1984 by George Orwell
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
1984 is, like many of Orwell's novels, a classic. Also like many of his novels it is a soapbox for his anti-communist views. The world, and in this case the state of Oceania with "The Party", Ingsoc1 and its mysterious leader Big Brother are all set up beautifully. The author has created a language, Newspeak, that is used by the Party and has created a delightfully despairing view of London as it could have been.
The main character in the book, Winston Smith, works for Minitrue2, where his job is to change written documents such as newspapers etc. to make it appear that the Party are always right. Although the basic plot is a famous cliche, namely that the "Good Communist" becomes wise to what The Party genuinely stand for and becomes connected with Revolutionists, the way in which Orwell executes this is superb and really allows the reader to connect with the thoughts of Smith and to share in the pity he feels for the people who implicity believe the Party.
People who like this book, as I am sure that most people will, should also enjoy other books by the same author, and other similarly-themed novels, such as Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451.
