1984 written by George Orwell is a great book if you want to get into the classics, if you read his other book, Animal Farm, you might like this book as well.

A grotesque take of a corrupt communist society, 1984 follows Winston Smith, a cog in the machine in the records department of the Ministry of Truth. His work forces him to work with the documents of the “erased,” those who have committed atrocities towards the party and therefore are erased. Winston struggles with the meaning of how to be human in a world that does not value the creativity of the individual but rather the longevity of the party under their leader, Big Brother. People in this society are blatantly brainwashed consistently throughout the novel and the only one bothered by this seems to be Winston. He buys a contraband journal where he writes these thoughtcrimes and eventually finds a woman that shares the same thoughts as him.

It’s interesting to see the parallels between this book and our world today where Uncle Sam represents our country, and communist Vietnam former president Ho Chi Minh is referred to as “Uncle.” Big Brother always watching is also symbolic of North Korea, where it is custom for every room to have portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-un watching over their citizens at all times.

I would recommend this book to those who enjoyed: Zone of Interest, The Creator, Oppenheimer, All Quiet on the Western Front, or the Matrix. The similar theme among these are humans versus their government and their allegiance to their morality party.

1984 by George Orwell is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.