(book review)

“War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength”
― George Orwell, 1984

Of course, I have long known both the author and what he wrote. I even knew approximately what the books were about, but I had never read them, for some reason I categorically did not want to read them. Over the past year, I had been told so many times about this book that I realized that its time came and I did it!

Yes, the book is impressive. Totalitarianism at its finest. Taken to the point of absurdity, but frighteningly real. A country where the ruling party controls everything. You can’t love, you can’t be friends, you can’t, you can’t … You can’t, in principle, everything. Even think differently. Yes, there is a thought police in this world. And if at the time of writing the book it was a fantastic idea, now it is perceived quite realistically.

An excellent caricature of totalitarianism. A terrible, but so recognizable society, “solid” for two minutes of hatred in the face of the threat of eternal war and a paranoid search for internal enemies. And it doesn’t matter either there is a distant enemy or it is the “favorite party” that bombs their cities. Everyone can be declared an enemy for unknown reasons. Managing a stupid, half-starved crowd – zombified and downtrodden, what could be easier? Hunger, cold and lack of education are good rods of obedience, but useless instruments of development, and it is not required. What an effective piece of newspeak – replace concepts, correct meanings, destroy the richness of the language, and now the thought forms in the heads of the square-nested method can accommodate only the “correct” thoughts, an excellent help to any ideology. And, most importantly – to exterminate love and trust! Trample and uproot, roll in the mud, ridicule, climb into everyone’s bed and control …. dedicated to all nostalgic for the scoop …..

Here are the main characters, a man and a girl who not only dared to join the opposition, but also to fall in love with each other. Happiness did not last long. A strange “ministry of love”, a sort of correctional institution, found the happy couple fast. For a long time I could not understand why it was called so strangely, and where love came from? And then I understood. Brr. This is scary. It’s not enough to learn that 2+2=5, it’s not enough to give up one’s thoughts, it’s not enough to betray one’s neighbor… The bottom line is that after going through all the trials, one must really love the party and Big Brother. And yes, no matter how frightening it may sound, it is really possible, because everyone can be broken. Someone earlier, someone later … But everyone.

The book impressed. I didn’t expect it to hit me so hard. I don’t like dystopias, social fiction, but this book is an exception. My rating is 9/10.