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kbratten's review
2.0
I may have to come back and review when I'm not so utterly depressed. As I expected, the setup of 1984 was riveting. Fascinating in its similarities to modern life. Remarkable description and language. The whole imprisonment and torture situation ruined the book for me.
cook_memorial_public_library's review
5.0
A PBS Great American Read recommended by Ellen J. and Jocelyn. Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__S1984%20George%20Orwell__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold
yetilibrary's review
5.0
I first read this in 5th grade, although I think it may have been an abridged version (it may have been in a textbook, and in any case I was reading it on my own). I've reread the section on the rules of Newspeak many, many times.
Nineteen Eighty-Four remains both relevant and terrifying. If you haven't encountered it, I suggest picking it up.
ETA: When I first read it, and got to the end, I remember thinking "NAHHHH NO WAY NAHHH NOPE NOT COOL" and refusing to accept it. I think I came up with an alternative ending of my own and stayed mad at George Orwell at least until I read Animal Farm. I don't remember what I came up with, but I can still FEEL that alternate ending inside me, clamoring to get out and rage against the machine.
Nineteen Eighty-Four remains both relevant and terrifying. If you haven't encountered it, I suggest picking it up.
ETA: When I first read it, and got to the end, I remember thinking "NAHHHH NO WAY NAHHH NOPE NOT COOL" and refusing to accept it. I think I came up with an alternative ending of my own and stayed mad at George Orwell at least until I read Animal Farm. I don't remember what I came up with, but I can still FEEL that alternate ending inside me, clamoring to get out and rage against the machine.
jonbrammer's review
4.0
1984 is divided into two parts - the first part, Winston's attempt to regain his humanity. The second part is his loss of whatever humanity he won - with the point being made that human beings are essentially malleable raw material that can be molded by ideology and by applying the right psychological pressure points. Orwell's dystopia is probably the most influential in our modern age- there are some brilliant insights into the machinations of oppressive machines, but also in the cognitive dissonance ("doublethink") that allow humans to function in an increasingly artificial and manipulative world.
mateorg's review
5.0
Estoy impresionado! Que libro espectacular!
Los planteamientos que hacía son de otro mundo, coincido en casi todos sus argumentos, y como dijo Orwell en una frase que me encantó, no hay mejor libro que el que dice lo que uno piensa. Me sucedió tal cual eso.
Me asombra que un hombre que no haya vivido en la era contemporánea, que solo tuviera las dos guerras mundiales como contexto, que haya salido con unas ideas tan revolucionarias. Muchas hoy en día se han puesto en práctica, increíble. Prácticamente puede dar una visión del presente, sin dudas.
Los personajes me gustaron, Winston Smith fue mi preferido, no solo porque era el mejor desarrollado, sino con el que uno más se puede identificar, con sus virtudes y defectos. Julia y O’Brien tuvieron características muy marcadas, y pudieron resaltar de forma magistral el objetivo de esta obra.
Un libro de tono pesimista que retrata la cruda situación de una sociedad hundida por el totalitarismo que busca ni mas ni menos que poder. Y si las sociedades reales contemporáneas permiten eso, es capaz de suceder.
En conclusión, me encantó, no solo por la historia en sí, que hay que aceptar que es character-driven, pero más por sus planteamientos de las sociedades subordinadas al poder.
5/5.
Los planteamientos que hacía son de otro mundo, coincido en casi todos sus argumentos, y como dijo Orwell en una frase que me encantó, no hay mejor libro que el que dice lo que uno piensa. Me sucedió tal cual eso.
Me asombra que un hombre que no haya vivido en la era contemporánea, que solo tuviera las dos guerras mundiales como contexto, que haya salido con unas ideas tan revolucionarias. Muchas hoy en día se han puesto en práctica, increíble. Prácticamente puede dar una visión del presente, sin dudas.
Los personajes me gustaron, Winston Smith fue mi preferido, no solo porque era el mejor desarrollado, sino con el que uno más se puede identificar, con sus virtudes y defectos. Julia y O’Brien tuvieron características muy marcadas, y pudieron resaltar de forma magistral el objetivo de esta obra.
Un libro de tono pesimista que retrata la cruda situación de una sociedad hundida por el totalitarismo que busca ni mas ni menos que poder. Y si las sociedades reales contemporáneas permiten eso, es capaz de suceder.
En conclusión, me encantó, no solo por la historia en sí, que hay que aceptar que es character-driven, pero más por sus planteamientos de las sociedades subordinadas al poder.
5/5.
sophiaeck's review
4.0
“Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.”
this book is certainly flustering to place in terms of a review. i respect it’s roots in the dystopian genre and some of the profound points it makes intermittently, but there are also parts of weird comments made by winston (about r*pe and m*rder) that really dislikened me to him as a character. i think as a classic this ranks as decent, but i would not use this as the stick to measure all other dystopia against, as this particular novels dystopia is so misanthropic.
this book is certainly flustering to place in terms of a review. i respect it’s roots in the dystopian genre and some of the profound points it makes intermittently, but there are also parts of weird comments made by winston (about r*pe and m*rder) that really dislikened me to him as a character. i think as a classic this ranks as decent, but i would not use this as the stick to measure all other dystopia against, as this particular novels dystopia is so misanthropic.
arthur_pendrgn's review
2.0
The world-building is prescient, chilling, foreboding, excellent. The writing? Boring, wordy, shallow. Read for the politics behind it--not for the characters.