Book Review | 1984 by George Orwell

I read this book during the COVID-1984 pandemic and it instantly confirmed all my biases.

That’s the problem with this book – you will use it to confirm your political feelings for the rest of your life. Any political action you see that you disagree with will be easily relatable to one of the dystopian concepts presented in 1984 (ex. my reaction to the COVID-1984 lockdowns).

Everywhere you look you’ll start to see opposing media rewriting history or your political opposites (parents / friends / enemies on Twitter) engaging in doublethink or accusing you of thought crimes.

I think it is important to be aware of these concepts and be wary of their encroachment on our everyday lives and values, while simultaneously giving context to our lived experience by comparing it to people facing much worse, happening right now, real atrocities all across the world (Yeonmi Park’s escape from North Korea comes to mind)

With that being said, the fact that this book was published in 1949 and is still incredibly relevant today is a testament to how well it was written.

A must read.