Why this book?: I’ve been interested in it for a while, but it was also a required reading for my AP lit class.
While I was interested in this book for a while, I was expecting a classic dystopian book where the lower class overthrow the upper class and everything is happy or at least somewhat better than before. Or maybe something similar to Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, which I had read before starting this blog. Really, though, this book just seemed like a waste of time.
And, before 1984-lovers come at me for that, listen. I read this entire book for a class, and I had to write a full goddamn essay on it. When I say, this book is a waste of time, I really mean what the fuck was the point of this book? Nothing happened. The message this book was supposed to send is something I’m so used to that it was more annoying than anything else. Government is bad, I know, believe me.
I don’t want to spoil this book for people who haven’t read it yet, but really. The characters were fairly bland, and I just didn’t care about any of them. Winston and Julia were boring. Julia really got to me because she was literally just rebelling because she wanted sex. Literally, only sex was on Julia’s mind. The only other character was O’Brien and his only part was fairly predictable and honestly quiet uncreative on Orwell’s part. Nothing was that impressive about 1984 and I really cannot stand everyone who says its the best of the best.
Final Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Overall?
I understand why this book has gone down into history, I do. But in modern times, this is the way I see it: the writing was okay, the characters were lackluster, the plot was pointless, and the message, while important at the time it was written, seemed inconsequential.
Would I Recommend?
From a story point of view, no. It’s just not a good story, logically, in my opinion. From a message/important story point of view, maybe. Personally, I just don’t get it. The story went nowhere, and the characters weren’t that good.
Additional Information:
Published: June 8, 1949
Publisher: Harvill Secker
Page Count: 328
Genre: Classic/Science Fiction/Dystopia
Synopsis: via Goodreads
Among the seminal texts of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a rare work that grows more haunting as its futuristic purgatory becomes more real. Published in 1949, the book offers political satirist George Orwell’s nightmare vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one poor stiff’s attempt to find individuality. The brilliance of the novel is Orwell’s prescience of modern life–the ubiquity of television, the distortion of the language–and his ability to construct such a thorough version of hell. Required reading for students since it was published, it ranks among the most terrifying novels ever written.