A review by lily1304
1984 by George Orwell

slow-paced
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

Worth reading because it's a classic and it's so influential - "Big Brother" being synonymous with surveillance, and thoughtcrime/Thought Police are common references as well. Glad I could check this one off the list.

In its merits as dystopian literature... I'm not convinced. Winston and Julia are both kind of non-characters with very few discernable traits or motives. Julia is especially vapid, given that she constantly lets Winston speak for her and doesn't seem to be interested in
the rebellion they pledge their lives to.
It's possible that Orwell intended his two main characters to be deeply uninteresting to demonstrate that that's what a fascist surveillance state does to people. But it's a slog to read sometimes.

That, plus, it seemed like a large portion of the book was dedicated to Goldstein's writing or O'Brien's lectures. In some ways, 1984 is a great example of fiction as a medium for political ideas. But in other ways - if he has to interrupt the narrative with a direct lecture on power to get his point across, then he's not a very effective storyteller.
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