Book Review - 1984 by George Orwell

Book Review

Title: 1984

Author: George Orwell

Published: 1949

Rating: 95/100

Review:

The first time I decided was forced to read 1984 was in school in the 90s. I'll admit I didn't really get it. I loved Animal Farm. I loved Blade Runner. But something about 1984 just didn't resonate with me. Its gravitas didn't weigh me down. Its greatness was not apparent. Its impact on society unclear. Don't get me wrong, I knew it was a good book deftly written by a talented writer ahead of his time - that was clear - but apart from that, it was just another book on the shelf for me that I was more than happy to put behind me and never crack open again.

Since then I've had countless people tell me to give it another go. To dive deeper into the Orwellian abyss. To let Orwell's dystopian masterpiece get under my skin. So I did.

Reading 1984 again after 20 years felt like being choked by literature for gratification. A fun type of torture where Orwell uses words instead of sharp implements. Every page seemed designed to make me use my safe word. Its pain. Its punishment. Its powerful. I loved it.

Orwell paints a world so black and bleak I found myself yearning for greener pastures. I wanted to put the book down and escape into a brighter novel with an easier theme to digest. I wanted to spit 1984 out and discard it for something sweeter. But I couldn't. Orwell didn't let me. He had a hold me, his hand clasped around my mouth forcing me to swallow something so dark I feared it might change my outlook on life. It did.

1984 centers on everyday man Winston Smith as he navigates a world controlled by an all seeing, all knowing ruler, Big Brother (BB). While it's easy to assume BB is a person, it's more like a concept or an idea. Winston is a low-ranking member of 'The Party', a government-like body who does BB's bidding by keeping everyone in check. In this world everything is monitored, controlled, catalogued, divided and rationed. Saying the wrong thing is dangerous, thinking the wrong thing equally so. It's a cruel world void of love. Life doesn't feel like life at all. As the book carries on Winston eventually attempts to start a half-baked rebellion to get some resemblance of freedom and this is where things get tense. This is where Orwell shines.

Of course, when Winston's rebellion against oppression inevitably goes to shit, 1984 becomes a car crash that you can't stop staring at. You'll eagerly watch Orwell as he pulls dead bodies out of the mangled remains of cars, knowing you should turn away but being unable to do so.

What I found shocking was how possible Orwell's world feels. Not just possible, real. It made me realise that, in some way or another, we're all under BB's control right now. As I'm writing this everything I'm doing is being tracked in some way online. An enormous tax bill sits in front of me on my desk threatening to tear away at my savings. An early morning awaits me to drive to work like a robot. All of a sudden I felt the weight of how restrictive the world is. Society's rules and restraints felt a little tighter around me, Orwell pulls life's strings like shoelaces. I'm anchored to the ground like Winston. We all are.

Who will like this book?

Nobody will 'like' this book. You don't 'like' 1984. You read it and it consumes you in the process. I'm reluctant to specify a type of reader here, everybody needs to read it.