1984

Written by George Orwell

Narrated by Hugh Kermode

"Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed for ever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you."

Winston Smith works in the Ministry of Truth — or Minitrue as it is called in Newspeak — altering newspapers and reports to follow the arbitrary dictates of Big Brother’s propaganda. Beneath his outward conformity, Winston dreams of sharing his treasonable thoughts, breaking ’the locked loneliness in which one had to live’. And so he takes his first dangerous steps — writing a diary of his doubts and then falling in love with a woman of the Party, the beautiful and brave Julia. They know their love is doomed, but Julia swears ’They can make you say anything — anything — but they can’t make you believe it. They can’t get inside you.’ In Oceania, however, there is no possibility of solidarity, rebellion or love, and the Party can get anywhere.

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four was first published in 1949. This terrifying dystopia, which he created in a time of great social and political unrest, remains acutely relevant and influential to this day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: SNR Audio
• Release date: Mar 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781914230004

George Orwell

George Orwell (1903–1950), the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, was an English novelist, essayist, and critic. He was born in India and educated at Eton. After service with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, he returned to Europe to earn his living by writing. An author and journalist, Orwell was one of the most prominent and influential figures in twentieth-century literature. His unique political allegory Animal Farm was published in 1945, and it was this novel, together with the dystopia of 1984 (1949), which brought him worldwide fame. 

Reviews for 1984

[Patrick Wynne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's depressing how similar our society is now. Let's go Brandon!

[Allie Hoyt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Poignant. Never more relevant than now. I read this in high school and was disgusted and sad. Now, I’m fearful and lamenting, but hopeful that more people will read books like this and wake up.

[Emma C. · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The narrator is exceptional. The sound effects, voice work - changes in accents, radio sounds etc made this book so enjoyable. I was really impressed and pleasantly surprised on how good the narration was.

It’s a dark story but incredibly well told. 5 stars!

[Stephen Goggin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very well written and thought out.
Sadly it sounds all too familiar at this point in time

[Praveen Kumar · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A wonderful read , really widens your horizon of thoughts about the atrocities any government can inflict upon it's citizens to keep their propoganda intact . Will definitely re read it again sometime , to may be get a different perspective.

[Deema Nuseir · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Heard of the book but hadn't listened to it til now. Extremely interesting and captivating.

[barakuda · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book and great audio narrative . Highly recomended .

[Delaram Mirshamsi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I did not like the animal farm (probably because I read a translation in another language), but this one was different! Now I understand why this book is considered a classic... I saw several comments on how the second and third parts of the book were not as good as the first one, but in my opinion, the events in the ministry of love/ prison were as important as the world-building. If you read the memoir of any political prisoners, you'll see the same feelings and thoughts expressed.

[Jc Wright · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very interesting read/listen. The ending comes very quickly. Highly suggested reading/listening.

[solon arguello · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A chilling and fantastic depiction of a totalitarian government control. Narrator was great as well.

[Oana Anton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Scary, especially in the context of Europe 2022. A good compendium of what to look for and avoid in our administration.

[hollyhil13 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is dry and slow, but very important. Everyone should read it to learn about socialism and the danger of this fictional future that could easily become fact.

[pelon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Frightening in it's accuracy of the future. We need to be reminded of much of this work.

[Eivind Ellestad Eriksen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A reread after 45 years, it is still an amazing and haunting story!

[Carolyn Bailey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great production of a classic. I was fully immersed in the world of Oceania.

[julieta0691 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I guess I expected too much from this book as this is so famous and a must read of all time.

I do understand that even being fiction at that period time, it is incredible how much resemblance we have to our current time, it is actually scary and quite alarming.

Makes a great book discussion in the bookclub, also a great project for the school(as my teenagers are reading this)

But still, i guess I expected much more from this book maybe with more twist and storyline, that it ended up a little disappointing.

[Nicolás Trillo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent, amusing book. Excellent speaker. 100% recommended to just about anyone.

[Kelly Jarvis · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Hated this book so very much. Can’t believe it’s a classic.

[Ntamyo N Chibawe · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

...it's a beautiful sad story that speaks to most of our reality ? but there is a lot of over narration of certain things and I almost got lost when Winston started reading what was or should have been the "secret brotherhood " constitution. But overall good book.??

[Hero The Bard · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Read about brainwashing well getting brainwashed. Lots of theories and opinions on sociological, psychological and philosophy that are based on doctorine of the 1940s and ww2. This novel looks at a world where communism became a leading ideology in the politics of the world after ww2.

[Gleb S · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Highly negative novel with little grounding in possibility. Would recommend reading something more tangible or useful.

[Rkookie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Was advised to read the book for the sake of seeing how the world has become and the warning from almost 80 years ago. Hilarious how the book was a warning but turned into a reality. If you’re someone who cannot have an open mind to be outside the fishbowl instead of swimming in it then this isn’t the book for you.