WTF Orwell

Genre: Utopian/Dystopian fiction
Title: 1984
Author: George Orwell

Rating: 3/3
Justification: There is so much food for thought in this: definitely a must-read.

Plotline (from Goodreads):

Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell's chilling prophecy about the future. And while the year 1984 has come and gone, Orwell's narrative is timelier than ever. 1984 presents a startling and haunting vision of the world, so powerful that it is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the power of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of multiple generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions. A legacy that seems only to grow with the passage of time.

My take:

This might be said too much but...
... this thing is so creepily accurate.

Is Orwell actually an alien from the future or something, and did he travel to the past just to write this book in order to give us a premonition of what's going to happen to our world, sort of like a last ditch effort to tell us to save ourselves before it's too late?
^The most plausible explanation I could come up with so far :(

But seriously. Getting monitored 24/7 with telescreen? And hidden microphones? How the heck did he know all of this was going to happen? Of course, not everything's 100% accurate: in the book, Winston remarked that the glade (almost a spoiler but not really because I'm not saying what role the glade plays teehee I'm so clever) was a really good meeting place because the microphones were too big to be hidden inconspicuously in there. Now what part of that thought makes us realize 'oh sh*t'?

Yes, that is a microphone. And not even one of the smallest ones either. We are so screwed.

SpoilerAlert!

I'm aware my review is far from satisfactory. I have an excus--REASON! I found it really hard to talk about any section of the story I found exciting or worth talking about without spoiling at least part of the book. But thanks to this lovely spoiler section... :D

What is with all this hopelessness?!?!?! Can't Orwell give us anything to hold onto?

Mr. Charrington

Us: Oh look! An old but nice man, a remnant from the old society! This makes us feel nice even though he's living in relative poverty!
Orwell: Haha nope. He's actually part of the Thought Police!

O'Brien

Us: Yes, Winston finally found Goldstein and his people! Thank goodness he's found other people like him! O'Brien's going to make things better! How much better we feel!
Orwell: Haha nope. O'Brien was only posing as a good guy; he's actually out to get all these rebels and convert them into brainless Party-worshippers!

Julia
Us: At least Winston's found someone else who's rebellious and who he can share his ideas with! Also, she's young and pretty! We feel relatively good again!
Orwell: She can share his ideas? Haha nope. She's actually really ignorant and doesn't care to partake in his ideology, but just sleeps instead. She's pretty? Haha nope. I'm going to add description that says she's actually not that pretty after they get together just to make you feel extra bad.

What can we deduce from all of this? There's never a happy ending? Ignorance is bliss? We're all f*cked in the bum in the future?

WTF Orwell.