Andymatic

Doubleplusgood

I scored a free copy of 1984 in the laundry room the other night. Somebody had left stacks of old paperbacks and Orwell was the diamond in the rough. I’d never read the novel and thought Oh it’ll be pretty good. I’d remembered when I read Animal Farm in middle school and it totally blew my mind.

It is really good! You know how people say that a classic book is alright and it’s good and they understand why it is a classic but it doesn’t hold up that much to modern scrutiny.

Holy crap: it is excellent. If you have never read it. You have to get a copy today! I’m about half-way through and it is amazing. I love novels that offer a complete worldview. And Orwell’s is uncanny, unnerving and unflinching. From the Junior Anti-Sex League (today’s Focus on the Family) to the Two Minutes Hate (what we would call a press conference), Orwell nails it. Totally nails it. Every page has detail after detail that echoes across nearly sixty years to the surveillance society being built today.

Orwell remains a contemporary. I’ll post a more detailed book review when I finish it. Gotta go, I’m late for the Physical Jerks.

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9 responses to “Doubleplusgood”

  1. th0m Avatar
    th0m

    1984 was a pivotal book for me. The movie (made in 1984) ain’t bad either.

    Quite emotional for me was the part about the chocolate and the bomb.

    All in all, it makes you wonder if these systems that working in the world like 1984 are under someone’s control or design, or whether 1984 merely observes what is eventually to happen, or a pattern that can describe how the world winds up working.

    Reply
  2. sam Avatar
    sam

    I read it last year. My friend Derwin bought me a copy. It was excellent. Most important book I read all year.

    Reply
  3. Mike Avatar
    Mike

    ooo. I haven’t read 1984 in about 5 years. That needs to go onto my reading list….

    yum, doublethink 🙂

    Reply
  4. kc Avatar
    kc

    I haven’t read it since HIGH SCHOOL. Which was like . . . uh, a couple of years ago.

    I do need to re-read it.

    Reply
  5. kc Avatar
    kc

    Hey, I see your cute pic is back up. Good. 😉

    Reply
  6. andrew Avatar
    andrew

    Orwell worked for the Ministry of Information during the Second World which took over Senate House from the University of London for the duration. In Senate House Library is a first edition copy of 1984 in which someone who worked with Orwell has noted in the margins all the real life places and incidents the book is based on (ie Ministry of Information became the Ministry of Truth, julia was a real person, the antiques shop was a real place in Holborn etc).

    Reply
  7. Jef Avatar
    Jef

    That’s a good recommendation. I’ve been reading a classic novel each month since October and I’ve always wanted to read “1984.” I need to watch the movie too. I own the soundtrack by the Eurythmics and play it a lot.

    Reply
  8. RcktMan Avatar
    RcktMan

    Don’t you love free books? Someone who was moving out of my building left “The DaVinci Code”, “The Devil Wears Prada” and three other books in my building’s junk mail trash crate the other day… I snatched em up quicker than you can say “Thanks for the free books!”

    Reply
  9. philtre Avatar
    philtre

    I read the book in August 2001, just before 9-11. How’s that for a creepy deja-vu…

    Reply

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