Nineteen Eighty-Four Books

Pros: deep, powerful, doesn't pussyfoot around
Cons: can be depressing and/or infuriating

This Epinion contains a number of mature and potentially disturbing references. Big kids only, please. Please note also that I have carelessly revealed important plot details, on the grounds that this book is not so much about a plot--it is about ...

Pros: Makes you think, for sure.
Cons: Slow pace; an obvious outlet for exposition by Orwell; discouraging ending

I’d first heard about Nineteen Eighty-Four in college. People commented on how good it was, how close our society was coming to the one in the book, how impressive it was for Orwell to create something that resonates so soundly, even today. ...

Pros: Deep, Thought-provoking
Cons: Drags a lot, Infuriating, No one to really cheer for

Ahh, British literature, that useless and utterly boring high school subject forced upon countless students for years. Since August and ending this December, I have been forced to bear this torture in education's clothing.

Anyways, one of the...

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I must say that for the first time, well, in quite a long time, I was truly touched and amazed by a novel. Orwell’s 1984--that is, the idea that such a society could exist, even if only in the mind of one person—truly frightened me. And opened up...

Pros: Frightening warning that's crucial reading for anyone giving a damn about the state of mankind
Cons: Hopeless and full of despair

I had to read this one back in the eighth grade, and it scared the hell out of me. I picked up my old copy again this week, read through it again ... and it still scared the hell out of me. This is a book that describes a world in which...

Pros: A powerful cry against totalitarianism and a damn good read.
Cons: Not one to read if you want cheering up.

The problem with writing a dystopian vision of the future is that it is almost certain to be outdated within, at the most, a couple of decades of its original publication. This is in no way the fault of the author – unless they have a time machine,...

Pros: The descriptions, characterization, Newspeak. It hasn't happened. Yet.
Cons: At times complex. Scary.

Imagine a utopia in which you can be watched constantly. A paradise where you are trained to not think. A place where the Ministry of Peace is the Department of Defense. A society in which children are taught doublethink. A language who's...

Pros: Classic, eloquent, intriguing, and downright SCARY!
Cons: No.

In 1949, Eric Blair (pen-named George Orwell) predicted what life would be like thirty-five years in ...

Pros: A powerful critique of the western world, so accurate it's disturbing at times.
Cons: The Conclusion Orwell comes to about the world is disturbing. Be warned happy ending who*es.

Did Orwell foresee when he wrote this work more than fifty years ago the reality that we now live? Is this a piece of literature predicting or perhaps warning us to be weary of our governments and how much power we give them? Is this a satire of a system...

Pros: Scary, Imaginative, Inventive, literally spellbinding, Watson
Cons: Depressing and sad, too in-depth and intense for a casual read

I read 1984 for the first time in my English Honors class in my Junior year of high school, and it remains one of my favorite books of all time.

Why? Because its a fantastic story with believable characters with a bunch of loaded social...

Pros: THE cautionary tale of the modern totalitarian state
Cons: None - Still as moving today as it was when written.

"Nineteen Eighty-Four" is a novel by George Orwell.

When one speaks of an 'Orwellian Future' one speaks about a dystopian vision of a state that encompasses all of life and reserves nothing for the individual. That is the vision given to the...

Pros: Perhaps the most famous political novel of the Twentieth Century
Cons: Not an old anti-Communist rant

It's almost absurd to write a conventional review of George Orwell's 1984, but I'll probably get flamed if I don't at least make a stab at it, so, for the record:

1984 was first published in 1948 ("48" -...

Pros: Its different and realistic
Cons: it takes a while to get into

Nineteen Eighty-four is a powerful novel, written in the period just after W.W.II. It details the life of Winston Smith and his struggles with an undoubtedly fascist government. The book is set approximately in the year 1984, in which Winston's society...

Pros: Great social commentary and an intriguing plot
Cons: it is a little bleak

In my opinion Nineteen Eighty Four is the best work of 20th century fiction. It serves as a warning against increasing government controls and censorship. It was written only a few years after the end of World War II, when the world did not know if the...

Pros: Excellent literature stays with you for a long time
Cons: None

George Orwell, like many social idealists of the mid-20th century, was horrified by the political excesses of Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union. "1984" was Orwell's macabre fictional interpretation of the "perfect society" turned nightmare.

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