For years I kept hearing about 1984. The more I heard about it, the more my curiosity piqued. Finally, when one of my friends read the book herself this year and praised it, I knew it was time I hunt down a copy to read myself. Lemme just say it did not disappoint.
1984, though written decades ago, is still prevalent in the world today. In fact, I dare say it goes as far as to almost predicting some of the future, or rather most of the world as we know it today. Sure, the whole world isn't exactly like it is in 1984, however, it's pretty close in some countries.
I recently read a book, Surviving Chinese Communist Detention by Steven Schaerer, which told the very true story of how he, Schaerer, well, survived Chinese communist detention. He was working 100% legally, abided by all the laws, and yet was arrested under the pretense that he was working illegally when he wasn't and put in a Chinese prison. He was mentally tortured the entire time there and when he was finally released, he was a changed man.
1984
George Orwell
In reading Winston's story in 1984, I saw so many similarities between his story and Schaerer's real-life experience. Not to mention with all that the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) has been doing lately to its citizens, it almost feels like 1984 is more of a reality than not. (Note, I'm not saying Chinese people are bad. I'm saying the government, the CCP, is a lot like Big Brother in 1984. Please don't attract any Chinese person for any reason. Or like, don't attract anyone for that matter).
As for the story itself, I was thoroughly impressed by Orwell's writing and storytelling. He built the world so well, and even technically invented a whole new language called Newspeak. (Although never used very much, he did write a mini-essay on the usage of the language in the Appendix of the book which was really fascinating).
There was only one time, or rather a chapter, that I wasn't fully invested in the book and even got a little bored. When Winston reads literal chapters from a book, the info dump that I thought would be interesting, turned out to be very political and boring. It wasn't technically from Winston's POV as it was the words he himself was reading and thus lacked his character.
Aside from that, it was a hella enjoyable read. I feel as though to prevent our future from ever ending up like the one in 1984, this book is a must-read. I highly recommend it.
