1984 by George Orwell: A Book Review of Sorts

Took me longer than a week, closer to two weeks, but I managed to finish a novel. It felt much longer than a novella, and there were a couple of longer chapters where my brain was exhausted, but I did it. Not only was it just a novel. It was 1984 by George Orwell.

I know, a terrible wrong committed. Despite being an avid reader since around 1974, I have never read 1984. Strange really because his novel Animal Farm is one of my favourite books. But there you have it. I'd never felt like reading it until my trip to the library a fortnight ago; it being in the classics and of a length in pages I figured I could go for - I'm not sure I could manage a doorstop-sized book yet.

It was good.

And I'm glad to have read it.

I mean I knew what it was about. Doesn't everyone? The suppression of individual thought and expression by an authoritarian oligarchy. I've seen enough adverts for films and TV shows based on it, read enough quotes taken from it to know, but it was much closer to the bone in terms of what we see happening today than I ever expected. In fact had I read it in the '90s or '00s I might have considered it slightly naïve and too far fetched in terms of its dumbing down of the individual and erasure of real facts and true history, but in terms of what we're seeing with regards AI, the alteration of facts, events and images, the blatant lies and fabrication of political leaders without being called out, Orwell pretty much hit the nail on the head.

Quite remarkable for a book written and published in 1949.

I'm not going to say much about the story itself because I don't like spoiling books for people, but as a reading experience it was a four star read for me. Orwell does have a tendency to get a bit dry in places, an intellectual man I think much in love with the precise detail of political definition and the psychology of self - I sensed the same when reading about his experience in the Spanish Civil War - though at its heart it is something of a love or lust story that does read real and well. I'd highly recommend reading it, for the frightening correlation with today's politics in 2026 alone, because on that front it really is a five star piece of genius.

Until next time,

Much love.

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