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A review by lillimoore
1984 by George Orwell
3.0
It took me a few days to figure out my thoughts and feelings surrounding this book but I think I finally have, for the most part. I'm sure I'll be hashing it out in my mind for a long time.
I don't disagree with those that believe this is a masterpiece. I don't disagree that nearly everyone should read it. But, if you find the book is not for you, don't feel you need to push yourself through it. The sparknotes and other reviews should do you just fine.
The first half of this book was 5 stars for me. That godawful Goldstein chapter is a definitive 2—I saw another reviewer describe it as a scar on the face of the novel and I couldn't agree more. It completely ruined my momentum that took a while for me to build with the book and took me from loving every second of my reading experience to resenting picking up the book and often falling asleep reading it. The remainder of the book sits somewhere between a 3 and 4 star rating; I never fully recovered from wanting the book to just end after my beautiful reverie was so rudely interrupted.
This book has amazing and unbelievable things to say. It accomplishes so much. It is still mind-blowing to me and to millions of other readers that it was written in 1948 and yet so succinctly estimated the direction of civilization. I am particularly disturbed by the discussion of fake news. Orwell truly was a visionary and a thought leader of his time, and I will live every day hoping that he was only right to an extent. It's not impossible to imagine the world escalating to the extreme of his own created world within this novel. There were also times that the writing was beautiful, compelling, and really worked for me. The only time I truly struggled was during the more mechanical Goldstein chapter, and midway through the appendix I decided to jump ship; I had finished the novel and understood enough about Newspeak to feel confident in that choice. I won't even knock this book for the limited appearances and depth of characters, particularly female—in fact, I think it lends itself to the isolation and monotony of the social climate in Oceania and makes sense. Despite my somewhat lukewarm feelings toward 1984, I look forward to reading other work of his.
I don't disagree with those that believe this is a masterpiece. I don't disagree that nearly everyone should read it. But, if you find the book is not for you, don't feel you need to push yourself through it. The sparknotes and other reviews should do you just fine.
The first half of this book was 5 stars for me. That godawful Goldstein chapter is a definitive 2—I saw another reviewer describe it as a scar on the face of the novel and I couldn't agree more. It completely ruined my momentum that took a while for me to build with the book and took me from loving every second of my reading experience to resenting picking up the book and often falling asleep reading it. The remainder of the book sits somewhere between a 3 and 4 star rating; I never fully recovered from wanting the book to just end after my beautiful reverie was so rudely interrupted.
This book has amazing and unbelievable things to say. It accomplishes so much. It is still mind-blowing to me and to millions of other readers that it was written in 1948 and yet so succinctly estimated the direction of civilization. I am particularly disturbed by the discussion of fake news. Orwell truly was a visionary and a thought leader of his time, and I will live every day hoping that he was only right to an extent. It's not impossible to imagine the world escalating to the extreme of his own created world within this novel. There were also times that the writing was beautiful, compelling, and really worked for me. The only time I truly struggled was during the more mechanical Goldstein chapter, and midway through the appendix I decided to jump ship; I had finished the novel and understood enough about Newspeak to feel confident in that choice. I won't even knock this book for the limited appearances and depth of characters, particularly female—in fact, I think it lends itself to the isolation and monotony of the social climate in Oceania and makes sense. Despite my somewhat lukewarm feelings toward 1984, I look forward to reading other work of his.