32 Years After “1984”

It’s been ‘mind-numbing’ waiting for this book review….  I remember my first introduction to George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” being in 7th grade, we read the Reader’s Digest snippet of the first few pages.  I remember that being my introduction to the dystopia genre and having my mind blown.

Other than that, I had no idea what the book was about.  I’ve read some contemporary dystopias, and had an idea of what to expect, except this is the classic that created the genre. It established “Big Brother” and several other concepts of Totalitarianism which we consider the basics. It didn’t need some twist at the end to make it different from all the others, which means to the contemporary mind, it’s somewhat predictable and… depressing.

I labeled this one as ‘vulgar’ since it includes a few sexual scenes and references, and descriptions of various forms of torture and brain washing. Still, it’s within today’s PG13 standards.  True to most classics, the language is tame with very limited cursing.  Also to note:  I don’t suggest the Audible version, because the narrator (being the good narrator he was) added real emotion to the sensual thoughts and torture cries, making it all the more disturbing.

As interesting as its thoughtful and thought-provoking concepts are, I don’t think I’ll read it again, because of the sexual references and overall hopelessness of the story.  Imagine every feeling you get from watching a documentary on WWII concentration camps, and that about sums it up.  *** 3.7 stars ***