Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

1984 (Unabridged) by George Orwell

158 reviews

castle_samj's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I have both simultaneously and impossibly completely read this book and wholeheartedly denounced its utter existence or potential to exist. 

I think I’m disappointed. I had long expected this book to contain some more SCIENCE to its -fiction, yet mostly it dealt with drama and confusing or blurring the lines of reality. I’d wager this was more intended as a political protest and warning tragedy of the existing world governments in the 1940s than a prediction of what was to come. While a lot of the meta-content has, in fact, evolved to become true, it equally mispredicted some changes, lending to its true purpose of protest. 

I can not recommend reading this book. Read a synopsis or something, or read Part 2 Chapter 09 and nothing else. I’m not even sure if Orwell was antisemitic by making the ‘villain’ be Jewish (

there’s no good closure on the purpose of Goldstein other than to be the scapegoat for the opposition to the Party, and nothing other than hateful rhetoric toward him or his ideology

) but he doesn’t do aftercare for any of the awful things; you just get a tragedy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction and Alcohol

Minor: Antisemitism, Grief, and Cultural appropriation

knjelite's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

5.0

I am not sure how to accurately describe why or how I loved this book so much especially given the bleak subject matter and even bleaker ending. I think what resonated with me most was O'Brien's description of the purpose of power: not ideological or fanatical or aspirational but just power for power sake. For the torture, defilement, and degradation of others as the end goal. Kind of reframes the current political discourse. Yeah, I don't really have much else to say.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, and Colonisation

beth_48's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

An interesting story, and in some ways scarily believable! Feel like the second half of the story could have been longer though 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, War, and Classism

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, Alcohol, and Colonisation

onlylonelystars's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

tkivinen's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A dystopian classic for a reason. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Homophobia, Infertility, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Death of parent

snowpaws's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Infertility, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Stalking, Murder, and War

Minor: Rape, Sexual content, and Medical content

noi_izora's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

0.5

It caused my OCD/anxiety to spike because the sad truth about this book is that we are slowly reaching the reality of events in the book into modern society. There are no heroic or super action-based moments, besides

Torture

If you have anxiety that can easily be heightened, I do NOT recommend reading.  
If you do read please remember that this book is a warning. NOT a guide! It is creepy how similar the world of the book and reality are. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, and Alcohol

tribonyx's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

1984 deals with a ton of heavy topics (obviously), but the ideas it presents are still very relevant today; it provokes a lot of thought on the roles that censorship, oppression, and language take in our modern lives as well as the roles they played in history. I do feel that this novel gains more worth when read and studied in conjunction with other pieces regarding similar topics, like Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" or Huxley's Brave New World, rather than as a standalone read since they allow for other perspectives/arguments on the subjects that 1984 presents.

As a book, though, it's not... super great. The prose is okay if pretty dry and none of the characters are particularly likeable in personality (although they're very interesting people. To me.) If you come here looking for a good story, I wouldn't say that this is it, but it's a fantastic work to analyze and reflect upon.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Sexual content

topbob's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Death and Infertility