1984
One of the most celebrated classics of the twentieth century, this cautionary tale of a man trapped under the gaze of an authoritarian state is more relevant now than ever before. “Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed for ever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for...
- Pages
- 370
- First published
- April 1, 1983
- Language
- English
- Edition
- Ebook
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Shelved by 22 Litcadians
Reviews
Finished November 23, 2024
⭐️ 2/5 📖 My Thoughts Oh boy, this was not enjoyable for me. The husband and I listened on a road trip and honestly it made the whole trip worse 😂 It drags out like a bad essay with long blocks of text. Dude, have you heard of paragraphs? The whole story feels like you’re being scolded by an elder. The main character Winston has surface level emotions and is not relatable whatsoever which took away from the importance and depth of the story. And let’s not talk about how many times his varicose ulcer was mentioned… I just wanted it to stop. ⚠️ Trigger Warnings Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and War Moderate: Infertility, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Vomit, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Finished September 19, 2018
Finished January 1, 2013
Finished June 17, 2014
Started June 30, 2026 · Finished July 3, 2026
Finished July 4, 2026
3.2/5⭐ I found the 01.01.1989 Bulgarian edition of 1984, which, as far as I understand, is the first Bulgarian edition ever published. It also includes a literary-critical foreword called “1984 in 1989” by Prof. I. Ditchev. Since the edition is very old, the socialist regime ended long before I was born, the context may be outdated, and newer editions do not include this text at all, I decided to skip the foreword. As for the novel itself, I have mixed feelings. I understand why 1984 is important, especially for people from post-communist/socialist countries. Honestly, everybody from such a country should probably read it at least once and draw their own conclusions. Some parts still feel relevant today: propaganda, political lies, rewriting reality, surveillance, fear, control, and the way language can be twisted until “blackwhite” starts making sense. Unfortunately, that word still feels familiar when I think about politics, schemes, and companies in my own country. At the same time, a lot of the book felt distant, exaggerated, outdated, and sometimes just crazy to me. It often felt less like a story and more like Orwell trying very hard to push his opinion and hatred toward communism/socialism. I get why that may have made sense around the time it was published, but reading it now, in the 21st century, it sometimes felt too extreme and even stupid. The beginning was also difficult for me. Winston thinks almost only about the diary, and for a while I was worried the whole book would be internal monologue only. When an actual conversation finally happened, I was relieved. I also didn’t really enjoy the third-person style. Some details worked for me, though. The Two Minutes Hate is terrifying, although I genuinely wondered how people are not deaf from it. The lottery and betting parts also felt unfortunately familiar. The idea of Big Brother probably not being a real person made sense to me too — and even if he had been real once, he would probably be dead already. But other ideas annoyed me. The obsession with dirt and “hating cleanliness” was gross. The missing word for “science” in Newspeak, the banning of technological progress, and the denial of religion all felt too ridiculous to me. I know the point is total control, but sometimes I felt like saying: “Author… really?” The middle of the book had some interesting political ideas, especially the three superstates and endless war. That part actually felt a little disturbing today, because some big countries still act like they want to grow, absorb smaller ones, or dominate everything — the usual suspects being China, Russia, and the USA. The nuclear war background also surprised me. The torture and final part were the weakest for me. Around 79% I honestly had no idea what I was reading anymore, and by 86% I was just mad at the author. The ending shocked me, but not necessarily in a satisfying way. It felt more lame than powerful to me. So overall, I respect 1984 more than I enjoyed it. I see why it matters, and I think it is worth reading, especially from the perspective of someone from a post-socialist country. But for me personally, it felt outdated, distant, too extreme, and sometimes more like a political lecture than a novel.
- darkreflectivetense
Started November 10, 2025 · Finished November 26, 2025
A genius work. Uncomfortable, but terribly realistic.
Finished August 12, 2024
Finished November 14, 2023
3.5
Finished October 18, 2025
Listened to the audible adaptation with Andrew Garfield and it was incredible!
Started July 17, 2024 · Finished July 27, 2024
Finished February 3, 2017