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Title: Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel by George Orwell, Thomas Pynchon, Erich Fromm ISBN: 0-452-28423-6 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The wages of dissident political consciousness
Comment: It's kind of stupid and presumptive to even rate this book, since it would be like rating a natural phenomenon or fact of life. As the fantastic introduction by Thomas Pynchon makes clear, 1984 and its relevance cannot be overstated. If one takes nothing else away from Pynchon's introduction it should be the idea that as a tool to think about society, 1984 speaks just as much to the abuses of power and memory going on in our current society as it did to Stalinist Russia.
In the world of 1984, the state fights an endless war (against whom it doesn't really matter) and this forms the basis of the economy. The population is controlled not in deed but in thought. Language is narrowed (Newspeak - Orwell's concept) to such an extent that rebellion as a concept looses currency, not among elites, where this has always been the case, but amongst the victims of society, who are so frightened, isolated and dehumanized as to be unable to even locate or concieve the crimes against them, forget challenging them. Indeed, to inwardly suggest that one is anything but always and forever deleriously happy with "Big Brother", the Party leader and symbol of authority in the world 1984 posits, is to commit the fatal sin of "thought crime". The novel begins, naturally enough, with the main character Winston Smith doing just this, and as he pathetically notes to himself, from then on it's only a matter of time.
Orwell's body of dissident political writing is so valuble that it is easy to forget he was also simply a great writer. He places you in the nightmarish world of 1984 and suffocates you with its grit, cartoonish logic, and cruelty. Wholly concieved and perfectly executed.
Rating: 5
Summary: 1984: An Intirely Impossible Future?
Comment: A convincing tale of social oppression, forbidden emotions, and daring thoughts, Orwell pulls the reader into his fictitious futuristic world. His fantastic view on the year 1984 from his socialist based political opinion in 1949 is one of the most creative stories ever told. 1984 tells of the "utopian" society Oceana (present day England and the Americas), in which productivity is forbidden and intelligent thinking is dangerous. In this super-power dominated by the Party and held back from progression by continuous war, Oceana's leader Big Brother is always watching every move you make. The story follows the journey of Winston, a Party member that begins to have his own negative opinion on Ingsoc, or English socialism. The reader is absorbed in Winston's life of dangerous individual thought, his forbidden affair, and his ever-evolving view on the oppressions of Big Brother. Perhaps this tale is so alarming and effective because Orwell's ideas of this future society are not entirely impossible...
Rating: 5
Summary: Classic story that is still relevant despite the date
Comment: 1984 is such the classic that to this day people are referencing the story that haven't read the book. Talk of the Thoughtpolice, Political Totalitarianism and especially Big Brother have pervaded our everyday lives. It taps into our greatest fears more than any book about monsters and ghosts ever could, beacuse it deals with two things: the unknown that is the future and the loss of the privacy of even our own thoughts. Most people will find no more horrible an idea than your every thought being known and held against you--the ultimate loss of freedom more than even physical freedom or even political freedom.
It is easy to read this book and say "that'll never happen" because it is just so extreme. Orwell wrote this idea in such an extreme fashion in order to get his point across, but the issue is a very real one that we are dealing with today. In Washington right now our political leaders are deliberating over social policies that the masses disagree with but will be good for the country, privacy bills that restrict, enhance, or otherwise control what is considered private.
I am not about to suggest that we are on the verge of Airstrip One by any means, but Orwell's book is symbolic of issues that are going on right now--and anyone who says that 1984 is outdated or doesn't apply to us does not understand the deeper meaning behind what Orwell meant. He was not like mnay writers today to write stories purely for enjoyment because social commentary has gone out of style, every passage Orwell wrote exuded a socio-economic, political, or religious lesson. He made not have hit the mark on every point, being tempered by post WWII that sometimes throws an idea askew, but he does a good job at the most important point: This is what we should always keep in the forefront of our minds that we never want to have happen because ignorance will not steer us clearly away from it.
Outside of that the book is actually a pretty interesting read. I think personally there is much more redeeming in reading it than listening to someone else read it, but it is definitely worth experiencing no matter how you choose to do so.
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Title: Animal Farm by George Orwell, C. M. Woodhouse, Russell Baker ISBN: 0451526341 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: 06 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley ISBN: 0060929871 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger ISBN: 0316769487 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 01 May, 1991 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck ISBN: 0140177396 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: September, 1993 List Price(USD): $8.00 |
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Title: Beemer: A Novel by Glenn Gaslin ISBN: 1569473293 Publisher: Soho Press, Inc. Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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