1984 by George Orwell

This was a book suggested so many times, I had to get it under my belt although I knew it wouldn’t entertain but enlighten. A dystopian/sci-fi story, the grandad of the entire dystopian genre I believe. George Orwell wrote it in 1949. I have trouble reading a storyline that has no hope. The book is an important reminder that all information is subjective. History itself can be manipulated, misrepresented and forgotten if that is the motive of the voices and messages we allow ourselves to be subjected to. The society of 1984 has lost independence, privacy, memories and a moral compass. The ruling power is supreme in every way and any thought to the contrary is hunted down and always discovered. Any belief or notion different from the Ministry of Truth is a threat and will be eradicated leaving a partial brain that cannot recall history, the smell of coffee, or the love of those who have been vaporized. Tragically society can no longer understand the difference between right and wrong. The ruling power inflicts so much pain, victims eventually turn on those they love and vow allegiance to that power, everyone always does. The book has no color, no warmth, no destiny and no hope, and that is exactly the point. Kim Luke

Book Blurb

The new novel by George Orwell is the major work towards which all his previous writing has pointed. Critics have hailed it as his "most solid, most brilliant" work. Though the story of Nineteen Eighty-Four takes place thirty-five years hence, it is in every sense timely. The scene is London, where there has been no new housing since 1950 and where the city-wide slums are called Victory Mansions. Science has abandoned Man for the State. As every citizen knows only too well, war is peace.

To Winston Smith, a young man who works in the Ministry of Truth (Minitru for short), come two people who transform this life completely. One is Julia, whom he meets after she hands him a slip reading, "I love you." The other is O'Brien, who tells him, "We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness." The way in which Winston is betrayed by the one and, against his own desires and instincts, ultimately betrays the other, makes a story of mounting drama and suspense.