tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512672423404004937.post4168173100605543019..comments2023-08-27T15:28:21.072+01:00Comments on Our Book Reviews Online: 1984 by George OrwellThe Molehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15087495241495649718noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512672423404004937.post-66027929590338483412014-08-07T11:38:36.973+01:002014-08-07T11:38:36.973+01:00This is very interesting. I haven't read 1984 ...This is very interesting. I haven't read 1984 since I was a student and my memory of it mirrors yours - the ghastly cynicism of doublethink and its effectiveness in disguising what's really going on, the horror of the torture scene, the rats... I'm afraid I didn't see O'Brien's betrayal coming and I was truly shocked by the end! Notwithstanding the sad, hopeless atmosphere and the grimness of life for all the ordinary people, I'd been unconsciously expecting Winston to triumph and the downtrodden proles to overcome the Evil Empire in the best Hollywood tradition. I was the classic naïve thinker who needed shaking up and 1984 was groundbreaking for me.<br /> Now that everything that was original and startling in Orwell's depiction of totalitarianism has become commonplace - predictable ingredients of dystopias, as you say - I suppose 1984 can never have the impact it had in the decades after it was first published. I should reread it and see if my experience second-time round is the same as yours. <br /> He's still a great writer though. I read Homage to Catalonia recently - a beautifully written account of his experience in the total chaos of the Spanish Civil War.griselda heppelhttp://www.antesinferno.comnoreply@blogger.com