Reviews tagging 'War'

1984 by George Orwell

520 reviews

the_planetarywanderer's review against another edition

4.0

dark tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Confinement, War

stardustdreamer's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Blood, War

Minor: Misogyny, Rape, Vomit, Death of parent

wiggl3s's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This is one of those books that you finish and think “nothing really happened did it?” Until later. 

It’s a classic for a reason. You’ll be sitting minding your own business days later and suddenly this book will pop into your head. A quote or an image or an idea will appear in your daily life and you’ll realise just how ahead of its time this book really was. 

The book is about the messages within it rather than the story. It is about both the subtle and glaringly obvious ways humans can be conditioned to believe whatever someone wants if they have the resources. I think this book will stay with me for a while. 

Life really does imitate art. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry

Minor: War

cottage_kaare's review against another edition

5.0

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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An amazing exploration of more political sci-fi fiction. An amazing piece to set the real world into perspective, as a lot of the plots in it are relevant to different parts of the world we live in. Classic Orwell political Satire. And a personal alm time favorite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Violence, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Gaslighting, Classism

Moderate: War

Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Hate crime, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Alcohol

It was hard to tag but this book is so heavily drenched in gaslighting and institutional brainwashing through propaganda. Also

Our main character Winston, ends up not changing his mind, but rather falling subject to the brainwash, which I felt was personally hard to witness. The whole time he is fighting this bad regime, and we are so used to the main characters getting a satisfying and predictable ending. But in a way it was perfect, because it really sets in stone just how Strong this hellish fictional government is.

manu_k's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Beautifully horrifying, this book is a ride from start to finish. We know it has been a cornerstone for the dystopian fiction genre, but reading it makes me realize just how much this book has shaped this genre.

On the writing style: I thought it was very beautifully written, descriptive but not very much so, the exact kind of thing I like. The way it was written and the analogies and the non - linear storytelling in some parts came together so well, it was immersive in the best way.

On the story:

the first part was almost boring, which I thought was the point. It showed us how the regime worked, some background to Winston, but didn't actually contribute to advancing the story line as such. The second part was much more fast paced and actually exciting in regards to the advancement of the story, and by far some of the chapters in this part are my favorites. I didn't appreciate the whole 'I love you' debacle in the beginning, but I guess it shows how much sexually and emotionally repressed these people are. I believe it seems very fitting that Julia is introduced as a central character at the start of the second part and her role ends at the end of the second part. The third part was one of the most difficult parts to get through, despite me having experience with reading torture scenes (I read The Surgeon when I was 15, it still haunts me). It was brutal no holds barred kind of writing, with the descriptions, O'Brien's almost - almost - loving teacher like treatment of Winston, and then the change in the way of Winston's thinking, how different it was from the other two parts. The ending was surprising to me, despite knowing that it won't end happily as other dystopian books I have read.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Vomit

sandy_21's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual content, War

Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking

edu_caldelas's review against another edition

4.0

dark reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: War

hreads03's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: War

Minor: Gun violence, Sexual content

pranati_pathak05's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark informative mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War

sofieskj's review against another edition

3.25

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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This book is not what i would typically read, however it was alright. I found it to be waht i would say boringly intresting. This is a pretty absurd book. The things happing in the book is a much more abusert way of thing that can/ is happing today. I have my thieris of things happening in the book. I wish i never got the answers to with is pretty facsinating. I would say that as a book it self i would rered it, mustly becuse of the language and how long it would actually take me to read it. But i do find the stroy intresting and therefor it can be a book that i happen to reread in the futrere as it is always going to relevent book to our world today. This book was sliglhty difficult to get through, the majority of the book i lisend to it with aduio while following  in the book, If it werent for that i would probebly use a long time to finsih it. I was also slightly demotivatet to read as it was a book for english, and i had to read it. I do recomend this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, War