1984 - Rambling Readers

lovecraft reviewed 1984: a novel by George Orwell (Signet Classics)

Horrifyingly Excellent

5 stars

Absolutely excellent book, a must read for everyone in my opinion. It does get a little dry at certain parts, but picks right back up. It is entirely worth pushing through.

The book expresses an insanely scary, yet completely plausible future of the world, or more likely certain places. Some places around the world share many similar core values with the world of 1984, which furthermore helps strengthen the fearful possibility. 1984 is a great fusion of non-fiction, history, futurism, and fiction in a dystopian world ruled by people who quite literally want nothing more than power, pure, unadulterated power. They will do anything to get it, and do anything to keep it. This is all done in a fictional world, but sometimes it really feels like you're reading non-fiction, due to how completely possible the world created is. Many values shown in the book, you hear and see about …

Absolutely excellent book, a must read for everyone in my opinion. It does get a little dry at certain parts, but picks right back up. It is entirely worth pushing through.

The book expresses an insanely scary, yet completely plausible future of the world, or more likely certain places. Some places around the world share many similar core values with the world of 1984, which furthermore helps strengthen the fearful possibility. 1984 is a great fusion of non-fiction, history, futurism, and fiction in a dystopian world ruled by people who quite literally want nothing more than power, pure, unadulterated power. They will do anything to get it, and do anything to keep it. This is all done in a fictional world, but sometimes it really feels like you're reading non-fiction, due to how completely possible the world created is. Many values shown in the book, you hear and see about everyday in many aspects, especially politically. Some places in the world share similar structure and values to that of the powerful system in 1984. It strikes fear in the reader due to the relate-ability, and possibilities presented within the world of 1984. Furthermore, despite this book being written in 1949, and feels even more relevant now than ever before.

Keno Goertz reviewed Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (The Complete works of George Orwell -- v. 1)

Review of 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

The contributions of this book are far too grand for me to go into all details here. To make it short, I believe that Orwell provided a fitting explanation of how individual thought is suppressed under totalitarian regimes. The principles of doublethink are also used in democratic states whenever it is politically necessary to hold two conflicting opinions. I even claim that it is a politician's most essential skill to perform this mental gymnastics convincingly.

However, this propaganda does not necesarrily manage to convince everybody. Regardless of the political system, it seems that generally, the people under its influence tend to root for it. But also regardless of the system, the capacity for subversive ideas can never be eliminated. Whether this capacity is actually of any use, though, depends on the system. The dystopian world of 1984 deals with subversive thoughts in such an efficient way, that revolutionary spirit is …

The contributions of this book are far too grand for me to go into all details here. To make it short, I believe that Orwell provided a fitting explanation of how individual thought is suppressed under totalitarian regimes. The principles of doublethink are also used in democratic states whenever it is politically necessary to hold two conflicting opinions. I even claim that it is a politician's most essential skill to perform this mental gymnastics convincingly.

However, this propaganda does not necesarrily manage to convince everybody. Regardless of the political system, it seems that generally, the people under its influence tend to root for it. But also regardless of the system, the capacity for subversive ideas can never be eliminated. Whether this capacity is actually of any use, though, depends on the system. The dystopian world of 1984 deals with subversive thoughts in such an efficient way, that revolutionary spirit is crushed before it even started to materialize.

Paul reviewed Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (The Complete works of George Orwell -- v. 1)

Review of 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

A book that everyone should read once, fascinating look at the possibility of rewriting the past if you could control all written material. By its nature it's an incredibly depressing book though, and not one I'm likely to re-read.

𝔦𝔬𝔰𝔢𝔭𝔥𝔳𝔰 𝔟𝔦𝔟𝔩𝔦𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔠𝔞𝔯𝔦𝔳𝔰 reviewed George Orwell (Penguin Modern Classics) by George Orwell

Review of 'George Orwell (Penguin Modern Classics)' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Full of wisdom, humour, courage, and truth.

Contents of the edition I read (edited by [a:Bernard Crick|85342|Bernard Crick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1334032506p2/85342.jpg] and published by Penguin Modern Classics):
1. Why I Write
2. The Spike
3. A Hanging
4. Shooting an Elephant
5. Bookshop Memories
6. Marrakech
7. [a:Charles Dickens|239579|Charles Dickens|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1387078070p2/239579.jpg]
8. Boys' Weeklies
9. Inside the Whale
10. My Country Right or Left
11. The Lion and the Unicorn
12. Wells, Hitler and the World State
13. The Art of Donald McGill
14. [a:Rudyard Kipling|6989|Rudyard Kipling|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1550677494p2/6989.jpg]
15. Looking Back on the Spanish War
16. [a:W.B. Yeats|29963|W.B. Yeats|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1440689155p2/29963.jpg]
17. Poetry and the Microphone
18. In Defense of English Cooking
19. Benefit of Clergy: Some Notes on [a:Salvador Dalí|165858|Salvador Dalí|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1218295974p2/165858.jpg]
20. Raffles and Miss Blandish
21. [a:Arthur Koestler|17219|Arthur Koestler|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1256757331p2/17219.jpg]
22. Antisemitism in Britain
23. In Defense of [a:P.G. Wodehouse|7963|P.G. Wodehouse|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1198684105p2/7963.jpg]
24. Notes on Nationalism
25. Good Bad Books
26. The Sporting Spirit
27. Nonsense Poetry …

Full of wisdom, humour, courage, and truth.

Contents of the edition I read (edited by [a:Bernard Crick|85342|Bernard Crick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1334032506p2/85342.jpg] and published by Penguin Modern Classics):
1. Why I Write
2. The Spike
3. A Hanging
4. Shooting an Elephant
5. Bookshop Memories
6. Marrakech
7. [a:Charles Dickens|239579|Charles Dickens|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1387078070p2/239579.jpg]
8. Boys' Weeklies
9. Inside the Whale
10. My Country Right or Left
11. The Lion and the Unicorn
12. Wells, Hitler and the World State
13. The Art of Donald McGill
14. [a:Rudyard Kipling|6989|Rudyard Kipling|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1550677494p2/6989.jpg]
15. Looking Back on the Spanish War
16. [a:W.B. Yeats|29963|W.B. Yeats|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1440689155p2/29963.jpg]
17. Poetry and the Microphone
18. In Defense of English Cooking
19. Benefit of Clergy: Some Notes on [a:Salvador Dalí|165858|Salvador Dalí|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1218295974p2/165858.jpg]
20. Raffles and Miss Blandish
21. [a:Arthur Koestler|17219|Arthur Koestler|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1256757331p2/17219.jpg]
22. Antisemitism in Britain
23. In Defense of [a:P.G. Wodehouse|7963|P.G. Wodehouse|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1198684105p2/7963.jpg]
24. Notes on Nationalism
25. Good Bad Books
26. The Sporting Spirit
27. Nonsense Poetry
28. The Prevention of Literature
29. Books v. Cigarettes
30. Decline of the English Murder
31. Politics and the English Language
32. Some Thoughts on the Common Toad
33. A Good Word for the Vicar of Bray
34. Confessions of a Book Reviewer
35. Politics vs Literature: An Examination of Gulliver's Travels
36. How the Poor Die
37. Riding Down from Bangor
38. Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool
39. Such, Such Were the Joys
40. Writers and Leviathan
41. Reflections on Gandhi

𝔦𝔬𝔰𝔢𝔭𝔥𝔳𝔰 𝔟𝔦𝔟𝔩𝔦𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔠𝔞𝔯𝔦𝔳𝔰 reviewed Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (The Complete works of George Orwell -- v. 1)

Review of 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

2020 review for Banned Books Week at my library: In a bleak totalitarian future, everyman Winston Smith desperately grasps for love and hope in a society controlled by the Party's constant war, pervasive lies, and invasive spying. This provocative and prophetic classic, written as Orwell was dying in the late 1940s, remains a compelling must-read with much to say about power, violence, truth, and freedom.

2017 review: Wow, what a story. Fear. Instinct. (mis)Information. I'm not sure what to say except that, not unlike the experiences of protagonist Winston Smith, the weight of the world Orwell creates surrounds and overpowers and, with only slight glimpses of hope along the way, crushes into dust.

Arbieroo reviewed George Orwell (Penguin Modern Classics) by George Orwell

Review of 'George Orwell (Penguin Modern Classics)' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

I studied Animal Farm for my Eng.Lit. GCSE exams, along with MacBeth; my idea of revision was to read both of them five times. This worked reasonably well as I got a B grade. There was an unfortunate side-effect, however; despite liking both I was, after the exams, unable to touch a copy of either without getting the shakes. Fast forward more than 20 years and a discussion here at Goodreads regarding whether Squealer was a "subtle" (ab)user of language prompts me to finally pick up Animal Farm once more.

THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN CURTAILED IN PROTEST AT GOODREADS' CENSORSHIP POLICY

See the complete review here:

http://arbieroo.booklikes.com/post/334890/post

GR Bonus: Have the GR management read this? Do they realise it's satire not an instruction manual?