Search - 1984

Was Orwell a prophet, or what? If you've never read this modern classic of "negative utopia", you may well be shocked to find how profoundly it resonnates with the political climate of today. A must-read (or re-read!) cautionary tale.

A starteling novel that notes the surreal events of a future where the government not only controls life, but watches your every move. (Think the patriot act on some serius steroids) This book will make you wonder about what the media is and is not telling us.

One of my favorite dystopian books-however, I wouldn't considering "light reading" a la a crime novel or romance novel. Definitely thought provoking.

A classical read about a world controlled by Big Brother. The story depicts a negative Utopia world spawned by Hitler's approach to the people of Germany and the countries he captured. Can life really be this hopeless? Will people succumb to pressures that dehumanize them? Will love, compassion and such emotions become a thing of the past? Key character of this novel is Winston Smith who deep in his heart believes there can be a better world than the one in which he lives. He falls in love with Julia who has similar beliefs and they have a love affair. Of course, they are caught, suffer torture, demeaning experiences and brainwashing. The negative theme of the book continues to the last page. For me it was a depressing but thought provoking read. Perhaps, we all should read 1984.

Scary portents of our time and the future to come. A bit of emotionless detachment from the author, but the story plays out.

I wanted to get into some classics this summer, and 1984 was the first I dug into. It truly was an amazing book of its time, moreso when facts about Orwell's life have come to life in the past decades. I lived through 1984, Orwell lived through the Russian Revolution, intense change in society in Europe from 1910 through the 1950s, World War 2, the Great Depression. One major overriding theme in this book is the lack of privacy, the reaching of society into every aspect of the individual's life. While we may scoff at the thought that our modern television, which exists in 99.9% of households around the world would be both a camera and a telescreen, we do have that now in the form of smartphones. Perhaps 1984 was more about 1948, and postwar Europe, the realization of what Stalin had done, of the costs of winning World War 2. In any case, it is a great book and deserves to be read and can continue to teach us so much.