I finished reading 1984 today. What I'm about to say may seem forced and contrarian to some...

I finished reading 1984 today. What I'm about to say may seem forced and contrarian to some, but that book was one hell of a meme.

It started good, but each part seemed worse than the one before. I can see some of its themes, which surely must've seemed revelational back then, persisting in our times, and maybe that's why this work gets all the appeal. But the plot was basic, the resolution was more cliche even than "It was all in his head" or "It was just a dream".

I don't know if this book would be praised as much had it been published earlier in Orwell's career, instead of a year before his death. I also think it has little to offer if you're reading it as an adult, it probably can and will have an impact on younger readers around the age of high school though.

I wouldn't consider it essential. Animal Farm was much better, even shorter and more to the point.

Animal Farm isn't much more than a fable for kids, which can be summed up as "you know, its cool you want to break the exploitation of labor and all, but here's what has happened every time it's been tried", which is more powerful coming from someone so fond of Marxism as Orwell.

1984 has a bit more heft to it. The only problems are that it is still largely fable, and as a novel the structure is really poorly executed. also it doesn't name the jew (I'm kidding)

Clearly you are reading for the plot, and so we can safely discard your opinions as nonsense.

>It's just some dude going crazy after his uncle becomes king
>It's just some kid wandering around New York and whining
>It's just some bootlegger who wants a girlfriend
>it's just some senile salesman and his kids

>Clearly you are reading for the plot, and so we can safely discard your opinions as nonsense.

Plot is the most essential part of any fiction book. It's the main tool through which the ahthor's ideas are presented, detailed and analyzed. If your plot is shit (which is the case with 1984) then your ideas aren't going to make any impact even if they're great (which, in the case of 1984, just weren't).

If you feel a natural repulsion to enjoying a plot, drop reading novels all together and stick to essays.

You think it got worse? It got better, I thought. The love story was all right, but the last part, in the Ministry of Love, is some of the most harrowing stuff I've ever read.

I thought that Part 2 was the worst of all. Part 3 had the potential to be great, but ended up pretty meh.

Yeah, 1984's ideas made an impression on just about nobody.

Again, I'm not saying it wasn't influential in its way, nor that it didn't serve as a basis for further analysis. I'm just arguing it shouldn't be so high regarded in the first place. Main Kampf made and still makes an impression on many people, but somehow I doubt you'd even imply anyone who doesn't agree is some kind of a plebeian.

Generally speaking, I didn't hate it. It just didn't affect me in away, that would probably affect me if I have read it during highschool.

Just read his non-fiction

The Jew is Goldstein

It's more him making a declaration of being Trotskyist, which he was,

I look at 1984 more as a colourful essay

>which surely must've seemed revelational back then, persisting in our times, and maybe that's why this work gets all the appeal.

Its the same reason why newer generations dont find Seinfeld funny or think that all of Tolkien's work is unoriginal.

Seinfeld isn't funny, it's goddamned terrifying.

WAKE UP, SHEEPLE!
1984 IS REAL!
OCEANIA, EAST ASIA, AND EURASIA ARE ACTUAL GEOPOLITICAL BLOCS
HOW FUCKING DUMB ARE YOU

I thought the political/philosophical commentary wasn't bad. They actual plot and characters however just felt shallow

>Plot is the most essential part of any fiction book.
pleb af man

and what about that "police" guy in the antiquities store? I read a long time ago, can't remember if it is exactly this.
It is what you'd expect to read in a pulp novel, honestly badly done!

The biggest issue with political or ideological novels is that they tend to be less novel and more propaganda.

And to the pleb anons that diminish "reading for the plot", the characters in 1984 are awfully done as well. The gal, can't remember her name, was unsufferable. She is dumb and juvenile and is smart enough to see beyond the Big Brother, how is that possible? Don't tell me it is pure teenage angst against the system, it won't work in 1984's universe.

It is a important reading for its historical value and only that.

Best part of 1984 is Goldstein's book to be honest. Everyone seems to think it's the most boring part, but I find it the most interesting, its like the lore of 1984 and lays out the concepts the best.

Yes, I think his essays and non-fiction are really better than his novels, but I guess his fiction has the same ideas developed in his essays and is more widely digestible.

He wasn't Trot. Trots never do anything of worth

I got the feeling that i was supposed to feel horrified at all the aspects of the world but it all kind of fell flat for me. The only time i felt things were a little messed up were a few pages in the third part. For years i had the impression that the world in 1984 was basically going to be a functioning concentration camp but when i finally read it, it was all rather tame.
Part 1>Part 3>Part 2

what did he mean by this?

And Orwell never did anything of worth, so it's perfect.

I agree that Animal Farm was better. In fact, it even brings up almost all of the same points - the inversion of truth, "changing" the past to suit the present, constructing a useless windmill simply to make sure the animals don't have too much surplus food and supplies. Virtually all the ideas from 1984 are there, just in a more concise and simpler form.

Hi plebbit