1984

just finished this book and found it absolutely frightening. has anyone else read it? if so how did it affect you?


(if you read the book you understand why i posted this in this forum, if not then pick it up and read it)

im sure a lot of people have read it. it's terrible (the world there). it doesn't affect me in the slightest.

I liked the room 101 concept. There's always that one thing.

Rather watch the movie atm. Got a long reading list ahead of me.

Blasphemy!

Wow, people only just reading this >.>

only thing frightening is that you're just reading it. which means
/getoffmylawn

idk why but the title of this thread made me think of this song..

this

Book's ok.

Van Halen album's better.

Glory days of David Lee Roth.

Alex and Eddie just shredding it.

Michael Anthony...being Michael Anthony and not Eddie's annoying son.

Panama, ***.

PANAMA!

Edit: Also, bah. Didn't see the Van Halen video posted above this b/c work PC doesn't display vid links and had to check from my phone.

Either way.

PANAMA-A-A-A-A-AHH!

I enjoyed the movie

I remember reading it years ago, but I honestly don't remember much of the plot. It must be one of those things where the reality can't live up to the hype.

Big Brother is watching you.

It's one of those books that you read in your mid/late teens and kind of blows your mind, but when you go back and reread it; it doesn't stir you the same way as an adult.

It is much like Catcher in the Rye in that regard; it just loses something as an adult. Though in the case of Catcher in the Rye, it doesn't so much "lose" anything as much as your perspective shifts a little and you get a different take on the main character. So really that's a strength of the book, I suppose.

Whether that’s because you identify with it less or you’ve simply grown older and more jaded is difficult to say in any objective sense. Though I know some of Salinger’s other works I still find very valid.

Inversely, there are some authors that I thought were utter crap when I was a teen – Hemingway comes to mind…and Dickens, as much as I am loathe to admit – that I appreciate now in ways I wouldn’t have begun to understand 15 years ago.

Thank you!

It was mandatory in our high school English Lit. class. I liked it just fine, but Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis' was the mind blowing one for me.


At what other time in your life would you even give a nod to 'Catcher In The Rye'? Completely agree with you, but there's a reason why it shows up in the HS curriculum.

EDIT: Wait! Wait! Wait! I overlooked something...You don't like Dickens?!? Yeah...Not a fan of 'Great Expectations' or 'Oliver Twist', but 'A Tale of Two Cities' is fantastic!!!

DOUBLE EDIT: Mark Twain...Best American author/satirist ever! I read 'The Innocence Abroad' for the umpteenth time a month or two ago. Also, read 'Roughing It'.

haven't gotten around to reading it but I know the jist of the book as it's been discussed many times and we went over it several times over the summer in class as we were reading some short stories of his.

I do find it funny that most people read the book without knowing much of the author and think the totally wrong thing.

I won't say more til I read it though, as I'm reviewed bias.

On another note: a friend of mine sent me a text last night saying one of his short stories is being published, so great news for an aspiring writer, maybe he won't be completely poor.

Did someone finally set up the FFXIAH book club? Also, I feel ashamed to say this, but I haven't read it. Bad Secondary Ed English major, bad!

lol really? relax guys.

Hate Dickens. But I concede his work has more relevance that I used to give it credit for having.

I completely agree, except I've always loved Hemingway.

J.K. Rowling > all these no name authors you're talking about.

Suzanne Collins, Stephenie Meyer, J.K. Rowling, R.L. Stine

Mount Rushmore of literary achievement

Awesome awesome book. Now find similarities in today's world.

Like the renaming the Department of War to Department of Defense.
Current day wiretapping/surveillance at the fear of terrorism.

I think it's important to try and avoid that type of dystopia. But also not to go nuts thinking about how we're all ***.

Wow, people are still book elitists?

There's so much information and knowledge out there that you can't expect everyone to be on the same page. I don't expect a neurosurgeon to have read this book or any other that doesn't pertain to his science. I don't expect a psychologist to "know" the difference between pinot noir and merlot.

Yet we still see so many book and wine elitists who want to act like they're better because of their experiences. Get over yourself.

I don't agree. I think 1984 is able to live through the emotional whirlwind of your teen years and can still be appreciated as an adult. I do agree that Catcher is less likely to.

Why? 1984 is a political novel, not wholly an emotional one. Winston's psychological state is the way it is because of the world he lives in clashing with his desires. Holden Caulfield, on the other hand, is coming to terms with his angst in a perfectly normal world.

I'm not sure my statement as much reflects the book's quality or relevance as much as it’s become too familiar. Too many of its concepts are too close to reality for so many people; we’ve become a very jaded, cynical society. It loses something not so much because of its age as much as because of our age.

Or it could just be I am too jaded and cynical with the concepts at this point and I'm attributing my own views to more people sharing them than I should.

Edit: also, obviously, the concepts have been replayed hundreds of times in different forms of media...which in and of itself has implications that kind of make my head spin.

But it's like someone watching Citizen Kane for the first time now and not quite grasping its significant because they're seeing it out of context. They see it and don't get why it's such a big deal anymore because the shooting angles, the pans, the lighting...it was never used in those ways before and now it's a common occurence in every film out there.

All this said, I return to my original thought on this thread:


PANAMA.

PANAMA-A-A-A-A-AHH.

PANAMA!

considering there's no need for a department that would violate international law, changing it's name serves a purpose.

what people will do/allow in the name of security is frightening.

they stopped using it in schools here so i didn't read it as a kid (imo they did that so that kids wouldn't have another reason to notice how government is getting bigger and endangering their future) so i read it on my own accord.


i am 32 but if i had read this book at 15 i don't think it would have had the same effect on me as i wouldn't have been able to connect to winston and julia's relationship since at that age i wouldn't have had anything to base it on. i'm married now so how the world affected their relationship made the rest of it so much more vivid.


and whoever mentioned a book club...that wouldn't be a bad idea.

i'm reading Brave New World now and Tale of Two Cities is next