Julia

Eagerly anticipating the release of “Julia: A Retelling of George Orwell's 1984,” I was thrilled by the prospect of revisiting the dystopian world through the eyes of Julia, a character whose enigmatic presence in Orwell's masterpiece had always intrigued me. While the idea of expanding upon Orwell's universe was enticing, the realization that the book was commissioned by Orwell's estate dampened my enthusiasm. It was hard to ignore the potential for commercial motives to overshadow the creative integrity of the project.

Upon reading the novel, my initial apprehension proved to be well-founded. The narrative lacked the captivating prose and thought-provoking depth that characterized Orwell's original work. The author's attempt to flesh out Julia's character fell short, failing to capture the essence of her complexities and motivations. Additionally, the plot deviated from the established canon of 1984, introducing inconsistencies and undermining the cohesiveness of the story.

While I commend the author's endeavor to explore Julia's perspective, the execution ultimately failed to live up to the promise of the premise. For those seeking a profound and immersive exploration of the themes raised in 1984, Orwell's original masterpiece remains the definitive text.

Never before had I read anything by author Sandra Newman. Actually, I've only heard about her because of "Julia", which I knew was going to be a story set in the same universe of Orwell's "1984", telling us what happens from the point of view of Winston Smith's love interest in the original story.

But Sandra Newman was so brilliant because she gives us much more than that. She ably describes Julia to us and how rich her own world is — her friends, her job, her problems, conflicts and decisions —, so much so that we can at the same time identify the key moments from the original story and the new ones, and thanks for that, because this new "1984" perspective is so entertaining and so deep in itself, so creative to the point of making "Julia" unputdownable to me. The book trespasses the original boundaries of Orwell and gets a very fine ending, a surprising one, to say the least.

I'm so very glad I've had the opportunity to read "Julia", and now can barely wait to read more from Sandra Newman. Totally recommend this if you like dystopias and "1984".

Well it has actualy been awhile since I read the original 1984, so I had to visit it right before I read this book. I do however remeber that when I first read this book I was messmerized and captured in alot of thinking, I was hoping that Julia would do the same. In some ways it did, but not as much as 1984 did for me.
I am super unsure where to even explain what my brain said while reading this book.
I really appriciate how we see and notise how the rebellion diffrent people here now. How we get to know Julia and her motivatins more and better.
This retelling hold little back and in terms of paiting a faerlessness but alos just how vuldreble and just how well... brain washed she is.

It is a grim and thought provoking book, that I think maybe we can all agree on. Yet I just am not so sure how much I really liked this book. Like the entire thing is executed well generally, just I was not so captured all the time. I wasnt rushing as I wanted to read more. It just went slowly by as I read.