1984
 

I just read this book and thought it was very good.

I love the quotes:
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength

They seem not contradict eachother but they make perfect sense in the book. Greatly reccommend the book to anyone. Any comments?

1984,
I was in So Cal in the USMC
War is Peace a nessary Evil
Freedom is Slavery Well if you feel that way go find a dictatership to live in
Ignorance is Strength nice to not to have to worry about it , ain't it ???

***SPOILER***
(just being polite in case anyone hasn't read it)

I first read this book when I was too young to fully appreciate the political content, but even then it was a damn good read. When the voice from the hidden telescreen tells Julia snd Winston, "You are the dead" it shocked me so profoundly I dropped the book.

Back in the 80s, everything seemed to be being abbreviated, or spelled in a simplistic way (Kwik-Fit for example). Of all the small details in the book, it was this that made me worry that the book was prophectic after all.

And David Bowie's album of the same name is double plus good.

I like the Eurythmics Album for the movie, the one that didn't end up being used by the filmmaker.

It's an intense book, one of my favorites. I reread it every few years to see if my reaction to it has changed.

I had to look this up, as I remembered the soundtrack from watching the film (in an English Literature lesson - how cool is that?) but knew I could be wrong - it's a long time ago now....

According to www.annie-lennox.com, most of it was used:

I read that book and did an abstract of a case-book on it for my high school senior english project. It was a very good book, and as I had to do the case book on it I had to really think about what the book was saying. I would recommend it to anyone. And to think, I only picked that book because it was the year I was born. I hadn't heard about it before. Fascinating.

I read that book in 1984 (I read everything I could get my hands on when I was in middle school) and thought to myself at the time how horrible it would be to live that way. Now, 22 years later, we're getting closer and closer to it in the US.

If you haven't read it, please do. It may result in your being a lot more interested in how your government holds your fate in their hands and more actively involved in changing the trend toward totalitarianism in the US.

Now I want you to write a three page essay on why America is the best country in the world. After that I want you to write a two page essay on why democracy is the best system of government. Then go watch some MTV and you will realize why America is so great.

Jesus. What a way to make a guy feel old. 1984 was the FUTURE, not the past.

I loved 1984. Awesome book. We covered it in English and I just became so utterly absorbed in it. Then when Eurythmics did the music for the film I was delighted! I was a big Eurythmics fan back then *grins*.

One of the thing I love about 1984, was that Orwell allowed the ending to be...disturbing and bleak. I think it's one of the best examples of a very British kind of vision.

Of course, what's interesting is that the techniques used in 1984, if I remember them correctly, did not meet the initial definition of torture that the U.S. proposed between 2001-2004.

Orwell got the date wrong, but as it was written in 1948 and he changed the last 2 digits around, he got closer than anyone else has.
Excellent book about ruling by fear to the point where a man betrays the woman he loves.

"underneath the spreading chestnut tree; where i sold you and you sold me."

"DO IT TO JULIA!"

We recently saw a film adaptation in a little blackbox theatre and quite enjoyed it.

I read this book a few years ago, also and found myself deeply disturbed for several weeks afterwards. I think it was good for me, though. It altered my perspective.

1984 was one of my inoculations against collectivist totalitarianism.

For a look at a subtler, less Soviet-style hellish dystopia, try Brave New World as a companion volume. They are like two bookends.