Nineteen Eighty-What?

Hey everybody. Sorry for yesterday. My alter ego is working on a top secret project, and he didn't really leave me any time to come over here and write up a little something for all of you out there. Any hoo, I'm here now, so let's get started.

I finished another novel this last week. I feel like I'm starting to read more than I ever did back in college. It really does equip you for a lifetime of education. Anyways, the book I finished this week was George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. It wasn't exactly what I thought it was.

For some reason, I thought this book was supposed to be filled with action. You know, explosions and intrigue around every corner. Well, maybe I didn't think they'd be around every corner. But it really is not that type of book. If anything, it's mostly about politics and psychology.

This story is set in the retro-future, year 1984. In this world, the Party, led by the well-known Big Brother, runs nearly every aspect of life in Oceania. They allow the Proles (Proletariats) to do almost whatever they want to do. However, everyone in the Party, Inner or Outer, is subject to pervasive scrutiny of their every action by the government. If you blink wrong, say a word in a different way, or even talk in your sleep, the Party will come and get you and take you away.

The story follows Winston Smith as he digs deeper and deeper into the truth of the world he lives in. Let's just say that it's quite scary. I don't want to ruin the story by giving away too much more, so I'll stop here for now. Go, find the book somewhere and read it.