Book #66: Nineteen Eighty-Four

This one has been a book that I've wanted to read for a long time. I've heard a lot about it, how it's a trailblazer, and how relevant it is to modern day life. So I thought, why not, I'll plunge into a classic. Classics aren't really my favourite genre by a country mile. I'm certainly more of a modern reader! But you know what, this challenge is about broadening my horizons isn't it!

This book needs no introduction really, does it! Pretty much everyone knows about George Orwell's dystopian classic. It appears in pretty much every list of "100 books to read before you die", but then so does stuff like Pride and Prejudice, which is one reason why it's taken until now for me to stop ignoring it and actually read it!

Honestly, I wasn't blown away by the story, I felt it left a lot to be desired. The characters felt flat, and the plot didn't flow. BUT my god was it good. I mean it was brilliant. If you don't take this as a story, but as an observation on the Human Race in general, and the direction that we are taking, it's absolute brilliance.

Take this quote for example "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever." It's essentially saying, that power is fuelled by humanity's persecution of each other, and that going into the future, this power is only going to continue, with the persecution of those at the bottom of the rung.

Orwell wrote that in 1949... and it's still relevant today. The concept of 'Big Brother' a being that is 'always watching you'... that's what we have today, you can't go anywhere without something tracking you. You can't walk down a street, you can't browse the internet, without something somewhere tracking everything you do.

This book is SO far ahead of it's time it's scary!

The words:

WAR IS PEACE.

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

That is literally 21st Century life in a nutshell.

My mind was blown by this book. If you haven't read it, read it!

Nineteen Eighty-Four: 2cm

Total Read so far: 57 books, 170cm

Total left to read: 63 books, 23cm

I'm going for a lay down after this book!