really thought provoking though, I enjoyed really thinking about what the characters were saying etc, and how they interact in a world not entirely unlike our own. There are some quotes within the book that just made me go on a thought tangent, it was just so exciting to think about. Probably wouldn't have read it if I hadn't taken English tbh, it's not really a book I would've voluntarily picked up. But I'm kinda glad I did, in a weird and twisted way. I love a book that allows me to think. However the outdated and clearly Christian views (the religious undertones that run through the book, about purity, and Big Brother being a higher power etc that just may be the English student in me though) that run through this book made me want to throw it across the room (which I did). the descriptions of many minorities including Jewish people, Fat people, women etc DISGUSTING. I get that Orwell was from the 1940s or whatever but the views of the main character are nasty and say so much about how much of a shitty person the author would've been in our time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Torture, Violence, and Confinement

Moderate: Abandonment, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, War, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Colonisation, and Fatphobia

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, Slavery, and Vomit