1984

Big Brother is watching you. This is a brilliant read. The characterisation is brilliant. Winston is very well portrayed. You really feel a connection to him. The story takes the readers along for the ride. Up there with the best dystopian novels.

Reader reviewed by leebase

1984 - is a classic such that one wonders why someone would need to write a review.   Politics is so important and our schools do such a poor job of bringing this subject to light.   1984 brings the importance of paying attention to what politicians are saying and doing to light.

It is scary, it is engaging, it is important.  It tells truths about how those in power use words to deceive people that are just as relevant today as when they were written.   The power technology brings to keep tabs on people is making the warning of this book ever MORE relevant than when it was written.

If it's not already part of the school curriculum, read this book with your child and talk about it's relevance.

Reader reviewed by Matt Hill

This is a stunning view of what George Orwell thought the world would be like in 1984. 1984 has come and gone, but who cannot imagine that someday, all of these things told in the book, such as the Government's always present telescreens, will not come to be? Find out as the Government tries to remove the rebelliosness out of the mind of one of their subjects, who spends his whole day erasing the past, and rewriting it to suit the government's deeds. The government has ALWAYS been at war with Oceania, right? Even though they just changed it a few days ago to seem like it. This futuristic tale is a fascinating read, and a chilling reminder of what may still be to come!

Reader reviewed by Chels

If your are looking for a thought provoking and analitical book here is one of the best. A classic and most-read for any literature fan. a book full of corrupt government and people striving to be different and make a difference.

Delve into the world of Big brother, where nothing is sacred not even your on thoughts!

Down with Big Brother!

Reader reviewed by Mi-chan

Much more thought-provoking than other "utopian" books. It makes one think whether they know their existence is real, whether what they know is real. One of the best books I've ever read. It brings up excellent philosophical points.

Reader reviewed by carikube

1984 is an amazing description of an oppressive government, showing every facet of life in a totalitarian society: love, work, "fun," socialization... The main character, Winston, struggles to remember what life was life before the revolution. He wonders if capitalism is really what it is in the history books: rich men in top hats pushing the poor people into the mud. Is it really worse than Winston's life under The Party and Big Brother now? A life where his job in the outer party is to rewrite history? Where his every action is monitored by a telescreen? Where children, who are considered a "duty to the party," admit their parent's actions to the "Thought Police," whose job it is to execute anyone whose thoughts are against the party?

This is a great book to read for any person, especially those who have studied the Russian Revolution and Communism to some degree, because it draws amazing parrallels.

Reader reviewed by chardiddlyarlie

I was informed that this was a classic and worth reading by my parents so i immediately doubted that i would enjoy it. i did, however, find it really very interesting. George Orwell wrote the book in the 1940s and it is a futuristic book of how he expected 1984 to be. His world in 1984 is a world of totalitarian government and big brother, thought police and anti sex leagues, where your mind is tampered with and nothing is your own. This book is certainly not easy to read but if you get past that you can appreciate what an interesting and good book this is. Well done, George Orwell!

Reader reviewed by Bec

Really scary look at the future. Its realistic, with multifaceted characters and a few great comedic moments. Political satire at its best. George Orwellreally knew his stuff.

Reader reviewed by Flak Monkey

Eric Arthur Blair was an important English writer that you probably already know by the pseudonym of George Orwell. He wrote quite a few books, but many believe that his more influential ones were "Animal farm" (1944) and "1984" (1948).In those two books he conveyed, metaphorically and not always obviously, what Soviet Russia meant to him.

I would like to make some comments about the second book, "1984". That book was written near his death, when he was suffering from tuberculosis, what might have had a lot to do with the gloominess that is one of the essential characteristics of "1984". The story is set in London, in a nightmarish 1984 that for Orwell might well have been a possibility, writting as he was many years before that date. Or maybe, he was just trying to warn his contemporaries of the dangers of not opposing the Soviet threat, a threat that involved a new way of life that was in conflict with all that the English held dear.

Orwell tried to depict a totalitarian state, where the truth didn't exist as such, but was merely what the "Big Brother" said it was. Freedom was only total obedience to the Party, and love an alien concept, unless it was love for the Party. The story is told from the point of view of Winston Smith, a functionary of the Ministry of Truth whose work involved the "correction" of all records each time the "Big Brother" decided that the truth had changed. The Party slogan said that "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past", and they applied it constantly by "bringing up to date" the past so as to make it coincide with whatever the Party wanted.

From Winston Smith's point of view, many things that scare us are normal. For example, the omnipresence of the "Big Brother", always watching you, and the "Thought Police" that punishes treacherous thoughts against the Party. The reader feels the inevitability of doom that pervades the book many times, in phrases like "Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you".

Little by little, Winston begins to realize that things are not right, and that they should change. We accompany him in his attempt at subversion, and are unwilling witnesses of what that attempt brings about. This book is marked by hopelessness, but at the same time it is the kind of distressing book we all NEED to read...

Why do we need to read "1984"?. In my opinion, basically for two reasons. To start with, Orwell made in this book many observations that are no more merely fiction, but already things that manage to reduce our freedom. Secondly, and closelly linked to my first reason, this is a book that only gets better with the passing of time, as you can read in it more and more implications. One of Orwell's main reasons for writting this "negative utopia" might have been to warn his readers against communism, but many years after his death and the fall of communism, we can also interpret it as a caution against the excessive power of mass media, or the immoderate power of any government (even those who don't defend communism).

Technological innovation should be at the service of men, and allow them to live better lives, but it can be used against them. I guess that is one of Orwell's lessons, probably the most important one. All in all, I think you can benefit from reading this book. Because of that, I highly recommend it to you :)

Reader reviewed by breathemoonlite

Ever get the feeling that "they" are watching? Ever wonder who is really in control?
Big Brother knows all in this classic Orwellian future. Take a peek into the "future" which is now our past. Where children can turn in thier parents for just a thought and even your dreams can get you arrested. Where you are being watched every minute of everyday, and your once enemy can be your friend and switch back again before you can straighten it out in your own brain.
What if teh government controlled everything you saw, heard, said, and words themselves were being distroyed to gain even more.