Book Review: 1984

My neck got stiff, my back got sore
From reading nineteen-eighty-four
But that's not all, oh! such a chore
Let's burn this book, I do implore!

Book Review: 1984, by George Orwell

*** (out of five stars)

This book was probably one of the biggest let downs I've ever experienced. A bigger let down than my Physiology (PSL300) and Controls marks put together. A bigger let down than Fight Club. A bigger let down than going to a meeting expecting to be fed and instead being shown the way to the nearest water fountain.

Yeah, big let down.

It was too political to be a story, the ending was unsatisfactory, and I still for the life of me, don't get it. Maybe its my stupidity, but I just don't get it. What's the commentary in the story? What is Orwell talking about? What is he criticizing? And what was the point of setting it in 1984?

Okay, fine, so I didn't get the point of the book. Well, at least I could enjoy the story, right? Nope. There wasn't even really a story. Plus, the author (in a moment of sheer sadism I imagine) decided that it was a good idea to write passages from a fictional non-fiction book within his fictional book. Confused? Yeah, so was I.

I was really disappointed with this book; I liked Animal Farm and figured that 1984 would be similar, but unfortunately, not so. So here's the synopsis: the year is 1984 (plus or minus 2 years) and we're in London, Oceania (the super megacountry created after the US swallowed up the UK and various other places) where rules are tight and the government is tighter. Big Brother, the face of the government, watches citizens 24/7: on the toilet, in their rooms, at work. Everything is censored. There are no laws, because citizens can be eliminated for any reason at any time. Emotions are taboo. There are no bonds between people. And in the middle of this society is Winston who hates this way of life and wants to revolt against it, but isn't sure how.

The setting and premise of the book were imaginative and original, but the story faltered a bit once everything had been set up. I didn't see an overlying message or theme, and other than a bit of communism bashing (through Orwell's generous sprinkling of the "community before individual" dogma) I really truly did not see the point of this book.

So that's why I didn't like it. I just didn't get it. So if anyone did understand this book...feel free to clue me in...