I was watching one of the videos of my favourite youtuber, Pewdiepie, and it was one of his ‘book-review’ videos. While watching that I realized that I too have just finished a book and, given that I have promised to actively upload on this blog, it won’t be such a bad idea to review it. So, here it is, the first of the series, my review of the book: 1984 by George Orwell.

The book is set in a dystopia where a government, called ‘the Party’, has a rule that resembles a dictatorship, where they have total control over the media, historical records, literature, and the people, giving them total power over the past, the present and more importantly, the truth. The protagonist is Winston Smith who, though is a member of the party, despises their ideology and method of governance. The story is about this society, Winston, and his rebellion.

You’d notice that I gave a description that is too short to do justice to the brilliant plot, but then, the motive of this post is not to give you a summary of the book, rather to tell you how I felt about it. The plot was beautiful, illustrating ideas related to society, freedom, thought, war, slavery, etc. which were elegantly embedded in the story itself. The author does a good job in making you feel how it would have been to be a part of such a world, where you were a mere puppet in the hands of a group of powerful people and you could do nothing about it. If you tried to rebel you’d be ‘vaporized’, or killed. So, the purpose of your life, if you wanted to live one, was to serve those who were responsible for your suffering. I think I understand why it is called a ‘dystopia’.

On the other hand, the love story, which one I won’t mention, because SPOILERS, but there is only one, seemed a bit rushed and too easy to me. While the relationship was one which was good to look at, I sometimes felt that the author didn’t go a good enough job in justifying why she would ever fall for him. The only other grievance that I have is that the narration progressed sluggishly in some parts, being way too descriptive for my liking. These were the parts where I had to force myself to read it further so that I can know what eventually happens.

In conclusion, I understand why it is a classic. And I enjoyed it just as much. Having said that, I feel that I took this book too early. I am not an avid reader, I tend to get bored easily. A story has to do a lot to keep me intrigued. I guess as you read more and more novels, you become more patient with the plot. That is something I think I lack. That is the main reason I started reading, to improve my patience with large texts. So, I feel that if I had come to 1984 after reading a few other books, I might have enjoyed it much more. Nevertheless, it was a good read.

I wanted some book recommendations, and so I posted it as my Whatsapp status, and within 10 minutes I had 15 book recommendations. So, to start with, I’ll pick one of them, suggested by my friend Akash Vaish, called The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. Though he suggested that I should read the entire Millennium Series by the author, I’ll start with this one, this being the first in the series. I am also currently reading The Haunting of The Hill House by Shirley Jackson, which, as the name suggests, is a horror-fiction. Let’s see which one lands itself the next book review!