1984

In today's society of the NSA and CIA, and other acronym-heavy government agencies, the idea of Big Brother is more prevalent than ever before. For many people, even if they have not read the book, they can still know what the ideas of the novel are. Namely, that the government that controls everything, including free speech, offers little freedom to those who live under it. Those who haven't read the book also seem to know that our society will definitely be headed there if candidate X is elected President.

And I think that this is because, for better or worse, there is something that everyone can find in this book that they can apply to today's society. Weather it was 1965, 2015, or the actual 1984, every generation, since this book was published can find some link between the words in this book, and what is going on for their generation. This can, indeed show the timelessness of the book, and that is something to be impressed about. Each nightmarish situation that one finds the characters in can easily be applied to something today. It offers doubt on the current state of events going on in the reader's own life because it comes back to the idea that history is written by the victors. We only know so much about own on history, based on what certain people say, or what a company or government allows to be shown to the public. This novel's main strength is it's sheer spectacle at what could happen to a society if too much information is both hidden from the populace, and sought after through illegal means.

Which is good, because it does tend to lack from a story perspective. This book is divided up into three main parts: Part one: Winston, the main character, engages in everyday life, trying to cover up that he does not like Big Brother. Part Two: Winston reading a book about how Big Brother came to be and how it is all lies. Part Three: Winston getting caught, and being tortured for his thoughts. This book is heavy handed with almost every aspect of the book, which I think, drags the story considerably. It often made me want to stop reading it and pick it up later (or never). Still, after I persevered through it, I found myself more interested in how one views not only the information we are given, but also with what information about ourselves we give away. I think this is a novel I can respect, more than actually like. While I read it just to say I had, I can't say I enjoyed it. Therefore, I give it a three out of five. I think it should be read, if only as a warning, and not as a manual, of how things could go in the future.