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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
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:
Yes
challenging
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
reflective
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:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
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:
Complicated
Glad I read this, given its status. However there was a few fairly long and boring bits, which I really struggled with so skimmed through. It helped me to keep remembering that this was written in the 40s, quite something I think.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Originally posted on the book blog Creature From the Book Lagoon.
This isn’t something I would normally pick to read. Not saying it’s bad, it’s just not my type. Everyone knows the idea behind the plot, even if they’ve never read 1984. Government’s a bitch on a power trip, basically. And you have no freedom, even if they say you do. The reason I finally sat down and read this is because the 2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge had this prompt on it: A book that has inspired a common phrase or idiom. I could think of nothing better then the infamous Big Brother and the thought police of 1984.
I ended up enjoying this more then I thought I would. Lots of great ethics and philosophical questions you can ponder on for a long time. You can’t help but think of your own countries government, or even certain mega corporations *cough* WWE, Disney *cough* that behave in a very 1984ish way. Lots of great fuel for conspiracy theories. That part of this book was very fun, and felt like it moved along fast.
Something that drove me nuts, though, is that there is a LOT of repetition going on in this book. I don’t know if that was supposed to be intentional social commentary or if the author was getting paid by the word count, or what… but sometimes we heard the same info dumps multiple times, in the exact same ways. If it was intentional or not, it just made me think FILLER! I figure the point of all the reparation is for (Oceania) brow beating the main character into submission- repeat it enough times and he’s not going to know up from down anymore without them telling him. The way it was done though, I don’t know… it felt a little bit boring, maybe, because it was almost the exact same wording every time…?
Sometimes I felt like the book was a little bit too vague with trying to make you read between the lines with all the doublespeak. I mean, that WAS the whole point of doublespeak. Nothing is a reliable source. And I get the author is trying to make you question LITERALLY everything and everyone. So, yes, I get it… that is the point. I am just not a huge fan of stories that are ultra ambiguous like this. You don’t have to spoon feed me every answer, but I would like to feel some sort of ground under my feet! The author nailed it though. So gold star him on that one.
The narrator was just kind of there. Matthews didn’t do a bad performance, but it didn’t really blow me away either. He got the job done. People sounded different enough that it wasn’t confusing, but not so different that it made you sit up and really take notice of the voice actor.
I get why this is a classic. The ideas and questions 1984 bring up stay with you for a long time. It is definitely timeless and entertaining. I just wish it didn’t feel so slowed down by so much of the same repetition. For me, that killed a lot of the tension and suspense that had been building up through a majority of the book. I am happy that I finally read it.
This isn’t something I would normally pick to read. Not saying it’s bad, it’s just not my type. Everyone knows the idea behind the plot, even if they’ve never read 1984. Government’s a bitch on a power trip, basically. And you have no freedom, even if they say you do. The reason I finally sat down and read this is because the 2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge had this prompt on it: A book that has inspired a common phrase or idiom. I could think of nothing better then the infamous Big Brother and the thought police of 1984.
I ended up enjoying this more then I thought I would. Lots of great ethics and philosophical questions you can ponder on for a long time. You can’t help but think of your own countries government, or even certain mega corporations *cough* WWE, Disney *cough* that behave in a very 1984ish way. Lots of great fuel for conspiracy theories. That part of this book was very fun, and felt like it moved along fast.
Something that drove me nuts, though, is that there is a LOT of repetition going on in this book. I don’t know if that was supposed to be intentional social commentary or if the author was getting paid by the word count, or what… but sometimes we heard the same info dumps multiple times, in the exact same ways. If it was intentional or not, it just made me think FILLER! I figure the point of all the reparation is for (Oceania) brow beating the main character into submission- repeat it enough times and he’s not going to know up from down anymore without them telling him. The way it was done though, I don’t know… it felt a little bit boring, maybe, because it was almost the exact same wording every time…?
Sometimes I felt like the book was a little bit too vague with trying to make you read between the lines with all the doublespeak. I mean, that WAS the whole point of doublespeak. Nothing is a reliable source. And I get the author is trying to make you question LITERALLY everything and everyone. So, yes, I get it… that is the point. I am just not a huge fan of stories that are ultra ambiguous like this. You don’t have to spoon feed me every answer, but I would like to feel some sort of ground under my feet! The author nailed it though. So gold star him on that one.
The narrator was just kind of there. Matthews didn’t do a bad performance, but it didn’t really blow me away either. He got the job done. People sounded different enough that it wasn’t confusing, but not so different that it made you sit up and really take notice of the voice actor.
I get why this is a classic. The ideas and questions 1984 bring up stay with you for a long time. It is definitely timeless and entertaining. I just wish it didn’t feel so slowed down by so much of the same repetition. For me, that killed a lot of the tension and suspense that had been building up through a majority of the book. I am happy that I finally read it.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
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
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No