Book Review - 1984

1984

By George Orwell

Rating ***** (5 stars)

I first read 1984 when I was in middle school. I was on a quest to read all of Orwell's works after finishing Animal Farm a few years earlier. Yet, it had been so long since I have last read the novel that I had forgotten quite a bit.

The scary thing about Orwell is that he picks up on the small details, such as the importance of language in forming ideas, and he explains them in such a way that even a die hard believer in a happy ending is left thinking....well maybe that could work. That is a scary prospect.

The world that is created is similar to socialist or communist societies, yet it is manipulated with the artistic flair of science fiction and ingenuity. The characters are real, meaning they are likable  and appalling. You feel sympathy for them, cheer for them, and are disappointed in them. No matter the emotion, you connect with them.

Orwell is a masterful and popular storyteller. His novel, 1984, is worth the hype that it has received. It is expertly written, and to date the best dystopian novel ever written.