Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

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

69 reviews

librarymouse's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-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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1984 is a deeply upsetting book. It does not give me hope for the future. By the end of this book, the reader is left with the feeling of having finally reached a handhold at the top of an almost insurmountable summit only to have the bones in your hands systematically crushed by someone you had assumed loved you.
1984 almost makes the unwavering patriotism/belief in a singular person/undefined political ideology, that some of my older family members feel understandable. To see the hero worship for an untouchable ideal that contradicts itself and causes harm without room for critique or progress is painfully relatable for me as an American reader in 2022. I think that crushing dread that there may never be a better world than the one you currently live in with all of its flaws and hardships has been one of the few, traumatic, incorporeal heirlooms that's been passed down for generations.

I really enjoyed the character of Mr. Charrington. I loved the idea of someone lovingly curating ephemeral garbage from generations passed to create a museum of unsellable antiques, and I loved that that persona was an artfully constructed façade for a nefarious character. Orwell drew a brilliant parallel between the telescreen being concealed behind one of the few truly valuable antiques and the thought police officer being behind the studious looking façade that made him look almost like a relic from the past. Behind one of the last few images of the long dead world Winston longed for, which gave him hope for the future, was the symbol and force of the omnipotent presence they thought they were momentarily free from. 
I was genuinely convinced that Winston's fear of rats was going to have stemmed from his baby sister being eaten by them. The repeated mentions of proll women not leaving babies unattended for fear they be eaten by rats combined with the thing Winston had been blocking out, the poverty his family lived in in his early childhood, and his mother and sister's disappearance made that thought a tangible possibility.
Winston's character development before his time in prison was quite interesting. Initially, he was internally quite violent and held a deep hatred for the people around him, especially the women. His dreams of bashing in Julia's skull and his distaste for his neighbor's wife mixed with his misogynist internal monologue made Winston an intensely unlikable character for the first part of the book. Julia's complacency with party rules and regulations so long as they didn't interfere with her sex life, her zealously performed orthodoxy that she performed fluidly and without thought made her similarly unlikable at the beginning. Their pre-prison development made them into almost beautiful people, in terms of personality. They were both developing forms of self expression and learning to appreciate the small joys afforded to the prolls that their stations did not allow. Winston's longing for familial past he could barely remember and Julia's desire to break the rules slowly morphed into a tentatively explored new way of life and love that pulled from both the pre-party way of life and engsoc orthodoxy. The total destruction of their sense of selves during and after their time in prison was upsetting to read, but gave the book a satisfying ending. Winston's breaking point being something so benign and mortal as rats humanized him in such a way that it felt like the culmination of his characterization throughout the book. To have the thing that shatters his psyche be something so ingrained into him that all the mind tricks and double think in the world couldn't erase was weirdly oxymoronic. O'Brien's promise was that they would want to  confess and die for the party and the love of big brother before they would be killed, and Winston's descent into truly believing party orthodoxy happened in a way that is recognizable in the real world in the reactions of people with zealous, deeply held belief systems.

I'm glad I didn't read this book in high school. I had too much optimism for the fate of the world then. It would have gone right over my head.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, Classism

Minor: Antisemitism

13m0n5's review against another edition

2.5

dark mysterious tense slow-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: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Antisemitism, Gaslighting, Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual content, War, Injury/Injury detail

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious reflective tense 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infertility, Misogyny, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, War, Classism

f18's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark reflective medium-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: Complicated

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Child death, Fatphobia, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol

descriptions of hangings, child labor, tooth trauma,

involuntary shock therapy

deadeye's review against another edition

4.0

dark reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Excrement, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol

nielsrenssen's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

---

One of the best books of all time written by one one of the best authors of all time. Surprisingly philosophical. Every sentence is masterfully constructed. The fact that the metric system plays a role in Orwell's vision of dystopia is hilariously British. Need to give this an annotated re-read at some point.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War

marsisred's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Abandonment, War

accio_gays's review against another edition

4.25

dark hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Had to read it for English Lit. It was slow and a slog in some places. I hate Winston with a passion,

especially after what happens in room 101

. The ending was so disappointing, NGL. I really wanted

Winston to have revolted and won over The Party, and for him to escape the dystopian world in some way

. It was really thought provoking though, I enjoyed really thinking about what the characters were saying etc, and how they interact in a world not entirely unlike our own. There are some quotes within the book that just made me go on a thought tangent, it was just so exciting to think about. Probably wouldn't have read it if I hadn't taken English tbh, it's not really a book I would've voluntarily picked up. But I'm kinda glad I did, in a weird and twisted way. I love a book that allows me to think. However the outdated and clearly Christian views (the religious undertones that run through the book, about purity, and Big Brother being a higher power etc that just may be the English student in me though) that run through this book made me want to throw it across the room (which I did). the descriptions of many minorities including Jewish people, Fat people, women etc DISGUSTING. I get that Orwell was from the 1940s or whatever but the views of the main character are nasty and say so much about how much of a shitty person the author would've been in our time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Antisemitism, Abandonment, Colonisation, War

Minor: Alcoholism, Slavery, Vomit, Grief, Alcohol

elodie_melodie's review against another edition

3.5

dark mysterious tense 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: Complicated

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War

Minor: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Alcohol

simixfe's review against another edition

2.75

dark mysterious reflective 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: Complicated

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There was no need for this to be this f*cking long. 
The concept was good but the implementation was lacking...
I probably would have enjoyed it if it hadn't been written by Orwell



I read it a second time for my A-level and surprisingly I liked it even less. As for now, I would only give it 2⭐ My criticism from the first time reading it still holds true for me but the second time it felt even more annoying and repetitive...

The plot could be summarised with only a few words

Winston: all women bad, government bad too
Julia: I love you
Sex
Talking about rebellion
More sex
Even more sex
Receives "the book" from O'Brien
Info dump 
Arrest
Torture
Rats
Gives in
End

And a lot more passages with only info dump

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, War

Minor: Slavery, Suicide, Murder