Reviews with content warning for Antisemitism - 1984

Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

1984 by Umberto Eco, Miguel Temprano García, George Orwell, George Orwell

69 reviews

izzydelaya's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

rebekahatkinson's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

Content Warnings

ravensandlace's review against another edition

2.0

challenging dark informative slow-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

Title: 1984

Author: George Orwell

Genre: Adult Dystopia

Format: my own paperback book

Star Rating: 2.5 stars

tw: misogyny, antisemitism, war, parental death, assault, burning, torture, mind control

So, I read this book back in high school, over 10 years ago. I know, I am old. I remember thinking “Oh this is such a good book!” I also felt really proud of myself for reading an “adult” book. Up until that point, I had normally read young adult books. I found a beautiful paperback edition, while I was thrift shopping of course, and thought “Great! I’ll give this another go and see if it holds up!”

Ugh. This book sucked and I am so disappointed that I did not like it the second time around. Sure, the message was good. Big Brother is always watching, etc, etc. It’s a metaphor for the government and how if it goes left unchecked, bad things will happen. I get that. My problem was with the main character, Winston, and the ending. I’ll explain both.

Winston is the absolute whiniest main character I’ve ever read about and I read Shadow and Bone (if you all have read that book, you know who I’m talking about). He wanted to kill a woman because he was attracted to her. Who does that? In fact, he dislikes all women and had nasty things to say about them. He would constantly shit on women because they used their feminine wiles to get people to join some sort of group. He also had such an ego about him that was completely undeserved. He knew he wasn’t a catch but at the same time, still acted like he was better than everyone just because he didn’t think like the others.

The ending made me so mad. This is going to be a spoiler of sorts so read this next paragraph if you don’t care about spoilers or if you have already read the book. We were made to root for Winston, fighting against the Party. That things were going to go well for the Rebellion and that maybe we would see the Party getting taken down. But no. Winson learns to love the party and therefore loves Big Brother due to mind control. I don’t remember if I liked the ending or not when I read it in high school. I really just remember being confused. But now, I’m just mad. Thank god I only spent like one dollar on this book.

Overall, I believe this is an important book about government control. But don’t rely on Winston to be an example of how to defeat said government control. He is nothing but a whiny, misogynistic wuss. I still recommend this book. Just be prepared to be mad about the ending and about Winston.

Content Warnings

olliejay's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book isn't for those looking for pure entertainment. There are moments where it feels like it is droning on with complicated terminology, and a long stretch of narrative about capitalism vs. socialism. However, if you stick through it, you'll find a very complex main character and a high-paced latter half of the book. This is a slow, psychological thriller doused heavily in political commentary.

Content Warnings

1701's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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: Yes

Content Warnings

bella_01's review against another edition

2.0

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad 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: Complicated

I didn't enjoy this book much. The story is well written and easy to read (besides searching the meaning of a few words). I was not a fan of the antisemitism woven through the book.

I did not enjoy the 'book within a book'. I begrudgingly read it because I was unsure whether it was important to the story or not. I found the ending of the book a bit trash too. I have searched for an explanation of it, but haven't felt satisfied.

Content Warnings

nikenacs's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

[Book club - May 2022]

I now liked this SO much better than when I read it in school at 15. Also really, really reminded me why I like philosophy. '1984' takes the essential philosophical questions "What is (objective) reality? Who constructs reality?" and builds an entire state on the thought that a government could prescribe reality, fleshed out to the last detail. The society and world-building in this is nothing less than spectacular (if absolutely horrifying, of course). Also a great example for a book that puts plot over characters - Winston, Julia etc are just vehicles for the story, examples of people who have been brought up in the society this book aims to paint. Anyways, this was a tough read, but I'm so glad I did read it, and it will stay with me for a long time.

Content Warnings

benjii_g's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

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

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.

Content Warnings

veganecurrywurst's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense slow-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

Finally read this book after reading so much about it. It's definitely worth it. It's scary how much it resembles the current climate in Russia, Trumps America, the extremist right-wing party in Germany, the political system in China and North Korea, corrupt politicians in Nigeria.........
The book was inspired by Nazi-Germany and Russia.
I mostly heard extremist right-wing media talk about this book, like Candice Owens, Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro etc.
It's kinda ironic, because after reading it, it really is the opposite of what they are saying.

Content Warnings

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