1984 = 3/5
Although I’ve read 1984 twice before (at least a decade ago), I decided it was time to bring it out again as part of my reading list. I still find the world interesting and Orwell’s bleak outlook a good, cautionary tale that still bears relevance to our world today, as evidenced by current sales figures for 1984.
That said, 1984 is not really a pageturner, particularly not near the end when Orwell plops in excerpts from a history book about the dystopian world and its origins; the excerpts are painfully dry and didactic. Winston is not easy to connect with as a character– he’s engaging enough that I wanted to know what happened to him, but he wasn’t so engaging that I *cared* in the same way about him as I have about characters in other dystopias and other kinds of fiction.
TL;DR: 1984 is worth reading for its cautionary aspects and continued relevance to modern society, but it’s not the most well-written book out there.
(Review originally written 11 February 2017)
MOLO WRITES 