1984
Author: George Orwell
Published: 1949
On Goodreads
My Rating: 
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
The year is 1984 and during this time, three continents: Oceania, Eastasia, and Eurasia, have been at war for a long time. Technology is at its utmost heights. It’s the ideal utopia…but it’s not. Language is constantly changing, turning lies into the truth. Television watches you wherever you go. Even love is distorted.
This utopia where a simple crime or immoral wrongdoing could get you vaporized and your every thought and emotion is monitored by the Thought Police, you are not you. War is constant and seemingly never ending. Following Winston, get a firsthand look at this new future where your everything is controlled and the future isn’t as bright and shiny as it appears. You are watched to make sure you follow the leader, though Winston begins to search for individuality in whatever way he can in secrecy.
Big Brother Is Watching You
This book scared the ever-loving crap out of me. It felt realistic and left me shook.
The story was really slow at first, but then little by little everything was being revealed and the more that was revealed the more frightening it was! And by the time I got too far it was too late. The jeering hatred spread across the pages that was encouraged throughout the book by The Party was jarring. How dark this book is, is quite unnerving for me. The idea that an all-powerful ‘Big Brother’ is watching everything and everyone is just too creepy.
The tone was mechanical and automated feeling and then started changing little by little as Winston’s world changed. I really enjoyed how it shifted along with the character. It’s unique and intriguing, emphasizing him changing throughout the novel. The ending made my blood run cold. Since I try to keep my reviews as spoiler free as possible, I can’t tell you anything more except that I felt utterly stripped and drained and heartbrokenly horrified. The book is really in depth, too. There’s not a single moment where I felt lost. Everything is so well thought out, increasing how intense it is.
Winston felt like such a plain person at the beginning, but grew more and more as I kept reading. He was utterly simple and ordinary, but so is everyone in the book. That’s how The Party liked their people. Compliant. Blind. Mindless. To have thoughts or any true emotions was a death sentence.
I crumbled a few times during the book. There were no holds on what went on around Winston. It was like he lived in a grey world and slowly began to see color. (Pleasantville, anyone? Only much worse.). In such a world like this one, I wanted to protect him and warn him of all the dangers he was in.
The Party, the great antagonist, was mysterious, but the kind you didn’t want to figure out. This government held all of the power and didn’t hesitate to use it to put people in slavery without them even realizing it. Imagine if every step you took or every breath or thought was being watched? Feeling like that one song by The Police? Well, that’s The Party AKA totalitarianism. Total control to the point that they could make it possible that you never existed.
Following along with Winston, he was slowly coming to see what the world was really like and how dangerous The Party was. The entire city he lived in felt so plain and dark and generic, just the way The Party wanted it. The technology was scarily advanced just so that it could invade every aspect of people’s lives. It heavily reminded me of what happened with the FCC just months ago. There was nowhere that felt safe.
Do I recommend this? Certainly. The writing is spectacular and truly brought this whole twisted, futuristic world to life to feel real and possible. From the eyes of a man that lives day to day in this dark utopia. My brain just took off at the speed of light with so many contemplative questions. It’s deep and crazy and had my heart racing with dread. READ THIS!
Quotables:
“Until they become conscious they will never rebel and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.” (p. 70)
“Sanity is not Statistical.” (Winston, p. 218)
“But the whole universe is outside us. Look at the stars! Some of them are a million light-years us. They are out of our reach forever.” (Winston, p. 265)
More to come soon…
–K.
P.S. Song today? One Step Closer by Linkin Park.
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The Scarlet Reader 
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