Book Review: 1984

Book Title: 1984

Author: George Orwell

photo and summary from goodreads.com

The year 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. 1984 is still the great modern classic of "negative utopia" -a startlingly original and haunting novel that creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing, from the first sentence to the last four words. No one can deny the novel's hold on the imaginations of whole generations, or the power of its admonitions -a power that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time.

The novel is about a totalitarian society where the government monitored everyone through a telescreen. Members of the Party are conform to one ideology. They follow Big Brother who is the ruler of Oceania. The main character Winston is a member of the Party and works in Ministry of Truth. The main job of the Ministry is to record the history and alter them. Winston hates the party and discreetly rebels by writing a diary and prohibited love affair. Lots of things are forbidden. The Thought Police caught him for breaking the law and was horribly tortured physically and psychologically.

I can’t help but relate the concept of this dystopian world in our society. The reality TV show Big Brother is base on the book's concept. There is black propaganda spreading through the news industry today. They show us false information almost every single day.


I was having a hard time finishing the book. The middle part bored me and I wanted to skip some pages. But I finally found my will to finish it. When Winston was caught in the act, it sent chills down my spine and totally scared the hell out of me. The torture part of the novel is utterly disturbing. Regardless, 1984 is one of the greatest novels out there and everyone should try to read it.