I don't often read dystopian fiction, and I don't often read classics, but quotes and ideas from this book have started to feel so ubiquitous to me that I thought it was about time I read it myself. I think I appreciated it more because it wasn't something I had to read for a class, I could take my time with it and really absorb things (though it didn't take me long at all).
Spoiler alert! If you haven't yet, please read this book and then come back to my review... it really is best, I think, to approach the book before hearing opinions of it. Yes, even you. Everyone should read it.
Here's the review I posted on Goodreads, with my 4 star rating:
I did not know what to expect. I found that in turns, it horrified me, excited me, and terrified me, and I never knew what was coming next. I instinctively think there are things in this book that can never happen, that humans would never do this or that. But then I think about what I know of history, and in small ways, those things have happened. Maybe they have not persisted, but they have happened. And while this book is in no way a direct reflection of society, it is utterly haunting, to the last word. There are bits of truth. I cannot say that I loved this book, because it so horrified me, but to affect a reader's emotions so acutely, Orwell absolutely deserves 5 stars. I just can't imagine myself ever wanting to read it again. I would say, though, it is definitely worth reading once. Everyone should read it once, if only to have more of an appreciation for the society in which we live.
