Book 1 of the Rory Gilmore Complete Reading Challenge
1984 is a dystopian novel written by George Orwell and published on June 8, 1949. This book has received quite a bit of praise over the years and a lot of readers have said they fear the book coming true in real life.
The book follows a low ranking party member named Winston Smith who is constantly being watched by Big Brother - even in his home. Big Brother has cameras everywhere and privacy is not an option. Who is Big Brother? Well, to make a long story short, Big Brother is the mysterious leading figure of the ruling Party of the nation of Oceania.
Winston, at the opening of the book, is frustrated by Big Brother's control of everything and seeks ways to secretly disobey the Party rules. He writes in an illegal diary and seeks out a man who he believes to be a member of the Brotherhood while at the same time falling for a woman named Julia.
While the book tells of a scary story of total government control and an absolute lack of free will among the people, I did not think it was the most well written book. The story was dry, and hard for me to take interest in. Any sparks of hope found throughout the story are quickly extinguished. I understand that this book is the picture of a dystopian future - however, it read better (to me) as a scholarly paper than it did as a book.
Note: I read this book about a year before writing this review, so it is not as detailed as other reviews will be.
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