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A review by misscaroline09
1984 by George Orwell
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
4.5 stars for the last third of the book, 0-2 stars for the first two thirds.
You can read a quick character overview of 3 people (Winston, Julia, and O’Brien), then skip like 18 chapters to Part 3 of the book, and probably get far more out of it than you would if you read the whole thing.
The first two parts of the book have the potential to be interesting, but then basically nothing happens for most of it and also I hate everyone. I normally like characters with their personalities, but these people are just insufferable. I tried to justify it by saying to myself, “They’re intentionally written this way in order to show how horrible the world is.” But I could only get so far with that thought process before I started to dread reading any more.
Winston straight up talks about [trigger warning, not even gonna say it] and murdering Julia numerous times, then they just laugh it off. Hullo? Also he’s just generally self righteous and spends most of his time stroking is own ego. I swear, there’s one chapter (that’s unnecessarily long) where he just reads stuff that he agrees with, then stops and goes, “Hm, I’m so smart!” then continues reading, like BRUV. PLEASE. Also that chapter is basically a book inside a book, author, why T-T
Julia’s whole character is very “r/MenWritingWomen.” She has no character of her own really, she’s just a body for him to sleep with and a manic pixie dream girl.
O’Brien is the only character I actually found enjoyable. He makes you both comfortable and fearful at the same time. 10/10, I appreciated how he was written.
There were things about this book I did like, and even things about the characters I was into, but they were so few and far between that by the time I got to part 3, I wanted to pry my eyes out. Thankfully, at that point, things started to pick up and the author finally said what he wanted to say. If I ever read this again (unlikely), I’m just gonna skip to the end and I recommend you do the same.
You can read a quick character overview of 3 people (Winston, Julia, and O’Brien), then skip like 18 chapters to Part 3 of the book, and probably get far more out of it than you would if you read the whole thing.
The first two parts of the book have the potential to be interesting, but then basically nothing happens for most of it and also I hate everyone. I normally like characters with their personalities, but these people are just insufferable. I tried to justify it by saying to myself, “They’re intentionally written this way in order to show how horrible the world is.” But I could only get so far with that thought process before I started to dread reading any more.
Winston straight up talks about [trigger warning, not even gonna say it] and murdering Julia numerous times, then they just laugh it off. Hullo? Also he’s just generally self righteous and spends most of his time stroking is own ego. I swear, there’s one chapter (that’s unnecessarily long) where he just reads stuff that he agrees with, then stops and goes, “Hm, I’m so smart!” then continues reading, like BRUV. PLEASE. Also that chapter is basically a book inside a book, author, why T-T
Julia’s whole character is very “r/MenWritingWomen.” She has no character of her own really, she’s just a body for him to sleep with and a manic pixie dream girl.
O’Brien is the only character I actually found enjoyable. He makes you both comfortable and fearful at the same time. 10/10, I appreciated how he was written.
There were things about this book I did like, and even things about the characters I was into, but they were so few and far between that by the time I got to part 3, I wanted to pry my eyes out. Thankfully, at that point, things started to pick up and the author finally said what he wanted to say. If I ever read this again (unlikely), I’m just gonna skip to the end and I recommend you do the same.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Rape and Sexual violence