-
Welcome
to BookAndReader! We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!
Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.
George Orwell
- Thread starter bmwguy
- Start date
avidreader55
kickbox
I read that book before the real 1984 had even arrived. 
After reading it, try "Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank.
After reading it, try "Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank.
bmwguy
New Member
Originally posted by avidreader55
I read that book before the real 1984 had even arrived.
After reading it, try "Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank.
Thanks for the response and the suggestion! I just finished 1984, and have already begun reading Huxely's (did I spell that correctly?) "Brave, New World." I'll be sure to look into "Alas, Babylon" after I'm finished!
Litany
Active Member
I read 1984 back when I was a teenager, but it's the sort of book that can really change the way you look at the world, and its themes certainly stay with you. Already we have Newspeak, the use of war as a economy boost and Room 101 (Jinkies, but that's a terrible program). We have cameras following us around every where. There are laws curtailing our freedoms passed every five minutes. Identity cards looming on the horizon. You look at what's currently happening in the world and you think back to what happened in the book and it can be really quite frightening.
Brave New World didn't have as great an impact on me. But even there, there are resonances with current day issues, such as cloning.
Brave New World didn't have as great an impact on me. But even there, there are resonances with current day issues, such as cloning.
Alas, Babylon is a terrific book (double-plus good!), but in a different way than Orwell's, methinks. Orwell (Huxley, also) used his quill to present his opinion on various high-level political topics, whereas Babylon is really more of a humanistic view of the aftermath of nuclear conflagration. If there's any political message, it's aimed solely at the nuclear arms race itself, rather than at any one political system.
I think if you enjoy the political commentary of Orwell, you might also like Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451; it has the same take of humanity-in-the-face-of-fascism that Orwell captures in his books.
Some others I can think of include A Clockwork Orange, Parliament of Whores, Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, Breakfast of Champions, and, oddly enough, Keith Laumer's Retief series, which has a hilarious take on the inner workings of international politics.
I think if you enjoy the political commentary of Orwell, you might also like Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451; it has the same take of humanity-in-the-face-of-fascism that Orwell captures in his books.
Some others I can think of include A Clockwork Orange, Parliament of Whores, Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, Breakfast of Champions, and, oddly enough, Keith Laumer's Retief series, which has a hilarious take on the inner workings of international politics.
Litany
Active Member
I found Fahrenheit 451 a little dull to be honest. It's a short book, but still very little actually happens and when it does happen it's just not that interesting. More the fault of the execution than the idea. Could have been a much better story I think.
A Clockwork Orange was a very disturbing read. The main character is completely hateful and it's really unpleasant being drawn into his life. But I do think that it's one of those books that everyone should read at least once.
A Clockwork Orange was a very disturbing read. The main character is completely hateful and it's really unpleasant being drawn into his life. But I do think that it's one of those books that everyone should read at least once.
Yeah, I like most of Bradbury's stuff, but I agree that F-451 wasn't among his best. Still an interesting read, for a person studying poli-sci through reading literature.
My favorite aspect of Clockwork was how the invented slang sort of cut through the reader's own preconceived notions and made them look at the action through the author's lens. It was disturbing, though.
bobbyburns
New Member
you can't help feeling sorry for alex, though. he's a horrible person, but you sense in the end that he is nothing more than a 'victim of the modern age', so you just feel sorrier for him when he's conditioned with no way to defend himself.
it's a nice little paradox.
it's a nice little paradox.
Alex is the product of that society, a whistleblower that is consistently ignored. And you do feel sorry for him. Not just because he had no empathy towards his victims, but also because of the treatment he gets and what that does to him. He is a disposable product of a disposable society.
Hmmm... well, I don't know if I feel sorry for him; after all, he was a child rapist who beat old women and strangers on the street. For me, the underlying message was more about how someone's fundamental nature cannot be changed; after all the horrendous things the authorities did to him, he was still the same depraved person, only one who could now feel guilt and possibly keep his behaviors in check when he was being observed. I think this describes many of us; who wouldn't commit some crime or other if they didn't know they'd be caught and jailed or damned to Hell or some other? And the bit about how he knew his son was going to do all the stupid, hurtful things he had done -- that was pretty poignant.
I guess a lot of what someone gets from this book and their point of view depends on if they've read the version of the book that has the last chapter excised or included. Much changes in the last chapter, and leaves open many questions.
I guess a lot of what someone gets from this book and their point of view depends on if they've read the version of the book that has the last chapter excised or included. Much changes in the last chapter, and leaves open many questions.
Litany
Active Member
I didn't feel sorry for Alex. Hated him to be honest. Clockwork Orange was one of the first books I ever read where I detested the main character from beginning to end. Even when he was he was going through the treatment I couldn't muster any sympathy for him. While I didn't agree that the treatment was right, I felt it was right that at last the little bastard might understand some of the misery he'd put other people through and that he should suffer as they had suffered, if only for a short while. I think part of what made the book so disturbing for me was how it provoked such strong negative emotions in me, and showed me that hidden right wing streak that wanted public floggings brought back.
silverseason
New Member
I agree with the above. Orwell even had a sense of humor, at times. Try Keep the Aspidistra Flying or Coming up for Air. Orwell was an interesting character with a gift for complicating his personal life. He understood the role of language in influencing our thoughts and attitudes, especially political speech.
Animal Farm is excellent, but I am not sure it is a must read. Unless you take it as a comment on revolutions en mass rather than specifically Stalinism.
Anyway, your comment reminded me of something that nags me about the book. Is the old pig that dies in the beginning Marx or Lenin?
nickupton
Member
Animal Farm and 1984 are great and I can see a lot of any government in both of them.
In animal farm I love the way the protest about milk and apples is put down by bringing a TV into the barn. I feel that has a lot of relevance today in many parts of the world. People won't complain too much about things that really matter so long as they have their gadgets.
In animal farm I love the way the protest about milk and apples is put down by bringing a TV into the barn. I feel that has a lot of relevance today in many parts of the world. People won't complain too much about things that really matter so long as they have their gadgets.
SFG75
Well-Known Member
I read Animal Farm when I was in 5th grade. I was fascinated by Soviet history and knew the ins and outs of communism, as well as who the key leaders were at the time. I found the bok to be very exciting and in my own head, I made the connections of "who was who" in regards to real life politician and respective pig.:lol: I remember it like it was yesterday, I read the whole thing over and over again. Ahhhhh, memories.