I haven’t really read a book since high school, I’m an avid movie lover and listen to podcasts a lot. I was listening to a recent podcast with Dan Houser from Rockstar games (grand theft auto) and he mentioned this book being great and for some reason it intrigued me enough to start listening to the audiobook of it (which was included on my Spotify account) and after listening to the first part I got a physical copy of the book and just finished it. What most is impressed upon me from this story is the spirit and fear of big brother, if I read this 10 years ago I don’t think it would have had the same effect. It’s quite hard to believe a society like that could happen, it’s a bit over the top. But that fear of going against the group, of denying reality, of thinking different felt very timely in our world today. One thing I found interesting was that Winston wasn’t exactly likable. I pittied him but he was also kind of despicable in ways (like thinking of raping/killing Julia before they became an item, being willing to kill innocent people, throw acid at children, and even that he seemed to be aroused by Julia’s “impurity”) these things kind of turned me off but I was absolutely hooked by Orwells writing style and how the story unfolded. It also had a bit of a Woody Allen effect for me. What I mean by that is I like a lot of Woody Allen movies but find it so ridiculous when he has love interests with women half his age, it seems very unrealistic and more of his (Allen’s) fantasy. I kind of had that feeling with Winston too. I found it hard to believe Julia would be so into him. That being said I’m glad I gave this book a read and it sparked a new interest for me to read more. That last chapter of the book left a big impression on me.

  • "It’s quite hard to believe a society like that could happen, it’s a bit over the top."

    Time for you to crack open some history books!

    But seriously, good on you for taking another stab at reading. It's more fun when it's not for school, isn't it? May I suggest Animal Farm next? Also by George Orwell, and I think you may find even more modern relevance there as well. Only around 115 pages, depending on the copy, so it goes down pretty quick.

    Cheers!

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  • How many fingers Winston!?

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    lol that part was traumatizing😭

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  • If you enjoyed the audiobook and physical reading for ‘1984’, I highly recommend trying out ‘Fahrenheit 451’ in the near future as well.

    Different author (Ray Bradbury) but similar vibes in many ways. I highly recommend it.

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  • A dystopia that at first will feel very different but I think is much closer to our future is Brave New World. Why force people into submission as in 1984 when they do it voluntarily.

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  • Winston fantasises about such things because his emotions are repressed; this is their breaking out in violent ways. Likewise Julia likes him because of their situation. They are repressed and he thinks like she does.

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  • If you think it's a bit over the top you only need to educate yourself on current and past world events a little bit more. The powers of evil in the world are always actively trying to win the unofficial game, while the rest of the good world simply wants to live, this is why we're always on the precipice of facism in my opinion. Also power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, as Orwell mentioned. Pair that with the tech and money available to certain lunatics today....yes we are always at risk of going full 1984

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    I mean I’m pretty familiar with the events it was based off of. The purges of the Soviet Union especially, in the book I believe they even said that ingsoc (English socialism) was an offshoot of the ussr. What I think is as over the top was the thought control, unless humans brains are connected to some sort of network I don’t see that happening.

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  • To be fair Winston is just a product of his environment.

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