Nineteen Eighty-Four: George Orwell (Penguin Clothbound Classics)

In 1984, Orwell relates the depressing story of Winston Smith, a doomed citizen living in Airstrip One (formerly known as London), a poverty-ridden dystopia ruled over by The Party: a city where those who show signs of independent thought vanish in the night, where gigantic telescreens monitor Winston's every move, where he must scratch a living on what The Party provides, working a job rewriting old newspapers in The Party's favour while clinging to his sanity through tiny acts of secret rebellion.The first of these acts is to purchase and write in a diary, and later to meet a female Party member in private (marriage is formally controlled by The Party, and is strictly for the sole purpose of reproduction). It is only when he finds true happiness and apparent haven from the eyes of the Thought Police that The Party choose to act, arresting him and subjecting him to a torture too cruel and lasting to imagine: one that destroys him in a more important way than death ever could.As harrowing as Winston's despair-ridden tale is, it's the sheer relevance of the world he inhabits that makes the book such a joy to read in the 21st century. With our highly-filtered and biased news reports, a network of CCTV cameras watching us in city centres, tax on our products feeding the government money and censoring laws and activists stifling free speech, comparisons to 1984 are inevitable. In the world of 1984, people are robbed of personal freedom, brainwashed, abducted, tortured, gradually starved, lied to and killed, and the truly terrifying result of The Party's efforts is that there exists no material proof of their crimes.The book illuminates the darkest eventuality of politics and government control, and makes it feel that bit too real for comfort.Orwell's writing has not aged noticeably - I had no problem reading it, and I'm all of seventeen, so most readers will fly through it. If anything, however, some may find the writing style too coarse or simple: Orwell never entirely escapes the analytical style so well-suited to his essays, and in places the book lacks emotion and descriptive flair. In particular, the female protagonist is painfully shallow, never extending very far beyond a "Hello, Dear!" persona. At one point, Orwell also diverts away from the main story and dedicates a large portion of writing to a book within the story, one that Winston is reading, which should be interesting but is annoyingly long-winded and detracts from the main story.Overall, though, 1984 is profound and chilling. It is a timeless tale of man vs state, and may be uplifting or depressing depending on the individual reader. At any rate, the countless parallels to modern culture make it interesting, and the arguments of logic between Winston and an Inner Party Member will give budding philosophers food for thought. Political enthusiasts will also find issues to chew over, and fans of popular culture may pick up on some unlikely links; musicians, authors and directors in years since have taken heaps of inspiration from the book: the iconic expression "a rebel from the waist down", made famous by a Marilyn Manson song, finds its roots here, alongside the concept of Big Brother and the inspiration of the video game Half-Life 2.Something for everybody.

An all-time classic - from its famous opening line to phrases like "Big Brother" and "Two Minute Hate", this has to be one of the most quoted books of the last century. And it doesn't disappoint. It's an absorbing, clever and inventive story, as the main protagonist Winston Smith gradually wakes up to the true horror and deception at the heart of they system he serves.What's so remarkable about the story is how fresh and relevant it remains to the present day. True, phrases like "Orwellian" (and Big Brother of course) may have become cliches, blunted through repeated use, but that makes them no less meaningful. Attempts to distort history by imposing present-day narratives onto the frequently messy and complicated past are just one way that the present is eerily reminiscent of this book. Read it and understand it, and make up your own mind.

This is a great book, one I think should be essential reading in schools etc.As many others have said, the big let-down is the cover. On arrival, it looks great, eye-catching and bright... But the screen printing rubs off... Which is very disappointing. I noticed this same issue with many of the other penguin clothbound series. I invested in the clothbound collection because they looked great, but with the designs rubbing off after only a couple of days handling it, it kind of ruins it. Still looks great and a great book though.

Good political writing is rare and the political novel, let alone a good political novel, is even rarer. Orwell considered this the case even in his own time when he was reading politcal fantasy novels written by conservatives about storing sufficient coal to beat the miners (a prospect Orwell thought was ludicrous but which became historical fact following the election of the Thatcher government).It became Orwell's mission to make political writing an art, his collosal output in investigative journalism, literary reviews and polemical essays is tribute to the fact. However Orwell is remembered for his political fiction, Animal Farm and 1984, which he turned to as the next most popular medium to the radio show.Of the two books 1984 is the more complex, at least this was Orwell's intent but he spent much of his time bemoaning popular misconceptions about his books. While he considered Animal Farm a failure in conveying a simple message about revolution betrayed, with reviewers and the public seizing on passages which supported a more cynical conservatism, 1984 was the greater disappointment.1984 is a future dystopia but it was also a novel about his day and age, for instance the generic Victory gin and cigarettes a depiction of post war shortages and "Prolefeed", that mix of crime story and sex scandals, the tabloid press (then and now).People often read 1984 as a glooming, "end of the world is nye" style novel, warning that once freedom is gone it wont ever be recovered and everyone breaks under pressure. There is an element of truth in so far that Orwell struggled with what he considered his own propensity for u turns (the "no war but class war" war resistor who became a "revolutionary patriot" at the time of writing "The Lion and The Unicorn"). However 1984 is a grand satire on both authoritarianism per se and authoritarian personalities in particular, the joke is on Big Brother.The regime is horrific but its doomed to failure and the writing is on the wall for Big Brother. All they can produce with their best efforts and unscrupulous schemes is a gibbering wreck, less than a man.There is entirely nothing enduring about the regime itself, amnesia hasnt stopped at foreign policy since Smith cant recall his own up bringing too well. Basic societal building blocks, such as the family are going to pieces, strange Malthusian ethics prevail and everyone, friend and foe, is miserable, insecure and wretched.This is a book which can be enjoyed on a number of levels, its well written the pace is good, characterisation believeable and sympathetic and everyone will have their own memorable passages to talk over with friends (I personally remember the secret police smashing the snow globe as significant). It is good political writing but it has been considered equally good science fiction or simply a good book. I recommend it to any reader.

Don’t have the words

I couldn't put this masterpiece down! Orwell sucked me in to this horrible world and by the end of it I felt like I was screaming in horror. Wow!

A view into the future - how much is left to eventually come true? How much has already come true? Essential reading.

Putting a bar code sticker on the back cover of the book ruins the finish when it’s removed.

This book is becoming popular at the right time. If you look at what's going on in China, Canada and other places you can see how we actually do have a ministry of media, but this is entirely wrongthink, Yes, people in this timeline can't even grasp what freedom is. Once you have it's difficult to contain. Go China! Go Iran! I they're beautiful people that just want freedom.

Quality is good too but the drawings on cover are wearing a little, but hey! Don't judge book by it's cover right? 😉 seriously though, good novel.

Lo compre como regalo

This specific book had a nice textured hard cover, so when you are reading the dystopian novel you actually have the sensation of holding a very nicely bound book.I highly recommend NOT GETTING the paperback edition.