Laura Nowlin
1984 is the most terrifying book I have ever read. This dystopian government is believable, realistic even, but also the most brutal and dehumanizing government ever imagined. The following quote sums it up:
"We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power... The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.”
― George Orwell, 1984
The text is also some of the most lyrical and beautiful writing I have ever read. There is a moment in this book, when the lovers are interrupted, that is so surprising and so terrifying that it made me literally drop the book.
And that last line. God, that last line.
"We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power... The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.”
― George Orwell, 1984
The text is also some of the most lyrical and beautiful writing I have ever read. There is a moment in this book, when the lovers are interrupted, that is so surprising and so terrifying that it made me literally drop the book.
And that last line. God, that last line.
More Answered Questions
Kimaya Mathew
asked
Laura Nowlin:
I am really delighted by all your answers to readers, Laura. Especially your honesty, where you said that you will not continue with the sequels or prequels for this stand alone novel. Not read the book entirely, just started with it; but yes, do tell me where do you get your writing inspirations from?
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