| Product: |
Nineteen Eighty-four - George Orwell |
| Date: |
01/06/08 (28 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: An exceptional read
Disadvantages: None
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a fascinating read, I did it for my English Literature GCSE, and I must admit, I quite enjoyed it, despite my usual "I don't read books" mentality.
Nineteen Eighty-Four is basically a warning of what the world could become in 1984 (it was written in the '50s) if nothing was done to change what was going on at the time.
The book centres around Winston Smith, an outer party member of the superstate Oceania, which encompasses North and South America, southern Africa, the UK and Australasia. The people of Oceania can be part of the proles (the "commoners"), the outer party (party workers) and the inner party (the small amount of wealthy people).
In the book, the country is run by the party, which is headed by Big Brother (the TV show is named after this book) which rules a totalitarian state where everything is under control of the party. The party want to control everything, and what to do all they can to stop a rebellion. To do this, they re-write history to their benefit and they "vapourise" those who are suspected to be against the party ("thought criminals"). The party watches everyone, the have "telescreens" which blare out party propaganda to the masses, and at the same time, these allow the party to watch the people through it. They even develop a new language (Newspeak) to rid identity and history from English, so people do not question the past.
Winston is intelligent, and he wants to discover what life was like when people were free, and he wants life to be like that again, but he is not strong enough to know how to do it. He meets Julia, a less intelligent, but another "free spirit" who also wants freedom, but not for the same reason as Winston. She wants to go against the party for her own pleasure and anarchy.
Any thought criminals are taken away to the ministry of love (ironic), where they are tortured to brainwash them into love of Big Brother and they can even make people think 2+2=5. This all happens in Room 101, the place where your biggest fear becomes a reality!!
This book is truely fascinating, and some might say it is more and more becoming true.
It has been a controversial book. It was banned in the USSR until '88 and court appeals have been made to ban it because apparently it promotes communism.
You really need to read it to discover the greatness of this story.
Summary: Excellently written book
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Last comment:
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Pharmtastic - 01/06/08 I remember reading this at school. A boy was leaning his chair back in one lesson, to be told by the English teacher: "two legs bad, four legs good!" |
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