NationStates Jolt Archive

I was just wondering if anyone has read this book and has any comments on it ... I took it out from the library recently and was wondering what everyone thought of it.

yes, I have read it. Have you read it yet? Or did you just get it out the library?

nah I haven't read it yet, I was going to start reading it tonight. I was just wondering what I was in for when I started to read it ...

It's great, thats why it came 6th in the Big read. Strong powerful andt-communists. I like it a lot.

I’ve read it before. It is a really great book, you’ll never trust government propaganda again results may vary Catcher in the Rye is another great book, although I can’t seem to understand why some people hate it so much.
You love the government. You will do whatever the government asks of you. Big Brother is watching. Big Brother knows all.
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Out of all the demons in this world, none is more frightening than man

Heh well for people like me it’s equally as hard to understand why people love it so much. I don’t hate Catcher I just think it’s very overrated.

Anyway you should enjoy 1984 , Pistols. Powerful stuff and if you like it you should try Huxley’s Brave New World. There's more sex in it than Catcher for a start :P

Heh well for people like me it’s equally as hard to understand why people love it so much. I don’t hate Catcher I just think it’s very overrated.

Anyway you should enjoy 1984 , Pistols. Powerful stuff and if you like it you should try Huxley’s Brave New World. There's more sex in it than Catcher for a start :P
It’s not that people hate it because people think that it’s over rated. It’s because of the Lennon incident and alleged government conspiracy. Even though after reading it I couldn’t see anything that comes close to being conspiracyish.
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Out of all the demons in this world, none is more frightening than man

One of my favorties. Try "Anthem" also. The ones previously mentioned are all good and in the same vein. Wear your tin foil hat afterwards however. The government is coming for you.

lol. ok. I'm glad its a good book. I picked it out because I really wanted to read "Homage to Catalonia", also by George Orwell, but they didn't have that book (the library). so I guess I gotta buy that one. so 1984 is anti-communist?? I thought that Orwell liked the idea of Anarchy though (which I realize is different than communism, but some concepts are similar).

lol. ok. I'm glad its a good book. I picked it out because I really wanted to read "Homage to Catalonia", also by George Orwell, but they didn't have that book (the library). so I guess I gotta buy that one. so 1984 is anti-communist?? I thought that Orwell liked the idea of Anarchy though (which I realize is different than communism, but some concepts are similar).

Orwell wasn't an anarchist, although he had a strong inherant libertarian streak in him. I think its fair to say that he was a revolutionary socialist, albeit one with strong illusions in the Labour party as a vehicle for socialism. The book still maintains a socialist message-- but I'd be giving away important details if I told you how.

Read Animal Farm. It's short, sweet, and has a lot of humor.
Orwell was no "anarchist", he was simply a writer with socialist tendencies. In 1984 and Animal Farm, he critically exposes the risks of a communist state, but on different aspects.
If anyone here haven't read Animal Farm, it's a metaphore of a socialist revolution, but in a farmhouse. The animals (the people) take over the farm controlled by the man (the capitalist government), and finally, what was supposed to lead to a collectivist society leads to another dictatorship.
You'll recognize the quote: "Everyone's equal...but some are more equals than other"(or something close...well, you get the idea)

One thing you will notice about George Orwell is that he was a socialist who
hated socalism. When reading the book Steel Yourself! It contains some very terrifing polittcal. and social concepts.I read it when I was 13 and it scared the crap outta me. Of course I'm one of those people who have a huge imagination. If you get a chance check out an old album titled 2112.
It was made by a Canadian band named RUSH.

Orwell is cool. 2+2=5 should be the motto of the Bush administration.

One thing you will notice about George Orwell is that he was a socialist who hated socalism.

or, to be accurate, hated totalitarianism.

so 1984 is anti-communist??

Nope: it is anti-totalitarian.

If you like it and follow up the suggestion above about Brave New World by Huxley, it then makes sense to try and track down a copy of the book they are both based upon We by Yvegeny Zamyatin.

Another work by Orwell which gets the strongly recommended stamp is Down And Out In Paris And London. Animal Farm and Homage To Catalonia are also very good, but have already been mentioned. Once you do get through Homage you might want to have a look at a couple of other novels which cover the same kind of territory - As I walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee and For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway. Anthony Burgess also wrote an interesting book which is half-analysis and half-sequel to 1984, called 1985, and his analysis, which shows how much 1984 was based on the prevalent conditions in post-war London, is interesting, but the fiction section stinks (despite any opinions held to the contrary by The Great Leveller).

I don't know why this talk of 1984 has suddenly spurred everyone to talk about Ayn Rand and Rush's albums which are influenced by here, but I'll chip in none the less: Anthem is entertaining, but laughable - but then again, what do you expect from an anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-poor poor immigrant woman?

One thing you will notice about George Orwell is that he was a socialist who hated socalism.

or, to be accurate, hated totalitarianism.

...meanwhile simultaneously reporting to the British secret services on the activities of communists and socialists...

1984 is a wonderful novel. Everyone should read it. Animal Farm is great too.

From what I remember reading, Orwell was a Disillusioned Communist. Hence Animal Farm.

"All animals are equal-but some are more equal than others!" I believe is the quote. Something to that effect, however.

But read 1984 post haste! Before someone ruins it for you here.

...meanwhile simultaneously reporting to the British secret services on the activities of communists and socialists...

true. though in his defense the people he reported were stalinists (or at least he thought they were). not much of a excuse for turning people in to the secret police, but a rationale at least.

...meanwhile simultaneously reporting to the British secret services on the activities of communists and socialists...

true. though in his defense the people he reported were stalinists (or at least he thought they were). not much of a excuse for turning people in to the secret police, but a rationale at least.

Well, at least he saw through Stalin's sham unlike persons such as George Bernard Shaw who went on to spread pro-Stalinist propaganda.

Down And Out In Paris And London
That is my favourite Orwell. ^_^

It's a great book, animal farm is pretty good to.

1984 is without a doubt one of the most powerful and influential books of the 20th century.

Follow my simple 12-step programme:

1) Read it.
2) Put it down.
3) Think about it.
4) Discuss it.
5) Apply it to the world around you.
6) Read it again.
7) Reflect upon it.
8 ) Read up on opinions and views of the British before, during and shortly after WWII (1945-1948 is the most important period.)
9) Read it again.
10) Put it under your pillow.
11) Read some more of it each night, highlighting your favourite bits.*
12) Convert others to reading it.

Aidan

*Only advisable if you own the copy you're reading- you should have seen sense and bought your own copy by this step...

Follow my simple 12-step programme:

1) Read it.
...
12) Convert others to reading it.


You are Emmanuel Goldstein, and I claim my five pounds.

It shows that communism and fancism are the same in practace though opposit in ideas. Animal farm is supposed to be communist while 1984 is supposed to be Francist

1984 thoughtcrime! thoughtcrime doubleplus ungood!

Down And Out In Paris And London
That is my favourite Orwell. ^_^

Same here. Kicks 1984's metaphorical ass IMO. Hotel X is so disgustingly, beautifuly described.

Homage to Catalonia is my favourite Orwell. Beautifully and very movingly written...

There's nothing I love more than whipping up my own anti-autoritarian paranoia. Some of my favourites:
1984, Written by George Orwell
The Prisoner, Starring Patrick McGoohan
Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, written by Stanislaw Lem
Illuminatus Trilogy, written by Robert Anton Wilson
I was sort of bored by Brave New World and everything else I've read by Huxley. Just not visceral enough for me, I guess. Can anyone recommend any other good media along this vein?

oh man! I absolutely LOVE 1984. I started to read it last night, and I'm already on page 34. (which I know isn't very far, but I have no time, so the fact that I'm making time for this is great!) I've read the Dispossessed, and the book kind of reminds me of that in a vague kind of way. but 1984 is way better. I'll be sure to check out some of those other books too ... I'm always looking for good anti-fascism books ... and the ones Noam Chomsky writes are a bit confusing, so right now I'm sticking to more comprehensive books until I can understand what he is writing about.

One thing you will notice about George Orwell is that he was a socialist who
hated socalism. When reading the book Steel Yourself! It contains some very terrifing polittcal. and social concepts.I read it when I was 13 and it scared the crap outta me. Of course I'm one of those people who have a huge imagination. If you get a chance check out an old album titled 2112.
It was made by a Canadian band named RUSH.
Yeah, but that was based on Anthem.
I loved 1984, by the way, one of my favorite distopia novels, if not my favorite. Animal Farm was good, but I read it for a class, so it lost some of its appeal there, and Brave New World...I just don't think was written very well. Anthem was really cheesy, but whatever... And not that it's a distopia novel, but Catcher wasn't great either...really, who here likes Holden Caulfield?

Down and Out was good, but Burmese Days and Keep the Aspidistra Flying were better.

Down and Out was good, but Burmese Days and Keep the Aspidistra Flying were better.

Animal farm is supposed to be communist

as long as 'communist' = stalinist

Animal farm is an incredible book, as is 1984. all the cliches we know now, big brother, room 101. all came from this book. and it's so gripping it's impossible to put down i'd recommend it to anyone.

ps hello, i'm new round here.

Welcome New Kats Land. Lindusulum is pretty new too.

I was just wondering if anyone has read this book and has any comments on it ... I took it out from the library recently and was wondering what everyone thought of it.

The ending is so sad... I still remember it. He's happy in a drunk brainwashed sort of way but he wants to die. THE PAIN!!!!

Anyways, read it. And buy the movie (The VHS version mind you, they took the original soundtrack off of the DVD, which ruined it. RUINED!)

Anyways, read it. And buy the movie (The VHS version mind you, they took the original soundtrack off of the DVD, which ruined it. RUINED!)

Are we talking about that god-awful Eurhythmics "Sex Crime" thing? They removed it? Ah, there is justice at last.*




* For the moment we will just pass over the abominable soundtrack that Brian May produced for the re-tinted version of Metropolis in silence.**


** If only he had done the same.

1984 is one of the few books I can reread without getting bored. ~ Michael.

oh awesome there's a movie about it!! so is the new soundtrack any better??



btw ... I like Holden Caulfield ...

oh awesome there's a movie about it!! so is the new soundtrack any better??



btw ... I like Holden Caulfield ...

oh awesome there's a movie about it!!

At least three -

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048918/

and

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0174444/

and

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087803/

so how are you getting on with 1984? where have you got to?

I was just wondering if anyone has read this book and has any comments on it ... I took it out from the library recently and was wondering what everyone thought of it.


Read it. It is so about 2004 America. Lol. We're at war with Afghanistan! No Iraq! No Iran! No the French! No with gays!

Lol. Kill conservatives.

I'm getting along quite well with the book - page 88!! I love the book. it's depressing though -- I feel bad for winston.

lol. I know! so many things can be applied to 2004 from that book. I'm so happy I discovered it.

www.newspeakdictionary.com --> The percet companion to 1984. Everyone who read 1984 or is even familiar with it should check out NSD.