52 Books, Week 27: 1984
Orwell's 1960 ish- novel about a totalitarian distopia, is the most disturbing book i've ever read.I don't even think the phrase totalitarian distopia accurately conveys how sick this "new world" is. It holds up over time suprisingly well unlike other "classics" (cough, cough, the great gatsby, cough) I know. The first two-thirds of the book were an absolute freaking masterpiece. The final third drifts into a bit of a polemic, but the complete novel still rounds out into serious smart social commentary. Earlier, I heard that novelists make the best sociologists and this is a powerful testament to that notion. The story follows a guy who's struggling to exist in a society that is seriously fucked up. The world as he knows it is almost completely antithetical to his very being, and the story is his journey to address this dissonance. If you can imagine a totalitarion society (that also spawned the universally panned tv show Big Brother) in which privacy is nonexistent, war is omnipresent, and torture and other forms of subjugation are regularly used, then you're starting to get the picture. Welcome to Oceania, where freedom is slavery, war is peace, and ignorance is bliss.
Labels: 52 Books
posted by The Generalist at 11:07 PM
2 Comments:
Just re-reading your summary makes me reflect on how outstanding a book this was - especially the first 2/3rds as you say. (Definitely top 3 for me as of now and it made me nervous, The Generalist, how when I said this was one of my "favorite" books that I never heard you say anything about it, but it seems to have provided a similar experience.) This will get re-read someday probably when I'm in a really really good mood such that I can offset the effect of the book.
That was such an eloquent review! I think I'll check it out...
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