Written by: George Orwell
Opening note – this is likely the only review of 1984 that does not contain the word “dystopia”. Just not gonna do it. While starting off fairly sedately and matter of factly bringing the reader (er, listener) into a believable world of the future, you are able to maintain hope things will work out okay and a hero will eventually burst Apple ad-like onto the scene and stick it to the man. Instead, it gets darker and darker, and worse and worse for all characters involved, with the State relentlessly tightening the noose and closing any and all loopholes discovered by the crushed citizenry to catch rare glimpses of light or hope. By the end you feel nothing but hopelessness, with all avenues of escape cut off by intensely logical and thorough systems. The progression towards complete and utter subjugation of the individual seems to not only make sense, but also the right and only reasonable conclusion of human society. Oh joy.
Length: 11.5 hrs
6/2002: Holy crap. I enjoyed this book for a while due to the interesting story and seeing (er, hearing) where lots of phrases and concepts used in the common language came from. But then it gets more and more depressing and almost literally turns to fear that this could actually happen here and we would be totally screwed and by the end you just want to take a long hot path in the fetal position. You should totally buy this book.
Try a Sample:
