This is easily one of the scariest books I've read this year. No, it isn't a horror genre, but much worse - Dystopian fiction. It reinforces the notion that human beings can be worse than any other living or imagined monsters in the universe.
A warning to Governments and people alike, this political saga takes the manipulation of the human psyche to a different level, not just through the storytelling and characterisation, but also in reaching out into the recesses of the readers' minds. The dangers of a totalitarian society could not have been portrayed any better than this novel.
Characters
Winston Smith's journey of helpless fear that gives way to progressive degradation tears into the senses. One is as much disturbed by the waste of his intellectual capacity as his final submission.
Julia's optimism contrasts with Winston's doomed pessimistic overtures and highlights the futility of both their temperaments under the applying circumstances of their society.
Big Brother - the omniscient entity colours all the pages with a dreadful symbolic presence.
O'Brian offers the crucial twists in the storyline, as does Mr.Charrington, who evolves into more importance as the story proceeds.
Storyline
The first word that describes the feel of what the plot's all about: creepy. Being watched 24/7 by totalitarian eyes is impossible to fathom for civilians who take democracy for granted.
The idea of a punishable 'Thoughtcrime', where the slightest expression in the eyes or face can give oneself away to sure death, is horror of a different kind.
The violence of torture methodologies and the final horror of room 101 brings the innate darkness of inhumane deprivation of humankind.
The extreme manipulation of the human psyche to wipe out and replace basic intelligence with robotic subservience entails a stronger texture of incredulous acceptance of the truth in it's possibility.
Conclusion
An eye-opener must-read for those who cluelessly support dominant communism and also for those who tend to take the blessings of democracy for granted. What makes it more petrifying is that Orwell is supposed to have written it from his own true experiences of living in a communist society.
Rating the book 4.6 for sheer, compelling, gargantuan profundity. Plus and minus points are paradoxically for the bitter portrayal of the truth.
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Happy reading, readers!
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