REVIEW - 1984 - George Orwell.

Nineteen Eighty Four is a classic in the dystopian sci-fi genre, which can in some cases appear worryingly prophetic. It's one of those titles on the '100 Books You Must Read Before You Die' lists that you always hear about. For these reasons I decided to give it a go. The points I just made are all true, but did I enjoy it? Well...

This is the story of Winston Smith, who lives in a totalitarian England in (what he presumes to be) the year 1981. He works for the mysterious ruling government known only as The Party, where his job is to alter records, so that everything The Party says is true. For example, if The Party sends out a message on Monday, saying it will rain on Tuesday, but then it's a perfectly sunny day – then it would be Winston's task to alter the weather report. Winston is well aware of the oppressive world he lives in, so begins a private rebellion against his masters, which soon spirals into a love affair with a colleague named Julia.

I'll say no more in case you don't know the rest of the plot and want to read it for yourself, but suffice to say, there is not a happy ending.

And that's precisely one of my problems with the book. It is so damn depressing! Yes I'm aware that this is very much the idea, but boy does it take some effort to read. The pure oppressiveness and fatalistic tone throughout is so very soul-destroying that by the time the ending rolls around, it's just that – an ending, as opposed to a finale.

Make no mistake, the world George Orwell crafts is nothing short of horrifying in the stagnancy of it. People are watched and listened to everywhere they go and merely thinking against The Party is a crime punishable by death. The worst part is that the majority of the population is completely accepting of this. Children are taught to betray their parents and love is almost completely unheard of. As a writer, one of the nastiest aspects for me was 'Newspeak' the language The Party was trying to force onto the world. It was a ruthless consolidation of English, which eliminated about 95% of the vocabulary we know today.

One major stickling point I have with the story, is a rather lazy info-dump around the middle. It's just the text of a book Winston is reading about the 'true nature' of The Party. After all the mysteriousness about them, it sounds interesting at first, but don't be fooled. It becomes very dull, very quickly and goes on for about twenty pages.

Hopping onto the positives, I did enjoy the end of the second section (the whole story is comprised of three sections) which made for a good twist and a truly stand out moment. This was also followed by the much heralded third section. I admit I was somewhat spoiled in some regards and had built the section up in my head... only to be somewhat let down. I suppose I expected something much more harrowing than what I got. But then again perhaps I've merely become too used to the ruthlessness of modern media!

Overall I give it a solid 6 / 10. I'd love to give it higher, but it really does like to drag it's feet and ultimately didn't live up to my expectations.

Remember – Big Brother Is Watching You.