1984

Five stars for the visionary imagination.
This book should be though in all cycles of basic education.

9/10

After reading this book I realized that English has a lot of unnecessary words. For example ¿Why should we use words like: awesome, superb or marvelous when we refer to something good? Why don't just use “Wow”? You like a lot? Superwow. You love it? SuperplusWow. Do you think 1984 is boring and lack of substance? SuperPlusUnWow

Sorry for my bad Japanese.

Fucking great!

Reread

I'm not sure what to think...

“He wondered vaguely whether in the abolished past it had been a normal experience to lie in bed like this, in the cool of a summer evening, a man and a woman with no clothes on, making love when they chose, talking of what they chose, not feeling any compulsion to get up, simply lying there and listening to peaceful sounds outside.”

I read this for banned book week. I can see why this is considered a modern classic and I can see why it is cited so much in our culture. Honestly I had bad dreams while reading this book.
I feel I would classify this as dystopian horror. I'm glad I read it but I really never want to read it again.

Audiobook version was excellent. A little too close for comfort given current events.

Actual rating: 4.5 ⭐️

This was kinda creepy. Creepy because it shows the power of control. I can't help but wonder if we're currently living under the control of Big Brother, and we don't even realize it.

Another book I listened to on Libby. I had previously DNF‘d this book years ago and now I regret it. Maybe it‘s cuz I‘m older now. It‘s so good honestly I can‘t do it justice. I was completely captivated and by the story and the world building. The audiobook brought a whole new dimension to it.

Siendo honesta, la primera vez que traté de leer este libro, no me atrapó mucho el comienzo, pero ahora creo que fue porque estaba saturada de lecturas grandes y quería algo más ligero, cosa que obviamente no es 1984.

Sin embargo, ahora que lo reinicié (porque decidí tomarlo nuevamente desde cero) me atrapó totalmente. La temática tratada trasciende en el tiempo, es de algo que, si bien es extremista y totalitarista, toca al tema político y social de cualquier época en la que se viva, especialmente en las modernas.

ME generó ansiedad la situación por la que pasaban los personajes, el pueblo en general, desconfiaba de todos, incluso de aquellos en quienes el mismo protagonista confiaba, y me hizo desear hacer algo para tener un mundo mejor, más justo, tanto dentro como fuera de la historia.

Sin duda te toca, te hace reflexionar sobre la realidad en la que se vive, y encuentras similitudes sutiles con tu vida, aún estando en años futuros a lo que este libro fue planteado.

Una lectura totalmente brutal.

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

“Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.”

And that's the madness of the human beings in a nutshell...

A mandatory classic book. I can not understand how Orwell published this piece in 1949 and how it still works in 2020. The manipulation of media and the power of the elite have not changed and it still the same. He was so ahead of his time.

“Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane” Pg. 197

A intriguing and thoughtful look at a potential future. As a narrative it is thought provoking and eye opening. It's as much about political intrigue as it is about human nature.

3/5

I am completely in love with this book. The way George Orwell tries to retract the society of the moment and how he wants to reflect it in the future makes it a delicious and extraordinary reading as well as getting you totally hooked in. It was one of my “to read” and I was very afraid of what I would find. But I loved it, the way it is written and how you can get straight into Winston Smith's mind. It won't be the only time I read it.

“War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”

For those of you who've heard the phrase “Orwellian” and never knew what it means, this book is a good place to start. Way better than modern-day dystopian novels, this book gives one hell of a dystopian vibe it creeps me out a bit, but I absolutely loved the book, nevertheless.
This is one book that I believe everyone should read.

Un classique que j'ai lu tardivement.

Mon ressenti à chaud : j'ai été captivé au début, je me suis un peu ennuyé au milieu, et j'ai été fasciné à la fin. Donc si je devais faire un seul petit reproche à ce livre, c'est son manque de rythme dans un gros deuxième tiers.

Malgré ce petit défaut, je comprends pourquoi ce roman est un classique de la littérature du XXe siècle, et qu'il a largement dépassé les frontières de l'anticipation ou de la science-fiction. C'est un livre éminemment politique, d'une richesse rare et d'une férocité phénoménale.

D'autres que moi ont déjà largement analysé ce roman, je ne vais donc pas m'étendre ici sur le sujet. Un conseil, simplement : si vous ne l'avez pas déjà lu, faites-le.

Power for the sake of power.

It is expounded in this book upon ideas on dehumanisation, the complete shattering of the human psyche, how the weak can be put down and the strong made stronger, without people batting an eye.

It's eerily reminiscent of our current world, how easily we believe what is told to us, when a carrot is waved in front of us, when we are afraid or threatened. The answer to that, is to remain human, to break away from the intense bombardment of our senses and beliefs and root down in what unites all of us.

Incredibly written, powerful story

There's no doubt that this is one of the great novels in history. It's written wonderfully and sometimes required me to reread certain sections to understand the situation better.

The story itself was a little bland. Not the usual highs and lows of what we're used to today. But still one that made you want to keep on reading.

The beginning is good, the middle is reading a textbook, and the end is torture porn. I did not finish torture porn. I kind of wish I'd stopped at textbook. The beginning is interesting though.

I do have a new appreciation of the Star Trek: Next Gen episode Chain of Command, however.

I was bored 99% of the time. Maybe that's partly because I read the audio book, but I'm not sure...
Anyway I just didn't like it as much as everyone, even though I appreciate the message.

Interesting, sometimes dull, unexpected

It took up until a certain point for me to really get gripped by the story but the fascinating and scary correlations between our society today and the one that Orwell depicts kept me turning the pages.

I haven't read as much as many books as most on here but a book has never made me so close to tears before. The ending hit me hard and genuinely took me to a depressed state of mind. A powerful story that will stay with me as our world moves closer to what George Orwell had in mind.

Could George Orwell be, in fact, the love of my life?

Quite possibly.

I won't hold you for long- if you know me, you know I love this book- but I just wanted to say that I simply had to improve my rating of it from last time. Being 4 years older has given me a greater perspective to appreciate the beauty that this book is.

Orwell is a genius. I rest my case.