YA Buddy Readers' Corner ♥ discussion

Join Lydia and June in this BR in August. It can be used for the MMC in Disney Bookish Books or Page Count.

Today is the start of the BR for 1984. Hope you can join.
Just a few questions to get us started.

What made you want to read this book?
First impressions so far?

This has been quoted as THE book to start the dystopian genre which I read quite often. I can't believe it was written in the 1940s and yet seemed so accurate. I read Animal Farm in school which I was found fascinating with the allusions to Communism which I was studying at the time.

I think I read this already and found it intense and didn't get all the nuances. Hopefully this time around I will understand it better.

What made me want to read this book:
We discussed Animal farm in -literature class I think- in school and I thought it was kind of interesting so I decided to read 1984 :)

Chapter 1 :(view spoiler)[ I am a bit confused as to what exactly is going on,but I like our rebel so far :) .. I am curious whether you could read books ,or that was as illegal as writing them.. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 2 (view spoiler)[ Being afraid of your kids is the worst side of this dictatorship.If don't have people to love ,to trust you are already dead (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 5 (view spoiler)[ I cannot believe these kids set fire to a woman for using a bb poster..
And I would prefer a narrator from within the book (hide spoiler)]

I'm currently in Part II. So my thinking of part I.

I can see how you would categorise this as a horror. Oceania is such a dreary place to live. There is absolutely no-one you can trust. The government has set about to eliminate any form of rebellion. You are constantly monitored via telescreen. Then your neighbours or colleagues can report you to the ThoughtPolice. Even scary is the scene with the children from next door to Winston. That mother was in absolute terror of her children. They have been indoctrinated to spy and denounce anyone who is different. In addition, marriage is scary- you really have no say in the matter. The main preoccupation is to get children either to eventually turn you in for being different or to be sent off to war. But yet there is the hypocrisy of the prostitutes - blind eye and not really enforced. Overall Oceania makes me feel that being a nail that sticks out is not good. Don't think I would have survived there. It is too dehumanizing. Make me wonder about the effects of WW II on Orwell.

And then there is Winston Smith.Our flawed hero. He seems to be waiting for a rebellion even though outwardly everyone seems resigned. Even the POWs. I like that despite every sign that to rebel, really to have your own thoughts and to question authority, Winston has hope. He remembers a time when things were different. But that may be easy for him as he is part of the Propaganda machine and revises history as needed. Not sure why he trusts O'Brien though.

It amazes me that Winston, though he didn't like Syme already knew his outcome. It seems like a foreshadowing for himself, as he too is not really a conformist. I love that through writing he can finally be free to express himself. But not sure if I like him - not sure about his views on women and that may be colouring my view of him.

Lydia wrote: "What made me want to read this book:
We discussed Animal farm in -literature class I think- in school and I thought it was kind of interesting so I decided to read 1984 :)

Chapter 1 :[spoilers re..."

Hi Abby, books as we know it are different. You are dictated what you can read. And to write anything against Oceania means eventually you will disappear or as the book says become a nonperson.

And for an avid reader, this is more than I could bear. Imagine none of your favorite authors. Not to mention the numerous book recalls.

June wrote: "Lydia wrote: "What made me want to read this book:
We discussed Animal farm in -literature class I think- in school and I thought it was kind of interesting so I decided to read 1984 :)

Chapter 1..."

This may be the worst aspect of it ..and the chocolate of course :)

The food sounds awful, but imitation chocolate??? How did women survive? Lol

Part II
(view spoiler)[ I was glad for the romance, or whatever that was, between Winston and Julia. It broke up the dreariness of the novel. But it seemed so random. I was laughing at Winston who initially wanted to do her bodily harm, but it was just repressed lust.
I thought Winston was older, not 39. That was the main surprise for me. (view spoiler)[

This section seemed to moved more than the first part. The risks taken by Winston were crazy but helped me like him a little better. This part helped me understand Winston and BB a bit better.

Those slogans are crazy. I gave up trying to make sense of the contradictory terms. Seems like madness to me. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Part II up to chap3
(view spoiler)[ Sex as a political movement..A dramatic twist would be for her to get preganant (I'm not sure whether they had condoms then) (hide spoiler)]

Part II
(view spoiler)[ Noo!I was starting to like them..Trust no one !
The chapters from the rebel book were kinda boring (hide spoiler)]

June wrote: "Part II
I was glad for the romance, or whatever that was, between Winston and Julia. It broke up the dreariness of the novel. But it seemed so random. I was laughing at Winston who initially wante..."
Yes loving someone she did not even know was a littlw out of the blue but they match apparently

Finished :)

I've read this book a while ago and it was such a good book but at the same time everything made me so frustrated. their whole world is so frustrating and the whole time I was just wondering how people could be so naive.

@ Lydia:I was intrigued by that initial view in part II with sex. And I agree strangely enough they did match.

And for me the rebel book was not as helpful as I expected. In terms of the ending, my mind could not fully comprehend the horror.

Katia wrote: "I've read this book a while ago and it was such a good book but at the same time everything made me so frustrated. their whole world is so frustrating and the whole time I was just wondering how pe..."

I agree Katie, and even though I knew they had be indoctrinated and deluded, how was everyone so still and quiet. But I wonder how much of this was due to Orwell experience of war.

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Reading from the 29th of October 2015

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20% I'm really not liking it... (view spoiler)[ how can u be punished for enjoying having sex with your spouse??? (hide spoiler)]

20% I'm really not liking it... (view spoiler)[ how can u be punished for enjoying having sex with your spouse??? (hide spoiler)]

33%. Who is the girl?? (view spoiler)[ how does she just write I love you?? I'm curious.. (hide spoiler)]

I wanted to read this but I can't get ahold of the book. There are three people in front of me.

I had to get it in audiobook so I listen to it in my commute to work.. Hopefully I'll finish by sarurday

67% (view spoiler)[ this party book has lots of rules if the say black is white it MUST!! Ummm.. Winston May have made a way too unwise decision (hide spoiler)]

finished.. (view spoiler)[ This book became better towards the end. I did not really like the end though cuz I think that Winston did get shot in the brain, and his last thought was that he loved the Brother hood, he was broken... :( (hide spoiler)]

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Date Changed. Restarting April 1st 2016. Happy Reading ☺

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Have to read this for class, and I'm really not looking forward to it. But here goes

Part One Chapter one (I guess?)
(view spoiler)[ So starting this off, it doesn't seem as bad as I remember. The last time I read this I was a freshman in high school, so maybe I'll have a different opinion on this now that I'm older. I don't remember anything about this book other than the fact that I hated it, but so far it has an intriguing feel to it (hide spoiler)]

I'm finding that since I've actually learned how to annotate a book, this isn't as torturous to read as it was back when I was 13/14

Part 1 chapter 6
(view spoiler)[ It's getting to the point where Winston is nothing but a lonely, paranoid, old man. It's getting really repetitive, and I'm starting to grow bored. I hope the plot actually starts to move forward soon (hide spoiler)]

Just finished part 1
(view spoiler)[ This started alright enough, but as I've read on, it's starting to bore me to sleep. I can really only read about 5 or 6 pages at a time before I need to take a break. I just have no interest in this story (hide spoiler)]

I'll read this with you! Can't start for a few days, so I may be a bit behind. I'll let you know how it goes! :)

No worries. I'm still in part 2 anyway, so it might be a little bit before I actually finish it

Part 3 chapter 2
(view spoiler)[ This is so crazy. Winston is probably one of the only sane people in this world, and they think they need to cure him. If they weren't so crazy themselves, they would realize how wrong they are. I still hate this book (hide spoiler)]

I'm finally done
(view spoiler)[ I'll admit that I don't hate this as much as I did in high school, but I still really hated it. The plot is so dry and dlow, and the ending just makes me so angry. I'm glad to be done with this. (hide spoiler)]

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Reading from the 20th of March 2017

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Started a bit early.

Part 1, Chapter 6: (view spoiler)[I don't like the idea of newspeak. We spent the entirety of civilization expanding our language and they suddenly want to shrink it? (hide spoiler)]

Part 2, Chapter 7: (view spoiler)[It makes sense that there's an underground resistance. And I bet that's gonna end up causing a lot of trouble. (hide spoiler)]

Part 3, Chapter 1: (view spoiler)[See? Knew they'd be caught. And it's not gonna be pretty. Wonder what Room 101 is. (hide spoiler)]

Finished: (view spoiler)[I would have sold Julia out too! Being eaten alive by rats? Ugh! Pretty sad how they can basically just beat you into submission. (hide spoiler)]

Chapters 1 - 5

(view spoiler)[Really enjoying it so far, to have written this 1949 is very ahead of it's time, it's not hard to imagine a less intense version of some of this in the years to come.

I especially liked the way Syme's character was so interested and excited by the concept of reducing language to it's most basic form, as it is more efficient. In the 50's this may have sounded outlandish, but with mobile phones and general digital communication we're actually going down a similar path already (NewSpeak = txtspk).

I find the concept of Hate (eg Two Minute's Hate and Hate Week)
very interesting. Winston seems aware of how fabricated this hate is though, that he feels he can direct it shows that it is not organic. Wonder where this will lead and whether it's motives will be looked into?

Really excited to see where it goes, although a bit off putting a first I like the way Orwell is immersing us in the jargon and life of 1984 without all the explanation given to us, more that he will introduce a concept and then later go into it in more detail, it feels more natural than certain authors going to lengths to ensure the reader understands everything about the universe as they discover it. (hide spoiler)]

Sorry Will I forgot that I had not made a comment in here so I didn't get the notification. I went ahead and read the whole book while I thought I was waiting for you. I will keep my comment in line with yours as you post them.

Chapters 1(view spoiler)[ The whole Idea of Winston hiding in the alcove out of view of the telescreen with the diary he purchased so big brother can not see him brought home just how bad life was in 1984. (hide spoiler)]

Will wrote: "Chapters 1 - 5

(view spoiler)[ I especially liked the way Syme's character was so interested and excited by the concept of reducing language to it's most basic form, as it is more efficient. In the 50's this may have sounded outlandish, but with mobile phones and general digital communication we're actually going down a similar path already (NewSpeak = txtspk)
I didn't think of txtspk you are so right about that. I was thinking along the line of how it was like the old shorthand we had to learn in High School. But Orwell was way ahead of his time in the way he was thinking. (hide spoiler)]

Will wrote: "Chapters 1 - 5

(view spoiler)[ I find the concept of Hate (eg Two Minute's Hate and Hate Week)
very interesting. Winston seems aware of how fabricated this hate is though, that he feels he can direct it shows that it is not organic. Wonder where this will lead and whether it's motives will be looked into
This I found totally bizarre it feels like a form of brain washing Winston is a very strong character he is constantly bucking the system. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 2 (view spoiler)[ Thoughtcrime my mind just boggles at how anyone could prevent themselves of committing this crime it has to be impossible. I can just imagine the Junior Spies having a field day with this. It would be like one great big game to them. (hide spoiler)]

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Date changed. Restarting September 21st AND October 2nd 2019. Happy Reading ☺

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Should be starting the audio for this tomorrow. First time reading so finally ready to see what all the fuss is about 😊

Well I will say the audio I'm listening to sounds like narration from a silent movie. It's very dry and is not helping at all lol.
Chapters 1-5(view spoiler)[WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. --> That's so scary sounding and disheartening especially given how strongly the people seem to be going along with it. Then again I guess with the threat of disappearing one night and having your existence wiped clean would motivate people to be their best selves. This thought police is horrifying and just wrong. Talk about invasive, but then again is it so different from today's society. Hell there's so much mention of the government listening in through our devices one has to see that us living in some dystopian novel is already part reality. (hide spoiler)]
I am feeling like the writing is a bit choppy, going off on tangents that it's not the easiest for me to follow or stay engaged.