This was another bookclub book, and one I’ve wanted to read for a while.
I’d heard lots about this book before I read it. Plenty about Big Brother and the idea of a controlled nation where no one could think for themselves but nothing quite prepared me for what I found once I read it. For one it’s also partially a romance. The main character falls in love and it’s the motivating force behind lots of his decisions.
As with most classics its not the easiest to read language and there’s some very complicated thoughts and ideas in the book, with things like doublethink and thoughtcrime as words for what you should and shouldn’t do with your thoughts. The explanations of doublethink especially were interesting and suggestive of the delusional way we convince ourselves that a bad thing can be a good thing when in powerful positions.
I can see why the book is still so popular. Given that it was written over seventy years ago it has incredibly accurately predicted some aspects of human life and where the world is at now. George Orwell had a good handly on human nature, our drive to discover and invent, and our attitude towards war and other nations.
Not an easy read, and the romance was rather dry and emotionless, but still a book I’d recommend for the ideas and thoughts it might provoke. A very good book to discuss after reading.