|
Loading... 1984 (Signet Classics) (original 1949; edition 1961)by George Orwell, Erich Fromm (Afterword)
Work details1984 by George Orwell (1949)
Top 10, must read to readers and writers alike, changed my world when I was 14, and was the first step on me becoming a writer. (  ) IanMPindar | May 16, 2013 |  It's been many, many years since I last read this book. So long ago that it was not the book I remember. The first two parts of this book were interesting, up to a point, but the last part was just boring physiological babbling. In the end the book was less of a novel than an outlet for a persons opinion. And a boring opinion at that. I didn't particularly enjoy this in total, but thought it might have gone somewhere. It just didn't. I don't think this book should be inflicted on others. (  ) Balthazar-Lawson | May 13, 2013 | This was a fascinating look at government and social commentary. I had a teacher in high school who graduated in 1984 and their class quote was "Orwell was wrong." Now she says, "He might not have been wrong after all - just a little early on the timing." Mind blown. This is a definite must-read for everyone, whether you like politics and law or not. So many lessons taught, morals debated, and traditions questioned. Things I'd never even considered, let alone recognized in my own life. It is a truly mesmerizing story. (  ) frozenplums | May 5, 2013 | Last year I read one George Orwell’s most famous novels, Animal Farm. This great novel that is an allegory for the corrupt leadership that was happening in the communistic government of the Soviet Union, lead me to want to read another book by Orwell. Of the options I had, 1984 appealed to me the most since it was similar to Animal Farm in idea: a corrupt society lead by all powerful leaders. Now 1984 has many strengths. The third-person limited point of view worked really well for the plotline as it shows how crazy the government is from the thoughts of a man, Winston Smith, who knows something isn’t quite right with the world. Another strength is the whole plot itself, which is that of a government that controls what its citizens do, as well as the past present and the future. The final main strength is the character of O’brien who was made to appear to be on your side so well that when it is revealed that he was never on your side, it comes off as a shock. There are some weaknesses as well, but very few. A main one is the language of newspeak, watered-down English, comes off as tacky and somewhat of a gimmick. The language is only used in written media. All citizens speak regular English (referred to as oldspeak) so the whole point of newspeak seems weird when all of the citizens read it, but don’t speak it. Another weakness is that the book sometimes has unnecessary details, such as Winston helping his neighbors and Winston exercising in the morning. All in all, the book is a great read and has many strengths that outweigh the weaknesses. I give it 4/5 stars due to that. (  ) LinktheCat | May 4, 2013 | a very dark and frightening look at what the future could look like. ( ) michaelbartley | Apr 26, 2013 |
 Most novels about an imaginary world (e.g., Gulliver's Travels, Erewhon) have as their central character, or interpreter, a man who somehow strays out of the author's own times and finds himself in a world he never made. But Orwell, like Aldous Huxley in Brave New World, builds his nightmare of tomorrow on foundations that are firmly laid today. He needs no contemporary spokesman to explain and interpret — for the simple reason that any reader in 1949 can uneasily see his own shattered features in Winston Smith, can scent in the world of 1984 a stench that is already familiar.  "Nineteen Eighty-Four" is not impressive as a novel about particular human beings. Its account of life thirty-five years hence has little fanciful or gadgety interest. But as a prophecy and a warning it is superb. The ultimate degradation of a totalitarian sates is here portrayed with repulsive power. It is probable that no other work of this generation has made us desire freedom more earnestly or loathe tyranny with such fullness...the terrific, long crescendo and the quick decrescendo that George Orwell has made of this struggle for survival and the final extinction of a personality. Is contained inThe Complete Novels of George Orwell (Penguin Modern Classics) by George Orwell Animal Farm/1984 by George Orwell Has the adaptationWas inspired byInspiredHas as a studyHas as a student's study guide
References to this work on external resources.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Book description |
|
| Haiku summary |
|
(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:40:58 -0500)
Portrays life in a future time when a totalitarian government watches over all citizens and directs all activities.
George Orwell has a Legacy Library. Legacy libraries are the personal libraries of famous readers, entered by LibraryThing members from the I See Dead People's Books group.
Quick Links |
Google Books — Loading...| Swap | Ebooks | Audio |
| 117 avail. 1173 wanted |
(4.27)| 0.5 |  14 |
| 1 | 90 |
| 1.5 | 34 |
| 2 | 337 |
| 2.5 | 119 |
| 3 | 1527 |
| 3.5 | 453 |
| 4 | 4557 |
| 4.5 | 781 |
| 5 | 6419 |
Four editions of this book were published by Audible.com.
Penguin AustraliaSix editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia.
Editions: 014118776X, 1405807040, 0141036141, 0141191201, 0143566490, 0141391707
71
5
Wikipedia in English (13)
