Reviews with content warning for Racism - 1984

So this was actually my second read of this book, the first having been around 10 years ago. Just as I did the previous read through, I was struck by just how much of this book is relevant to our world today. This is one of the books that I will keep coming back to again and again throughout my lifetime.
The book itself is a somewhat dramatised (hopefully) version of Stalin's Russia/Nazi Germany. It has so many layers to it, and I', still not convinces I've worked out just how deep the 'Party' goes in their propaganda, gaslighting, and plotting against its own citizens.
This is an incredibly well planned out (or perhaps the word is researched) and realised world, where even the bits that are fiction could very easily be real. That, I think, is the true terror of this book: How easily society could go from even today's status, to that found in this book. Thus, Orwell's intention to have this book serve as a warning was fully realised.

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hannahcstocks's review against another edition

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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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gvstyris's review against another edition

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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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wun4's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I hate all of the characters (except for Parsons). Y'all suck! Gosh, I thought

betraying someone during torture

would never get worse than Sotnikov! As a worldbuilding piece, as a statement, as commentary and as something you read and say "Oh, what the fuck.", it's beautiful. There's also a lot of foreshadowing all over, which i love a lot. As anything else, eeh. The plot stands as a tool to show it off to everyone who wouldn't read a big-ass essay about totalitarism. You do it in the middle of the book, though.

Julia had the right reaction to it.

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