FEATURED BOOK: Nineteen Eighty-Four

What Amazon says:
The year is 1984; the scene is London, largest population center of Airstrip One.
Airstrip One is part of the vast political entity Oceania, which is eternally at war with one of two other vast entities, Eurasia and Eastasia. At any moment, depending upon current alignments, all existing records show either that Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia and allied with Eastasia, or that it has always been at war with Eastasia and allied with Eurasia. Winston Smith knows this, because his work at the Ministry of Truth involves the constant "correction" of such records. "'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.'"

In a grim city and a terrifying country, where Big Brother is always Watching You and the Thought Police can practically read your mind, Winston is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. He knows the Party's official image of the world is a fluid fiction. He knows the Party controls the people by feeding them lies and narrowing their imaginations through a process of bewilderment and brutalization that alienates each individual from his fellows and deprives him of every liberating human pursuit from reasoned inquiry to sexual passion. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.



What I Say:
OK. Iconic is such a fashion buzz-word but, seriously, this book is ICONIC.

It's one of those books that everyone should read at least once in their lives. It's especially relevant to today's hyper-fearful society and it is, if your into this sort of thing, beautifully written.

I love the way this book seems to go on for ages with not much happening so as the reader almost becomes complacent with the hipocritical highly-restrictive society
and then BAM! the set changes and the book turns a very sharp corner. This change-of-direction occurs quite late in the book which is what is so disturbing but also fascinating.

This is the sort of book that makes you think, think, think. After finishing you'll want to pick it up and start from the beginning again - it's that amazing.

What else? This book has love, fear, hate, revenge, passion, anger, nonchalance and many more emotions. One feels that we are personally involved with the horrors which occur in the "Ingsoc" society. The governing party's slogan is very and really frightening:

"War is Peace. Ignorance is Strength. Freedom is Slavery."

Definitely worth a read, a HIGHLY recommend it. And remember, "Big Brother is Watching You."