I had to read Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) in high school for English, usually I never engaged with the required readings for class and often wouldn’t even read the book (to my credit most of the books we had to read were crap), but 1984 was an exception. I could not put this book down. I read it slowly not wanting it to end and it completely took control over my mind like a sort of virus that’s fun to have; I was thinking about it constantly! I remember we had to do chapter summary oral presentations in class and we went through about 10 chapters a class, but I was only up to chapter 4 at the time, so I used to either block my ears or skip those classes! Chances are if you’re reading this, you’ve already read 1984, but if you haven’t then you must pick it up. Basically the plot follows a character named Winston Smith as he attempts to hang onto his humanity and creativity in a dystopic society that has abandoned both. The world of 1984 is one of Big Brother, constant camera surveillance, ‘thought police’, thought crime, new speak and even more Orwellian insanity. The book was also banned by the Soviet Union in 1950, as Stalin read it and believed it to be a critique/satire of his leadership. The ban was eventually lifted in 1990, the year I was born, and the good people of Russia finally got to read this fantastic work of fiction.
★★★★★ 5 stars