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After about thirteen years I decided to give this a reread and realized I did forget a lot of it. It took longer to read due to the parallels between the state of the world and it's themes. I kept having to put it down for a few days. Most of the book is a simple read with only the last third becoming emotionally more difficult.
It's a disheartening book but I think it's something people should read regardless, at least once.
Thanks for reading!
The best book I've ever read!
When 1984 rolled around, Johnny Carson put a giant eye in the background of his set. I think it lasted a week before the network told him it was creeping people out and he had to remove it.
It is a great read. Also consider the book Julia, where the story is rewritten from her perspective. It is also lovely and the author matches the language pretty well to the original.
Oh wow, I hadn't heard of that one. It does sound interesting though so I might pick it up. Thanks!
relevant review of 1984 by Isaac Asimov: https://www.newworker.org/ncptrory/1984.htm
That was a good read. Thanks for posting the link.
Next up Brave New World, fills in any gaps Orwell missed in our modern dystopia.
Dang, I do have a copy but I don't know if I want to go back to back dystopian or just rip off the bandaid to get through it.
I also have Fahrenheit 451, which I really do like, but I haven't read that one in over a decade as well. I'm thinking I should just go ahead and reread them. Thanks for the motivation!
I used to find BNW an easier read because it's not presented as a soul crushing authoritarian like 1984, but revisiting it gets heavier and worse each time.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. - Neil Postman
the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance
watches the news
"Well."
Now I actually do want to read it.
Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves To Death is where that quote is from. It's not a fiction book, more an analysis of how the entertainment industry has changed public discourse in 1985, but I still found it an interesting (and concerning) read.
Brave New World is definitely the more prescient of the two.
1984 has elements to it that have come true, but the overall theme of BNW of oversaturation of entertainment is definitely accurate to reality nowadays.
Some people consider 1984 a warning, but others consider it a manual.
That's the same edition that I have. One of the few examples where the most popular item in a subgenre really is the best IMO
Yeah, it really is the dystopian book on most lists. Not difficult to see why when you realize it was published in 1949.