I didn't read this classic in high school, but I tackled it in college, and I'm so glad I did.
1984 (or Nineteen Eighty-Four) by George Orwell is a futuristic dystopian. It's a difficult little book. It presents many concepts that are hard to understand and wrap your head around because it features a lot of contradictory ideas and phrases.
I didn't enjoy it at first, but I kept pushing through. Sometimes classics aren't very enjoyable until the end. And about two-thirds of the way through this one, I finally liked it. And I liked it a lot.
It's been a few years, and I'd sort of like to re-read it. It's difficult to decide to reread classics though because they typically are more difficult and time-consuming to read.
I would recommend this to people who enjoy dystopians and don't mind slow building books that are a little difficult to follow.
I've read 1984 two or three times now, and I think it gets easier on re-reading. (It probably helps there were a few years between reading, too, and I like to think my ability as a reader has grown!) I was actually struck the most recent time I read it about how I actually thought it was more boring this time around, though. I guess I hadn't really picked up on the long propaganda inserts the first time, or else sincerely though they were interesting!
ReplyDeleteI think the propaganda is more interesting when you haven't realized how much occurs in real life! I remember thinking it was super boring for the first half or so , and then I got into it. But I also feel like it's something I reference constantly.
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