1984 by George Orwell

Title: 1984 Author: George Orwell ASIN: B002RI991O Genre: Dystopian Print Length: 322 Pages

Plot synopsis: Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, symbolic head of the Party. Winston begins a secret love affair with a fellow-worker Julia, but discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal.

Nineteen eighty-four has become a classic novel of the twentieth century and is an Intriguing page-turner told from the point of view of Winston Smith, a thoughtful, but confused, small cog in the Party machinery. Is there a plot, I’m not sure there is as such, but it is a wonderful telling of one small, unimportant individual’s struggle against the system. The development of the characters is wonderful and imaginative, as one would expect from a master story teller. The dialogue builds on this and helps develop both the personalities of the characters and to drive the story-line forward. The description of the setting is fluid and conjures up, very well, the colourless, dreary, dystopian world that Winston occupies. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

This is a book that I have read more than once, so why not five stars? There are two reasons. Firstly, Winston acquires a book said to contain the thoughts of the leader of the rebellious Brotherhood and Orwell includes large extracts of it within the novel, which I found disrupted the flow of the narrative. And, secondly, despite all the dangers and fears constantly tugging at Winston’s mind he makes contact with a person, who has a huge negative effect on his life and there seems to be no real explanation of why he does it – maybe its up to the reader to decide the reason.

What do others think?

At the time of writing there were 1,456 reviews on Amazon.co.uk, 1,390 of which were 3* or above, and giving an average rating of 4.6*. On Amazon.com, there were 5,437 reviews, with 95% being 3* or above, giving an average rating of 4.5*. On Goodreads.com there were 1,961,789 ratings (including 43,250 reviews), of which 94% were 3* or more, giving an average rating of 4.1*

Other books by George Orwell (Click on Image to go to Amazon)

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