A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick With extraordinary relevance and renewed popularity, George Orwell’s 1984 takes on new life in this edition. “Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power.”—The New Yorker In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where … city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.
Lionel Trilling said of Orwell’s masterpiece, “1984 is a profound, terrifying, and wholly fascinating book. It is a fantasy of the political future, and like any such fantasy, serves its author as a magnifying device for an examination of the present.” Though the year 1984 now exists in the past, Orwell’s novel remains an urgent call for the individual willing to speak truth to power.
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The book is a classic in which offers potential happenings to a world controlled by the government and falling into a society which isnt allowed to question. Unlike many other dystopian society books, this one doesnt end how you want.
This story is so relevant even now.
Only the great books like this one could be relevant 70 years after it was written.
thought provoking
I read this book originally in 2013 as a high school student and didn’t quite understand the impact it had on the world. Re-reading this book at the conclusion of the 2016 presidential election was incredibly eye-opening to the direction society is moving and the possibility of what could happen if we fall victim to big brother.
A classic. Eerie and frightning.
Somewhat dry, but one of the first with this now-iconic symbolism and message
Very boring book.
This is a great book in the fullest meaning of the word. It is a literary feat. It is a political statement. A warning of a very real potentiality. It is a treatise on the strength and vulnerability of love. It draws you in and makes believe in and truly care for the protagonist. It makes you hate. It changed me forever.
Thought provoking with a since of dreadful future inhuman government
George Orwell takes you into a unique science fiction world controlled by the government. It was a bit slow for me at first, but gets really good. A classic for a reason
At times disturbing, at times wildly uncomfortable in its parallels to modern life. While the pacing was slower than most of the books I typically read, I fell in love with the characters and the did enjoy reading to the conclusion.
Read this one in highschool… an eye opener even for the world today. Read at your own risk..
very good
I’ve read this many times and each reading gives new glimpses of ways that we as humans can allow ourselves to be enslaved.
It resembles the world in which we live today although it was written just after WW2
Anyone interested in the interplay of technology and privacy should read this book.
So much to think about.
It’s almost like 2019.
Everyone should read this… a scary look at what too much control could do.