Reviews with content warning for War - 1984

Reviews tagging 'War'

1984 by George Orwell

520 reviews

ellythequeen's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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

Firstly, this book is overrated. I'm not saying it's bad by any means, it's just not as insightful as one would expect. I'm must warn you this book is disturbing.

Content Warnings

meganpbennett's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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.

Content Warnings

erin_forgie's review against another edition

4.75

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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

Content Warnings

laurenleigh's review against another edition

5.0

dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

My first time reading 1984! I was extremely impressed by Orwell’s level of detail. I almost want to call it world-building, though I suppose it’s still the same old Earth Orwell found himself on too. I think it’s important to note that Orwell was not a fortune teller. He was commenting on certain facts of his current reality and extrapolating a possible future, which happened to be remarkably true for a number of reasons. It makes me wonder if he was alive today, what might a 2084 book look like? The reality of this fictional work is scary and depressing, but still fascinating. I was most struck by the relationship between media and memory. Can’t help but think of the modern phenomena of fake news. I particularly enjoyed this audiobook narrator, and I think it added a whole new layer of complexity.

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jenna_justi2004's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous challenging dark informative sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Not gonna lie I want to take my eyeballs out and eat them. This shit was so horrifying I can’t even fathom a world like this. But at the same time I see the similarities on how it is today. Not to that extent but enough. And it’s very scary. I didn’t like the book at all but I get the message and I will never ever be reading anything by this man unless I want to unalive myself. I literally have no happiness currently so.

Content Warnings

tiana_king's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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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anna26's review against another edition

4.75

dark inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I hated Winston (the main character) because of the way he talks about and to women (he fantasises about rape and murdering women, etc) but aside from this "character flaw" (wich ultimately represents the way women are treated in this dystopian society, so it's fine) i really liked this book, it's somewhat inspiring but equally terrifying and overall really "entertaining" (as entertaining as a dystopian, terrifying novel can be)!!!!

Content Warnings

james1star's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

How to summarise my thoughts? Umm… I honestly don’t know! I didn’t necessarily enjoy 1984 but I respected its importance and impact I’d say. In Orwell’s novel we follow Winston Smith who lives in London in a dystopian 1984 where ‘the Party’ and ‘Big Brother’ is always watching you, controlling you, controls the past, present and future. Smith commits thought-crime amongst other things and Yhh I don’t want to explain the plot too much but basically it’s his journey.

What I did like was the tension and eggarness to read on in how Orwell writes. The world building is continuous and vivid that you can theorise this dystopian world with pretty realistic characters. However, I personally though this detail and repetition of certain events, ideas, ‘facts’ and the like are very tiering and long. This was very apparent in Goldstein’s thesis being plastered into the middle of the book taking up a huge chunk of repetition that is seemingly never-ending that I despised. Why was it so long and drawn out? No thank you! Also, the characters do all lack depth and a likeness so in some sense you don’t care about what happens to them no matter how horrible it is - but then again they do live in a world built on terror and control so to find positivity is hard enough… but Yhh I didn’t warm to them. They’re also kinda annoying but I was still intrigued enough to read on. A LOT of it was also quite confusing with contradictory phrases and stuff I dunno - yes this was good in terms of world building the messed up nature of the society and party but still my brain was a bit whirled up.

Overall, I didn’t like the story, plot or characters (not really my vibe) and was far too repetitive and long in my opinion. However, it was written mostly well, kept me intrigued and has became a staple due to its importance where many takes and comparisons to ‘our world’ can be made. So a solid 3 starts from me.

Content Warnings

zos's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I know this is a "classic" but it might be one of the books that solidified my love for the dystopian genre. I love the world that was built, I love the characters and the decision that they make. This is one of my re-reads every year or so. I keep a physical copy of this book in my car in case I go anywhere and need something to read (once my phone and kindle die).

Content Warnings

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

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