Reviews tagging 'Murder'

1984 by George Orwell

88 reviews

fallandfox's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Esta é a segunda releitura deste clássico e, às vezes, sinto-me com a sensação de estar aprofundando minha compreensão.

Nessa segunda resenha vou me concentrar mas em comentar sobre a edição, assim como minha nota também foi para ela, por já fazer ano passado a resenha da história.

A edição é muito bonita, cheia de imagens nos finais dos capítulos e troca de partes (elas têm um aspecto de colagem modernista), a única coisa que me incomodada foi o fato de terem sido colocados na mesma pagina o original e a tradução, ficou muito apertado e me deixou cansada. Isso foi feito para provavelmente aumentar o número de páginas, mas prejudicou minha leitura.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, and War

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, and Murder

utlibrarynerd's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Cursing, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Gaslighting, Death, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

elliotcarlisle's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Body horror, Violence, and War

Minor: War, Suicide, Slavery, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Colonisation, Classism, Alcohol, Blood, Torture, Murder, Mental illness, Gore, Hate crime, Gaslighting, Vomit, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Cursing, Confinement, and Death

hannahcstocks's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Classism, Slavery, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Blood, Confinement, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Body horror, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Sexism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Torture, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

sofiam19's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-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

4.0

Rating this based off the Audible version I listened to, which for the performance and music alone zwas wow… always knew what the story was about but never read it. It was enjoyable and I can see why it’s a classic. Sure it’s extreme - that’s the whole point. Tom Hardy as Big Brother was awesome, but he did sound like Bane lol. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Torture, War, Murder, and Death

gvstyris's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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? Yes

4.25

But if there was hope, it lay in the proles. You had to cling on to that. When you put it in words it sounded reasonable: it was when you looked at the human beings passing you on the pavement that it became an act of faith. 

Although I would argue that 1984 is far from the most realistic dystopian novel I have ever read, its influence on popular culture (and the wider genre!) is absolutely undeniable. I was surprised upon re-read how conceptual Orwell's Oceania is: it manages to still read a little like a political manifesto despite lacking Animal Farm's much more explicit allegories. This novel is also incredibly accessible because Orwell really breaks down the world for the reader, which was a welcome change after Dune.

There are a couple areas where 1984 really shined for me. Primarily, newspeak. Orwell aptly portrays language as a tool for control and manipulation, and the appendix's inclusion really made a difference for me. I was also in complete awe of the pages devoted to 'Goldstein's' agenda, which highlight the broader sociopolitical context of this novel so cleverly. They reminded me of The Handmaid Tale's 'Historical Notes' section -- genuinely such a cool way to place Orwell's world within a timeline that the reader is familiar with.

A couple criticisms have turned me off from a higher rating. As pointed out in the afterword of my copy, race is entirely absent from Orwell's world, which is a somewhat bizarre (and unconvincing) choice given its post-Holocaust setting. The misogyny and subtle racism are also pretty distasteful, which I think is important to acknowledge in a novel intending to speculate on the fate of humanity. Julia's character is relatively vapid and disinterested in broader political affairs, which was a struggle for me when contrasted so obviously with Winston's 'intellect.'

That being said, 1984 is absolutely worth the read, and outshines Fahrenheit 451 in almost every way possible...

One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexism, War, Misogyny, Death, and Murder

Minor: Racism

te_ss_i's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, War, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Violence, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Xenophobia, Grief, Rape, Death, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Genocide, Mental illness, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

mh197960's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Classism, Death, Antisemitism, Murder, Torture, War, and Forced institutionalization

siowan's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Cursing, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Child death, Physical abuse, War, Genocide, Violence, Xenophobia, Classism, Murder, Slavery, Death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

dropout's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Great idea which is still relevant today. Storytelling and characters not very deep or literary. But that just clearly wasn’t the intention of the author. He prioritized the lesson this book is supposed to teach over making it pretty and that is in a way the beauty of the book how raw and ugly it is. The writing style still made it a little hard to get into it and some passages were not very interesting to read. Allover still worth reading and would clearly recommend to every adult.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Classism, and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit, Chronic illness, Death, Excrement, Hate crime, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Police brutality, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and War