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rmphyllis's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence
m33p_m0rp's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Murder
Minor: Rape
arrowlyn's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Sexual content and Toxic relationship
Minor: Rape and Alcohol
chaosandwildflowers's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
islesbiyana's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content and War
Minor: Rape
williamgideon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Torture and Vomit
Minor: Rape and War
gardner98's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Torture
Minor: Death and Rape
rai_con's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and War
Minor: Sexual content
alexisgracev's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
pott's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
I found the book quite satisfactory. Its concept really captivated me and the whole setting of it was quite haunting, yet alluring to me. I found myself sitting the book in hand just reading for hours. My only critique would be that
What surprised me though, was when I was shocked to learn Winston was a huge misogynist. Of course, this is a book from 1949! What else could I have expected, you may ask. And you are right. That was my mistake and I will learn to think better in the future. Either way, I quite honestly started to want dreadful things to happen to him, as one would when they come across a misogynistic white man. Reasonably, he was a motherless, never felt the love of a woman idiotic little -dipshit in my eyes. Absolute fucking wanker. And well... I was right. That's what he was. His mother- no his whole family was gone. I started to understand him, yet could not redeem him in my eyes just because of a sob story. Regardless, he did get some character development after getting a girlfriend. (common case) And I did realise that he in fact is not the worst of the worst.
I can not say, that I like Winston, but I can respect his growth.
Maybe he's not so bad. I would like to apologize and redract my ratio.
Graphic: Torture and Violence
Moderate: Xenophobia and War
Minor: Rape and Suicidal thoughts