Friday, May 15, 2009

The end...

YES!

I finished it!

I am proud!

I actually enjoyed it and I am very glad I have read it. It now goes onto my 'real books' bookshelf, which is somewhat removed from my 'book-candy' bookshelf (...strange I am, I know)

I won't put anything more here as it will have spoilers but read my comment to see just what I learnt from reading 1984

11 comments:

爱书 said...

What I learnt from 1984......

NEVER EVER, NEVER EVER tell anyone your deepest fears. Even (or maybe especially) those whom you love and who love you.

Just for the record, my deepest fears are sunflowers on a warm day, butterflies flitting around my garden and good wine with a good book/great company and chocolate...Really, these are it

爱书 said...

Also, did you expect there to be the big revolution? The overthrow of Big Brother? The 'happy' ending (even if it was a final scene of Winston and Julia standing in the rubble looking towards the future)?

I must admit that with my liking of book-candy (and happy endings) I did have an expectation of evil being triumphed over. I guess that makes me a Prol

Not having the cliched, wrapped up and red ribboned bow ending of course kept consistency in the novel and made for a much more powerful voice

Hettie Betty said...

When reading it I was thinking 'what are they going to do?' 'how will they get out of this?'
The bit where the voice came through their tv screen really frightened me.
I really liked the ending, and wouldn't have been happy with a desirable conclusion. You're right Kristen, it was much more powerful that way and showed how hard it would be to change a situation like that. That's why we do need to think about what's going on, and speak up about things we don't like now, because if you let them go with no protest, it might just snowball into totalitarianism.

I also really loved the use of psychological torture as the ultimate weapon. The mind can be a very scary place. And anyway, what's the point of killing everyone if what you really want to do is control them?

detecktive said...

I just got my copy and am starting it now...desperately trying to catch up!

Looking forward to discussing it though once I have. Think it will be interesting...

Sorry I don't have anything intelligent to say (yet)!

detecktive said...

Or maybe ever ;-)

Nic said...

Don't worry Ben, I'm not even a quarter of the way through, Kristen reserved book-candy for me and I am weak!

goswans said...

I had read this book years ago but unlike last month's book I actually enjoyed at lot more this time around. I think because it just seems so much more relevant now, parts of it I swear I was thinking was Orwell psychic!!! As I was reading quite a few parts I was thinking about the politics of the last few years - spending trillions of dollars on weapons when people are starving, the treatment of refugees and the way the media create this fear about other cultures. Particularly spooky was the this passage about the government pratices "And in the general hardening of outlook that set in ... practices which had been long abandoned ... -- imprisonment without trial, the use of war prisoners as slaves, public executions, torture to extract confessions, the use of hostages and the deportation of whole populations -- not only became common again, but were tolerated and even defended by people who considered themselves enlightened and progressive."
Guantamo Bay anyone????

The part where Winston is faced with his deepest fear is still giving me nightmares!!!!

爱书 said...

I frequently though Orwell must have been psychic, either that or all government agencies had to read 1984 as a 'how too' manual

detecktive said...

Finished the book today. What a gut wrenching and soul destroying story!

It is a world without hope.

It is a world built on lies.

The fact that the three main factions (Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia) fight only to maintain authority also reminds me of many issues today...

Nic said...

I've just finished 1984 too, I think it might have been one of the most frightening books I've ever read. I think what scared me most is that under that kind of torture NO ONE can be a hero, it would be impossible not to betray everyone and everything you love and believe in, and then betray yourself and lose yourself. This seems quite possible and truly terrible.

Do you think O'Brien was ever a revolutionary? That line where he says they got him long ago, I wondered if he was someone they broke and remade. I also found the "what is real" section interesting and the idea that he who controls reality controls the people. Is it real because you see it truly or because you believe it to be so, if you make people believe what you believe to true, does it become truth or reality?

Doublethink was another thing that frightened me because it seems so possible.

I'm really glad Kristen suggested this one, I probably wouldn't have gotten around to reading it otherwise. I kind of also feel like I don't want to pick up a book for another day or so, I can't envisage reading something I need to think about and book-candy seems somehow inappropriate. I'm sure this will wear off!

Gem said...

I was bit scared about reading this book to start with as I thought it would go over my head (I'm one of those people that seem to float through life- too easy going I think). I enjoyed the way Orwell wrote and I think I'll try one of his others just to see what it's like.

As for 1984, what a sad, lonely, depressing story. BUT I really enjoyed it. It seemed all the different kinds of human emotion had been vaporised and/or twisted so the people could be controlled.
The deepest fear thing was awful! I agree with Heather - what got my heart rate up even more was when Winston was looking at the "washerwoman" and that voice came out of the wall! It scared the s**t of me!!

I finished the book Tuesday night and was so glad to read "Perry Angel's Suitcase" last night. I needed something sweet and lovely and heartwarming lol