Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

1984 by George Orwell

117 reviews

rebekahatkinson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism and Classism

Moderate: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

chaosandwildflowers's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

2.5

I wanted to like this book so much. I really did. I love classics! I love challenging books that make you think! But from the moment I turned the first page, I just could not get into it!

First issue: the writing style. It's so...dry? Like even when things get interesting towards the end, it's a bit of a slog to get through. And this might have been the fault of my particular edition, but the paragraphs were SO long and blocky, especially once I got to the book within the book (don't even get me started on how useless I found the book within the book).

Second problem: the characters. To put it bluntly, I hated every single character. All of them. Except for the clothesline lady, I liked her well enough lmao, but everyone else I just wanted to strangle with my bare hands!! And I understand, I get it, I realize that this is part of the book's commentary, but what I've learned from reading this book is that it doesn't matter how ~deep~ the commentary is, if the character whose thoughts I'm reading is hateable and a loser, I just could not care less about what they have to say! And Julia? Equally hateable. She and Winston are, even at their best, SO self centered, I just honestly wanted to throw the book across the room the whole time either one of them was on the page, which was the entire time.

When I take a step back and look at this through the perspective of having read it, I see how Orwell was using every detail to get his message across, this whole idea of warning us of totalitarianism and the danger of not knowing the past, and all of that, but I don't think I will ever willingly read this book again.

So, at the end of the day, would I recommend this book? Yes and no. If you're looking for an entertaining dystopia on the level of The Hunger Games, you're not going to find that here. Buuuuuuut if you're in the kind of headspace where you're ready to read an unentertaining, repetitive, dryly written book with exactly zero likable characters to be seen; if you think you're ready to slog through all that, then yes   would recommend it because I think its the kind of book everyone should read at least once. Just don't go into it expecting to root for the characters or care more than a little about the plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Child death, Death, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Fatphobia, Rape, and Death of parent

kibbles15's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

The last time I read this book, I gave the book 1 star. I don't remember my reasoning, but I think it had something to do with the intense descriptions of torture in the last part of the book. Now that I am older, I appreciate this book for what it is. It is a well written (disturbing) book. I would recommend a person read the book at least once in their lives. That being said, I still only give the book 3 stars because the plot moves very slowly and is very explanatory.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

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

Minor: Death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and War

francescazksxmc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Slavery, Vomit, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Homophobia

tupsukorva's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

olliejay's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This book isn't for those looking for pure entertainment. There are moments where it feels like it is droning on with complicated terminology, and a long stretch of narrative about capitalism vs. socialism. However, if you stick through it, you'll find a very complex main character and a high-paced latter half of the book.  This is a slow, psychological thriller doused heavily in political commentary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

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

Moderate: Excrement and Vomit

erin_forgie's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

This book is a tale of corruption. 
There are some vile comments on women: wanting to k*ll and r*pe them. 

Even after O’Brien mentally and Physically abusing Winston, Winston still idealises him

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

catrinaplace's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A part of my soul just went missing and oops, I think it was this book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Torture, Police brutality, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Dementia, and Medical trauma

Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Acephobia/Arophobia

tiana_king's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-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

3.75

The world building could’ve been done much better but when you get to the last quarter of the book, it’s most interesting. It was all a set up for the author to monologue about human nature, the cyclic nature of society, and the very Voldemort-esque final message of “power for the sake of power”. Despite it being a monologue it’s pretty thought provoking so I still think it was decent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and War