George Orwell's best (Nineteen Eighty-four - George Orwell)

Member Name: JohnC1977

Product:	Nineteen Eighty-four - George Orwell
Date:	22/07/08 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gripping from start to finish

Disadvantages: Not an easy read

Sometimes you have to remind yourself that this book was written in 1949. It is so brutal, bleak and uncompromising that you think it had to have come from a more modern time. I am not sure if it was the post war bleakness that brought it about or not, but it is one powerful book. I am sure George Orwell would be turning in his grave right now if he realised his vision of a bleak future had spawned not one but two television shows - "Room 101" and "Big Brother" neither of which had any real comprehension of where they were stealing their ideas from. As important and powerful today as it was when it was first published, it tells the tale of Winston Smith, a clerk in the records department of Ministry of Truth who slowly but surely becomes more doubtful of the regime run by the omnipotent seeming dictator Big Brother and... well if you haven't read it I can't tell you any more. But it is a gripping and depressing read. Double plus good

Summary: A bleak glimpse at the future?