1984 Review

Before Act 3, I was definitely considering giving this book a mid-to-high 3 rating because, although I really liked Orwell's writing style, there wasn't necessarily a specific moment where I finished a reading session and thought, "Oh yeah, this is peak." I was especially losing interest when Winston started narrating Goldstein's book to Julia towards the end of Act 2, as it seemed more like a political rant than anything else. The rule of showing and not telling felt a little breached during that stretch. But after that point, there is only one word to describe my experience with the book: mindfuck.

When Act 3 started, all the twists and turns were catching me completely off guard. If you think a character or the plot would go one way, the complete opposite usually happened. And at the end of the book, I so wished that Winston would lock in and somehow and someway find a way to overthrow the government, but that moment never came. And don't even get me started on him and Julia's last interaction. The scene was so beautifully written that I can't even put it into words.

The world that Orwell depicts in this book is so vividly described that I question how he even thought of some of these small minute details. From the clothes of every party member to the relationships between family members and lovers to the role of sex and desire inside society. Everything was so meticulously crafted to make it realistically seem that the Party is actually invincible and immortal.