1984 - George Orwell

1984

"April the 4th, 1984. To the past, or to the future. To an age when thought is free. From the Age of Big Brother, from the Age of the Thought Police, from a dead man... greetings."

1984 by George Orwell is a haunting insight into the future. It was first published in 1949, and held Orwell's ideas of what would occur by the time of 1984. In this faux future nothing is private. Big Brother watches everyone and everyone watches their neighbours. Constant war between the countries keeps the population following serious patriotism, those who breach any of the rules or become too interested are wiped from history, young girls are encouraged to join the anti sex league, and human language is being whittled down to "New Speak" consisting of the bare minimum of words. 

The book is the tale of Winston Smith and his efforts at rebelling against Big Brother, his forbidden romance with colleague Julia, and his battle with the ever present Thought Police. Winston and Julia go on a mission to find blind spots that Big Brother can't see.

Orwell writes the book in third person narrative, however I lost no connection with the characters. The story doesn't lose any of it's raw emotion or atmosphere. I found the characters to be realistic, there weren't any idealistic character traits that made the characters beyond my reach of logical understanding. 

The most frightening thing about the book is that most of Orwell's prediction's have come true. Orwell made me question just how protected my privacy really is, without really dictating the question directly. I enjoyed the book immensely and look forward to reading Orwell's other works.

It is a must read for any book lover.