Anyone who looks through my old posts can clearly see that I failed to do that.
To make up for it, I've decided to review not one, but TWO books this week!
Thank goodness it was spring break last week and I spent most of the time reading.
1984 by George Orwell:
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| He's supposed to have a mustache, but all the other Big Brother posters with mustaches looked like Hitler and............oh. From: |
It's set in 1984 (duh) in London, and is told from the perspective of Winston Smith. The entire world has changed dramatically since the 1940's (which was the perspective Orwell was trying to make), and it's DEFINITELY not been good. The world has organized itself into three super-nations: Oceania (the Americas, British Isles, and Australia), Eurasia (the rest of Europe, Western Asia, and southern Africa), and EastAsia (pretty much everywhere else), that are constantly at war with each other.
In Oceania, where the story takes place, everyone is ruled by The Party. They are a massively powerful political party who's main ideas are 'WAR IS PEACE, SLAVERY IS FREEDOM, IGNORANCE IS PEACE' so I'll let you draw your own conclusions from that. People can be arrested for thinking bad thoughts against the party, but oddly enough killing is encouraged. Party members are constantly monitored by telescreens that they can't turn off, and hidden microphones. It's common for people to be taken away in the middle of the night and never seen again. And that's only the surface o-o.
The story is told from Winston's point of view, which is growing against The Party, and wishes to take action against the oppressors.
((Spoilerific for the characters, but the review is fine if you're interested. If you're interested in the other book, scroll down to the teaser for that.))
Characters:
Winston Smith: The main character of the story. He is a 39 year old man who leads the typical life of a party member, and is sort of a borderline alcoholic ((but then again, who wouldn't be?)). He constantly questions The Party's motives and ideals, and is fairly sure that they are horrible but can't tell for sure. His job is falsifying records to The Party's benefit in the Ministry of Truth.
He starts a diary to try and tell future generations about The Party, but doesn't get very far with it and abandons it after things start to heat up. You see, he meets a girl named Julia who works in the Ministry of Truth too (her job is making 'fiction' books for the party) and they fall in love. Kinda. It's more of a 'let's do it and rebell against the government' sorta thing. Anyway, they do that for a while and then they hear about this thing called The Brotherhood. It's a rebel group that wants to take down Big Brother and The Party, and they try to join it but then they're betrayed and it sucks.
When they get caught, they're taken to the Ministry of Love, and are brainwashed into thinking The Party's ideals, and then the story ends.
Julia: The girl that Winston falls in love with. She has been rebelling against The Party since she was a teenager (she's 25 now) with acts of 'love'. I wanna call her a half rebel, since she mostly rebels for the fun of it, and less because it's against The Party's rules. She's really good at breaking the rules, but she doesn't seem extremely intelligent.
O'Brian: An Inner Party member who betrays Julia and Winston.
Inner Party: The elite of The Party. They get a bunch of special privileges such as good food and music that members of the Outer Party (like Winston and Julia) don't get.
Anyway, O'Brian is a shithead and no one can say otherwise. He pretends likes he's Julia and Winston's friend, pretends to invite them into The Brotherhood, and then it turns out he was just trying to arrest them the whole time! And then he's the one that brainwashes them into loving The Party.
Big Brother: The figurehead of The Party. I'm pretty sure he never actually existed, but that isn't the point. He's supposed to be the one thing that Party members love. Not their families, not their friends, only love for Big Brother.
Goldstien: The supposed leader of The Brotherhood. I don't think he existed either, and was just a trap for people who commit thinkcrime.
Review:
I want to explain more about the book, but then you'll never read it so there isn't much point.
I didn't really expect to like this book when I got it, but I thought I should read it since it's really famous and there are a bunch of references to it everywhere.
But.........holy crap this is a freaky book.
Not only is the idea of this sort of society existing frightening, the inside look that you get is even worse. There's the one scene where Winston kicked a severed hand into the gutter just after watching the guy who it belonged to get blown up by a rocket bomb like it was nothing!
And then there's the brainwashing part that's just...........*shivers in disgust*.
Don't get me wrong, this is a genuinely interesting book. But it's nothing like the dystopians you've read in the past.
I didn't like it very much, but maybe you will enjoy it more than I did.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell:
We're drastically changing gears here to a much happier and modern book.
I just realized how completely different these two books are.....weird.
Teaser Thing:
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| From: |
Unfortunately for Cath, college brings around a lot of issues that Simon Snow can't help her with, like making friends, trying to take care of her bipolar dad, and love.
((spoilerific from here on out guys))
Characters:
Cath: The narrator of the story. An 18 year old who has usually relied on her outgoing sister in terms of social interaction, but her sister has decided to not spend as much time with Cath now that they're at college, which leaves Cath floundering in this new world. She finds solace in her writing, but of course she can't escape being friends with her roommate Megan, falling for Megan's friend Levi who is always in their room.
Wren: Cath's older sister who takes the party route during college. She and Cath used to be inseparable, but Wren wanted freedom from the whole twin thing (which I totally understand, but still she was really mean about it considering that Cath can't handle talking to new people) so she ditched Cath for her roommate Courtney. Wren goes to a bunch of parties, gets drunk a lot, and eventually gets alcohol poisoning which gets her to stop drinking so YAY!
Levi: The very attractive farm boy (which are unsurprisingly common considering they're in Iowa) who eventually ends up with Cath. He used to date Megan, but they broke up after starting college. He's an incredibly happy dude, always smiling and will help a friend at a moments notice. I think he's dyslexic, so he has to record a lot of his lectures and listen to them over so he understands whats going on in his classes.
He's a cutie patootie and makes me happy :)
Regan: Cath's roomate. She's a lot edgier than Cath (then again a pillow is edgier than Cath), which freaks her out, but eventually they become pretty good friends.
Nick: Cath's writer friend who turns out to be a huge asshole later :/
Review:
I know I sort of half-assed this review, but give me a break alright? The 1984 one took a while and I have other stuff to write.
I think that I might have a weird insight on this book, as an introverted teenager with social anxiety that enjoys writing and has triplet brothers, which probably swayed my opinion.
But seriously this is an amazing book. I have so much respect for Rainbow Rowell, because each of her books manage to be fun and happy, but also make you want cry without being overwhelming.
I realize that any of my guy readers (if I have any, shout out to the bros!), they probably won't enjoy this book as much as the girls, but it's worth a shot if it's raining and you don't have biking or whatever you do.
Gal readers, just read it. I know a lot of you will relate to Cath, and it's a great read.
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Alright, got you guys TWO reviews.
Do with them what you will.
Since a link is still required, I invite you to play this game, which is horrible and will ruin your life.
You're welcome.
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