Reviews - Julia: A Novel | The StoryGraph

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1.76k reviews for:

Julia: A Novel

Sandra Newman

3.8 AVERAGE

mspiggy21's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

siobhanellen's review against another edition

4.0

dark 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: Complicated

chrishutchinson's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

benbert's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

isabellakershner's review against another edition

5.0

Somehow Newman has reformed a Classic. In this book, Newman molds a Julia that we have only seen in moments- in fact, I had not realized just how sparse Julia is in 1984 until this book. She has a past, a present, and a future here more so than Winston ever had. In this Newman surpasses Orwell. Newman sets up a perfect dichotomy- with 1984 as prerequisite reading, we see Julia as the perfect foil to Winston. Where Winston is hopeless and determined to despise, Julia is nonpolitical and at ease in the totalitarianism. We see this in many moments scattered throughout the book- namely, we see Winston's carelessness with life. He kicks a Prole baby's head, a baby-corpse, and thinks nothing of it as "the Party controls his actions, and the Party is hateful." However, Julia hears of this act and cannot fathom the cruelty behind such a kick. She has been raised in the HateLove of the Party just as much as Winston and yet Newman shows through her character that this does not mean a loss of humanity. We see this perfect foil again towards the end of the story. We all know the realization Winston comes to after his time at the Ministry of Love, it's as famous as any quote: "He realized he loved Big Brother." What realization does Julia come into after a similar torturous experience? "She realized she hated Big Brother." This strength in comparison to Winston's cowardice, to Winston's desire for a perfect revolutionary story with the perfect sexual woman and the perfect marytrdom- this is Julia. Julia is everything Winston was wrong about, is action where he was just inaction. She has been raped and tortured and molested- things that we see veiled under ideas of fatherly Inner Party members good intentions. And yet she prevails. We come to understand through expertly interwoven moments that being a man in 1984 is so vastly different to being a woman. The TeleScreens, terrifying to a man being watched by men. But to a woman? Watched as she dresses and undresses by hundreds of unspeaking men, knowing that their eyes rape her body every moment? Complete surrender to all Inner Party men, who could have you arrested under conspiracy for the crime of saying No? Having Big Brother as not only a ruler but as a Father Husband from when you were born? And yet even with this added perspective, Orwell's message reigns true throughout this reimagining. Humans are corrupt, and those in power, when allowed to take power, will always be the same. They will always ask the same things of you. Newman presents this idea very literally- she has each type of person ask the same series of questions. The Party asks if you will die for them, if you will kill innocents for them, if you will maim a child for them everyday in their propoganda. The Brotherhood asks these things of Winston through the guise of O'Brian. And the Revolution asks these things of Julia. They all turn on the Enemy because they imagine the enemy does these things. They say "how dare the enemy maim children and think it is right?" and yet when asked if they would do it for the Party/Revolution/Brotherhood, they all justify it, "Well they deserve it." All in all an incredible book- a rare classic literature retelling that builds on the original work. I will not hand someone a copy of 1984 without recommending Julia.