I had always wanted to read this book, and finally "had" to for one of my classes. Holy ****. It is the most soul-crushing thing I have ever read. It's definitely a "good book", but it filled me with dread as I was reading it. All the characters are doomed from the beginning, and they themselves never cease to remind you of that fact. I have never wanted something different to happen to a character more than when Winston and Julia are arrested by the thought police in their private room. Everything was already hopeless for them, but once it was revealed that the old guy renting the room out was in the thought police, the room had a hidden telescreen, Winston had been watched for seven years, and the thought police had been reading his journal and replacing the dust spot it really became clear exactly how helpless they were the entire time. I had thought it was a stupid idea for the lovers to both go to O'Brien and be so forward with him, but it wouldn't have even mattered if they didn't and only saw each other once a month; they would be dead all the same. Thoughtcrime doesn't entail death; thoughtcrime is death.

Have any of you guys read it? What'd you think?

"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."

Been a while for me.

I thought it was a good story, but it was utterly ruined by the part explaining how the society came about. That section completely broke the spell because it's just completely implausible.

That part turned me off a little bit too, but not because it was ridiculous. I just thought that the mood changed too much and Orwell spent too long explaining the history and it didn't really fit the pace of the book.

I posted something stupid so I deleted.

I enjoyed 1984 but by the time I read it so many authors/writers had borrowed from it that it felt too familiar. If you want to continue being filled w/ dread give Stanislaw Lem's "Return from the Stars" a read.

or Brave New World, which is highly relevant to modern society and was written 30 years earlier than 1984.

I read Brave New World in the wrong mindset, I was picturing the society as more oppressive, when it turns out it's nothing like 1984 at all.

Brave New World takes the opposite approach to creating slaves: make them want it. It is a lot more relevant to modern society methinks.

Yea, my professor said that he couldn't decide whether to have Brave New World or 1984 as the final text assigned, and he chose 1984 as he was typing up the syllabus. I liked the class and the book, so I figured I'd check it out as soon as classes finish up in two weeks.

You keep your 1984 lingo in your own damn thread, mister!

Like I implied, I highly recommend it. It's sociologically interesting for a lot of reasons. It captures the spirit of 1920s consumerism and New Deal fascism, while avoiding enough of the key concepts (eugenics) that it's amazingly accessible and relevant for someone reading the text today. I found that my reading was enhanced by researching private healthcare business trends.

Brave New World was the most relevant and interesting book I read in high school.

Oddly enough, I'm listening to the audiobook at nights at the moment. I read it on holiday a few years ago and thought I'd revisit. I've just finished revisting Lord of the Flies which I absolutely love.

Audiobooks are great for me at the moment - Izzy likes to crash out early, and this way I can "read" without having a light on to disturb her. Win-win.

don't you find audiobooks to be too slow?

The only Orwell I've read is Animal Farm (but as soon as I'm through my current list of reads, am planning to give 1984 a try). On Audiobooks, however, they're definitely a great thing -- especially if you have a laptop / a long headset cord (if you don't live alone) so that you can lay down after work and enjoy a couple of chapters / stories.

I'm a big fan of Escapepod, Pseudopod, Starship Sofa and Clarkesworld free audio short stories, and would recommend them to anyone interested in SF, horror (Pseudopod), or good writing in general.

Sometimes, but if they're well read it's worth it. It's nice to take time over something you enjoy, rather than (as with me is all too often the case) rattle through it and get onto the next thing.

Case in point: The Lord of the Flies audiobook I just finished was read by the author - and whilst his voice was quite soporific you know that every inflection and nuance was as intended. Interesting stuff. (And there were little extras too)

1984 is being read by Philip Glennister, and it's awesome. Very very entertaining.

You should check out some of Stephen King's ones (especially the short stories) that he reads himself. Great stuff.

I read it a couple of summers ago. I was very surprised how good it was, given that it always seems to be brought up in relation to trivial government policies. I love how it leaves you thinking there would be some victory up until the very last sentence.

An very interesting companion piece: "Notes on Nationalism," an essay Orwell wrote in 1945. http://orwell.ru/library/essays/nationalism/english/e_nat

As long as we're also recommending Orwell's essays, Politics and the English Language is the man's most important work.

I was thinking about it (1984) today at work, and I realized how much worse the party was making things. O'Brien described the future as a boot stamping on a human face forever, but it didn't really sink in until later. As miserable and horrifying Winston's and the average person's life was, it was going to get worse. It's hard to imagine.



One of the guy's in my class covered it briefly in a presentation. I'd like to read it, but is it the kind of thing where I'd have to be a literary critic to "get it"?

Far from it. It’s an essay about the use of deliberately complicated language and clichéd phrases in order to hide or obscure the true meaning of what is being said. Orwell was clearly very careful about how he wrote that essay in order to avoid the same pitfalls.

A fascinating read. Thanks Jon.