Review: 1984
/2019 CHALLENGE: 1 YOU HAVEN'T READ THAT YET?! PER MONTH 10 / 12
4 stars. Obviously it's insane that it took a challenge for me to finally read this. I absolutely loved it, and yes, it's absolutely devastating. Imperfect as it is, this novel really is relevant in terrifying ways. I have so many questions - I want to pick up even the most minor components and examine them closely.
I think we all know the premise (honestly, why am I even writing this review?), so I'll focus on a few things I noticed: first, the writing is strong. It's concise and accessible and clever. I know that some readers find the characters bland, but I didn’t at all. Regardless, I think they are tools - they don't have to be interesting to help make Orwell's point.
Second, I, like so many readers, found certain elements of the Party's methods incredibly familiar and scary. As I write this, my country's President continues to deny facts about his own past, and people believe him - or they adhere to the version of truth that suits them. Here's a quote: "If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event - it never happened - that, surely was more terrifying than mere torture and death."
The questions Orwell asks about surveillance, language, collective memory, propaganda and brainwashing are all eerily similar to the questions we ask ourselves today regarding social media, technology, and the media. I don't need to expand - I think we all know. We've seen it and heard it and felt it.
That being said, Orwell made the Party intelligent. He made Big Brother smart - smarter than, well, everyone else. In 1984, those in power have the means to stay in power, easily. The Party is diabolical and also totally triumphant. I don't know if, realistically, human leaders would ever be capable of exhibiting such self-awareness as O'Brien and achieve such long-term, widespread success. They're too busy tripping over their own egos.
Well, I guess we’ll see about that.
Third, I would like to read more about the character of Julia. She's so rarely mentioned in reviews and criticism (or is she? am I looking in the right places?) and she's interesting. I wonder if Orwell treats her fairly. I wonder if she's an echo of outdated views on feminism. I want more about Julia.
Undeniably this is a must-read classic (again, I don't know why I'm writing this review, or why it took me so long to get here; this is like, one of the most widely-read books ever, and I even took a class on Dystopian Literature if you can believe it). I thought it would be depressing, but it was sort of ... electrifying. It's remarkable Orwell wrote this in the 40s.