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1984 (Signet Classics)

New American Library

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"Big Brother is watching you!"

Imagine a world where "freedom is slavery," "war is peace" and "ignorance is strength." The things we take for granted -- love and sexual relationships, a difference of opinion, private thoughts -- are taken away from you. Your nation (or in this case, the "Party") is your whole reason for being. You owe everything to it, including your life and every thought, and no other aspect of your life matters. In every corner of the city, telescreens (video cameras?) watch and dictate your every move, and the "Thought Police" are on the lookout for signs of traitorous thoughts. Once captured, traitors are erased from humankind as if they had never existed in the first place. The past doesn't exist, and no traces of history remain. Sex, wine, coffee and other pleasures are not allowed unless it benefits the Inner Party in some way. The world consists of three areas: Ocenia, Eruasia and Eastasia. Countries have lost their individualism and history. They are just a map in the globe. A new universal language in which the meaning of one's words are clear and devoid of deceit is being created...

That is the world Winston Smith lives in. And that is the world George Orwell (real name is Eric Blair) envisioned back in 1948 (the last two digits diverted, very clever), two years before his death. 1984 is a futuristic novel with a political message. Orwell predicted that humans would become robots, a shell of their former selves, brought on by communism. The word "communism" is not used in the novel at all -- or at least I don't remember it being used -- and Russia is seldom mentioned, but it is clear that this is what the author alludes to. Orwell was an opponent of Russian communism at the time, and used his protestations to create fiction. Some describe this book as "prophetic," and might even go as far as to say that some of the book's prophesies have come true, especially in the last couple of years. I know one thing though: Orwell's views were light years ahead of his time, and it is as impressive as it is frightening. As for the book itself, at first, it seemed boring to me. It just showcases the every day life of an average Joe with opposing feelings for the Party. He is paranoid about making wrong moves in front of the telescreens and other Party members, yet is helpless to resist his traitorous thoughts, going as far as writing them down on a personal diary. The first part also showcases what the Party consists of and the changes that London has gone through since the "Revolution." Things get interesting when Winston meets Julia and begins an affair that could get them both into serious trouble. The third part is the most riveting -- and the spookiest. It is a thing of true nightmares. I can go into detail, but I don't want to ruin it for those who haven't read it yet. One thing I would say is that one of the novel's themes is centered on how human beings cannot be completely controlled, that their refusal to yield helps them survive even the most unfathomable torture. O'Brien and the Inner Party might have taken Winston's freedom, but they would never able to overtake his soul. But did they take his soul? Read the last sentence in the book. It shook me to the core. The language is dark and gloomy throughout the novel, and the ending is creepy in its subtlety. I could give out numerous examples about how real life events and political manipulation (the whole War Against Iraq, and the fact that easy access to one's credit, criminal, medical and employment history does make one feel that Big Brother IS watching us) that mirror Orwell's "negative utopia," but others have done so already, and better than I would have done. All I know is that I love this book and will reread it again and again. I'll look into reading Animal Farm and other Orwell books in the future.

Daddy of dystopia

I find it very intimidating to review a well-known classic. I think since there is so much information on both the book and the author that I will just touch on a few of the concepts pervasive in the novel and, considering this is one of the daddies of dystopia, how the novel's presence has impacted literature as a whole.
Big Brother is the ever-present leader of the party, staring at the citizens of Oceania wherever they go with the aide of telescreens. Winston, an employee of the Ministry, isn't really sure if Big Brother actually exists or if he's really even an actual entity. The point Orwell is making here is that the party is always watching and has complete control over its citizens' bodies and minds. As party members go higher up in the ranks, vagueness ensues until one realizes that no one really knows who is ruling the country.
One of the most disturbing examples of the Party's mind control, and there are many, is illustrated in the description of Winston's job. His role within the party as propaganda officer is to alter official government publications in order for them to fit with the Party's official version of how events really went down. The Thought Police are constantly vigilant, searching out dissenters of the Party. They monitor citizens to the point where having a dissenting thought against the party is against the law and punishable.
Inevitably, Winston becomes one of these disillusioned dissenters,and he is arrested and tortured for it. During his interrogation, his captors explain to him that he will be re-integrated, or brainwashed, back into the Party.
The influence of Orwell's 1984 is indeed extensive; how many times have you heard someone describe something as "Orwellian"? Anthony Burgess wrote 1985, which was intended to be a sequel to Orwell's original work. In more recent work, Cory Doctorow's Little Brother directly references 1984's Big Brother, and Doctorow's main character, Marcus Yellow, is a direct reference to Winston Smith.
I recognize this book's extreme importance in the field of dystopian literature, and I found parts of it to be truly terrifying. However, parts of the novel, especially the segment in which Winston read entire chapters of the underground opposition party's manual, moved very slowly and were very dry. I'm glad I've read it but will probably not revisit it.

No Shelf is Complete Without It

Winston Smith vaguely remembers what the world was like before. Before the revolution, before the Thought Police, before Big Brother. But he can't remember if it was better.

I wanted to read this book because its a classic. No bookshelf is complete without it. What I was surprised to find is that I really liked it. Sure, I knew I would like it. It's a classic for a reason but I really enjoyed it. I thought it would be hard to get through and reading it would take a lot of effort on my part. I was wrong.
I'm not going to get into the plot very much. It's one of those books you just have to read. It's a story about the horror of human nature. The horror of man's obsession with power. This book was written in 1949. I can understand what an impact it must have had then. With Hitler and WWII still fresh in everyone's minds. Even in the 50's it might have seemed possible that something like this could happen. In today's day and age its not even feasible but it makes you thankful for the world we live in and the privileges we take for granted.

I highly recommend 1984 if you haven't read it already. Like I said no shelf is complete without it.

Orwell was right, but

That's not why you should read this edition, since any good copy of 1984 is going to feel like a poignant precursor to the mess we live in now (as for those machine mentioned in a recent review, I don't think that's the problem: rather, it's the speed that digital processing of stock market manipulation allows that is truly becoming one of the worst problems negatively affecting the world economy today).

No, the reason to read this edition is for the Pynchon foreword! Pynchon's voice has been, since "Gravity's Rainbow" almost the inheritance of 1984; as a dislocation of the predictiveness of the Orwellian text, it also has functioned as a panacea to this nightmare we live on, precisely because Pynchon's language doesn't allow for any concreteness. Go read "Gravity's Rainbow" then go read "Inherent Vice" (or vice-versa, since the latter is infinitely easier to read than the former), and get a taste of the way the world should be.

BBB Big Brother Bush

I read this book during Bush's 2nd term and I have to say, the parallels were unnerving. I like the romantic liason that occurs so clandestinely and unexpectedly. This was pretty scary stuff. The political pontificating was suffocating at times, but then, it was quite a bit of genius in itself. You have to wonder how this guy could come up with this 'stuff' (word substituted). Yes, we have our own levels of censorship even in the land of the "free."