Summary from Goodreads
The year 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. 1984 is still the great modern classic of "negative utopia" -a startlingly original and haunting novel that creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing, from the first sentence to the last four words. No one can deny the novel's hold on the imaginations of whole generations, or the power of its admonitions -a power that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time.
My Review
I'm not entirely sure how necessary the summary was from Goodreads, but I included it anyway because I always do. First, let me state that this was required reading for me just recently, as I’m sure it was for many people, and I can safely say this is one of my all-time favorite required reads, ever. 1984 is a classic for very obvious reasons, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to love it, but I'm so glad that I can say I did love it. 1984 paints a terrifying and shocking image in the reader's mind of what the future could be like. Even if this future may have already passed, it doesn't entirely rule out the possibility of it still happening. There is also the fear that this future may happen or may be happening right under noses. It makes for a very thought provoking read, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
The relationship between Winston and Julia was also extremely strange. Actually, all of Winston's relationships were very strange, between him and O'Brien, and even between him and his mother. Winston was very guarded and didn't really trust anyone, so that made forming relationships with other people kind of difficult. Winston's odd relationships were a huge part of the book and also may have made for the biggest turning point in the book.
My favorite section of the book was definitely Book 3. Book 3 was gruesome at some points, (minor spoilers ahead, if anyone cares) but seeing the inner workings of the Ministry of Love and the thinking of the Party was extremely interesting to me. The minds and ideologies of the Party were so twisted and corrupted that their thoughts could be highly disturbing at some points. The Party's ways for dealing with people who disagree with their beliefs is so brutal and unrelenting that I sometimes wanted to look away, but at the same time, I had to know what was happening to Winston.
Overall, as so many before me have, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and, if you haven't read it yet, I would highly suggest doing so. I gave 1984 5 out of 5 stars.
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