This is like Brave New World if Bernard went off to visit the savages and heard John wax lyrical about Shakespeare and just responded “you smell like This is like Brave New World if Bernard went off to visit the savages and heard John wax lyrical about Shakespeare and just responded “you smell like shit” and went home. ...more
1984 has a lot of things going for it. It is an iconic dystopian novel for a reason. It is emotionally effective, even frightening at times. I found t1984 has a lot of things going for it. It is an iconic dystopian novel for a reason. It is emotionally effective, even frightening at times. I found the discussions of history and memory interesting.
I knocked off two stars for the two things I felt were wrong with it:
1. George Orwell's worldbuilding is clunky and nonsensical: We receive most of our information about the reason that the world is the way that it is in 1984 from two sources: First, Winston sits down and reads a book which explains everything that has happened. Second, in the climactic conclusion when the agents of the Big Party abduct Winston and delete his Twitter account to silence him forever, an agent of the party monologues about the Party's reasons and motivations for why things happened. In both instances this is basically unfiltered word-vomiting of Orwell's political philosophy into the reader's face for pages at a time. I have my own historical reservations that I do not think this reading of totalitarianism is correct, but as a novel I found this delivery messy and amateurish delivery.
2. When Orwell is not spewing his political philosophy at you directly, he is being utterly, unimaginably, and inconsolably horny. All female characters (with the exception of Winston's mother and sister) are judged primarily on their fuckability, leaving men to have all of the big ideas. I'd love to read more about Orwell's treatment of sexuality if anyone has any critical reading to point me to, just because I think the way he equates male sexual desire and female sexual permissiveness with political freedom (and vice versa: totalitarian-subjugated men are unable to pursue, totalitarian women frigid and impenetrable) needs to be explored. ...more
The concept of the book is SO GOOD and the execution SO POOR. I feel a sense of wounded betrayal. I mean, lesbian librarian rebels in a Western-but-reThe concept of the book is SO GOOD and the execution SO POOR. I feel a sense of wounded betrayal. I mean, lesbian librarian rebels in a Western-but-really-Dystopian old west? Yes, please.
Here are some of the issues with the execution: 1. The book is too short. There is nothing wrong with a novella, obviously, but if you're going to write a novella you need to scale your story down to fit. This book covered enough time for a book of twice the length, which made the entire plot rushed. 2. The plot consists of several incidents and tensions which pop up and then are immediately resolved. There was very little tension that made the characters grow as people and no overarching narrative that would have made the conclusion satisfying. 3. The plot is filled with the lazy, boring tropes and cardboard characters that grow like a fungus on fan fiction websites. Their interactions and relationships are inconsistent and insincere. 4. The "old west" linguistics (especially the tortured similies) came across as contrived and annoying. Maybe Gailey talks like this in real life but on the page it seemed very forced.
In another context this book could have been fantastic but this one let me down in nearly every day....more
I found this book extremely unpleasant to read. There was some clever writing (a man living two parallel universe lives at the same time, for example)I found this book extremely unpleasant to read. There was some clever writing (a man living two parallel universe lives at the same time, for example) but if I were just rating for enjoyment this would be a one star.
There are heavy topics here in terms of violence (pedophilia, sexual assault, homophobia, state sponsored murder, regular murder, etc.) but we never see any psychological consequences for these acts. They simply happen and then we move on. That, combined with the constant drug references and asides about genitals, made this book feel woefully immature.
This issue is also mirrored in the general world building. One of the worlds in which this book takes place has completely dead and lifeless oceans but we see no consequences of this either. There are no conversations about the vast and far-reaching consequences of an entire ocean dying. This leaves the book feeling very hollow and inconsequential despite the importance of the issues it is trying to address.
Insipid and not as tough as it thinks it is. Honestly I had heard this was a tough read because of all the violence but I found it eyeroll-inducing anInsipid and not as tough as it thinks it is. Honestly I had heard this was a tough read because of all the violence but I found it eyeroll-inducing and juvenile more than shocking or unnerving. The linguistics are interesting enough to save it from being a one star, though....more
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