Big Brother is always watching...

1984 - George Orwell

How could I talk about contemporary classics without including 1984 (see my previous post).

What makes it especially relevant to the audience I'll be talking to is the popularity of dystopian fiction (especially YA dystopian fiction) of late, i.e The Hunger Games, The Bridge, Days Like These and oh so many more. 1984 is arguably the greatest dystopian novel of all time, and has eerie relevance to our contemporary society. After re-reading this book I found it hard to shake the feeling of being watched - especially in the wake of documentaries such as Erasing David which goes to show just how much of our personal data is available.

George Orwell's understanding of the class system, and it's irrefutable place in all societies is amazing, and the transferable nature of the war in the book to the war in our own time (and likely for many to come) is eerie.

The book is a snatch of an ongoing and hopeless battle and is devastating in its timing and bleakness. The battle is for power, but the fight is fear and hatred against hope and the endurance of the human spirit. Given that it is almost commonplace now to carry a level of suspicion in most human interactions (and certainly our interactions with characters, where we almost expect to be fooled or betrayed), it is sort of wonderful that the betrayals in a book can still be surprising and heartbreaking.

From my first reading to my current reading, nothing has been lost in the relevance of this book and the amount of contemporary relevance makes 1984 not recommended, but compulsory reading.