I don’t often reread books, the old adage of so little time, so many books ticking like a clock behind me. This is the book I have reread the most, at least 10 times at this point, and the book that I say is my favorite book of all time, depending on the audience. (My favorite book is really Lamb by Christopher Moore, but that is a fictional “what if” about the life of Jesus, that entire chunk that is missing in the Bible, and as a former Catholic, I’m cautious about bringing it up). So, my highbrow favorite book of all time, the book that kickstarted my affinity for dystopian literature, is George Orwell’s 1984.
It’s been a number of years since I reread it because of all this (gestures at everything, everywhere). The first time around in Trump’s presidency I let this being to collect dust, as it was all too real (see also, why I haven’t watched The Handmaid’s Tale series) but my son was reading it for school, so I figured it was time. I’m not going to get into the plot as this is one of the most well-known dystopian book of all time
And what did he think about it. “Shrug.” But that’s okay, 16 year olds are not often impressed. The important thing is I GOT TO READ SOME OF IT OUT LOUD TO HIM. He wanted to skip the “book within a book” part, where Winston is reading about the revolution, I get it, I almost skipped it in the reread, it’s dry. But not on my watch, kid. Once you’ve read it 10 times you can do that…
And as usual, on this ba-jillionth read, I find new things to think about. In my head, this book pre-dated Huxley’s Brave New World, but in reality, it came after, respectively 1932 to 1949. And though they have different takes, it seems in a lot of ways, both authors were right about the future.
I mean can you think of how Orwell would react to the TV show “Big Brother” ???! But in a sense that show is a weird homage to both visionaries, as it is using pleasure to entertain the masses, while acknowleding that we are always being watched.
Is 1984 still my favorite book of all time? Who knows. Too hard. But it’s a classic and I’m glad to have revisited it again, and will do so again in the future I’m sure.