1984: A Review 16 Years in the Making

Never knew Big Brother had such piercing blue eyes.

Whenever someone says "1984", the very mention of that year brings to mind myriad of images of an overbearing government, a desolate future, and "Big Brother is watching you." No two people will read this book and come up with the same interpretation of it. I first read 1984 by George Orwell, I was 16-17 years old and I had to read it for A.P. English (Advanced Placement for those who aren't familiar with that term). At that time in my life, my adolescent brain couldn't wrap itself around the idea of a totalitarianistic government, a dystopian society where every aspect of one's life is controlled by a governmental party and the basic freedoms we take for granted are all but a blurry dream. At 16 or 17 years old, I had no personal reference to begin to compare and understand what that would mean to a society as a whole, what the lack of personal freedoms would mean to the individual, what such total control over the masses does to the people at a visceral level. Since then, I remembered Newspeak (doubleplusgood!), Big Brother, and that marriage/sex was highly regulated by the government. 

I had read Animal Farm (Orwell) a few years ago and I was finally able to grasp the political and sociological themes of his work. I was able to draw comparisons between the events on that poor farm and with what was happening (to a much lesser extent) in our own society. I felt then that I could possibly attempt to re-read 1984 since my brain had matured to the point of being able to fathom such heavy material. All I had to do was wait for the right moment. Flash forward 15-16 years and 1984 is chosen by my book club for the month of June. Most of the members of the club haven't read it or if they did, were like me and couldn't really remember much about it from when they had read it. So we went and tackled one of literature's heavy weights. 

As stated before, 1984 is set in a future where the world is divided into three main world powers, Eastasia, Eurasia, and Oceania. Oceania is where Big Brother rules and the government, known as The Party. Everything in a person's life is controlled by the Party: clothes, food, entertainment, recreational time, who one can marry, sex (is only for children, not for pleasure). Below the Party members are the common people, or proles; the 85% of the population who are dumbed down and kept complacent with gambling, alcohol, and sex. The Party is working on keeping all citizens dumb by feeding them over-hyped propaganda and fear of their enemies. 

The main character is Winston Smith, a disenfranchised member of The Party who works in the Ministry of Truth. In the Ministry of Truth, Winston's job is to go back through the archives of history and rewrite it to match the current events of the Party. If Big Brother had said that there'd be more food four years ago, but now it's been four years and there is actually less food, Winston's job is to go back into all the newspapers, magazines, films, photos, audio files, etc., and find all mention of that prediction and change it to say that Big Brother had said that there'd be less food. The past is constantly being changed as the present unfolds. With each edit, Winston grows disillusioned about his role within the Party. He breaks a rule for Party members and buys a journal from a black market store and starts to write down true thoughts about his life and what he thinks about the Party. His first act of thoughtcrime that would slowly open the door to others. Soon he finds himself in a forbidden relationship with a young woman named Julia, who wants to rebel against the Party but for more personal pleasure reasons than political ones. His vague discontent with his life steadily solidifies into something more. Winston goes on a journey that takes him to the threshold of going against the Party and Big Brother himself.

This is a deceptive book, it's not all that thick but boy is it heavy. Political genres tend to be. It really boils down to in the face of such corruption, can one person really make a difference? How does one fight for personal freedom and expression in the middle of complete oppression? Winston yearns for a whole systemic upheaval, a rebellion to surge up from the crushed masses; Julia, on the other hand, doesn't believe that one person can't change anything and only small freedoms can be stolen back from the Party. In the long run, especially with an Orwellian novel, there's only one outcome and it won't be pretty. Reading this book now, being older and knowing more about the world and how things work (or appear to work), 1984 begs to ask the reader "What would you risk, what would you be willing to do to regain your freedoms as a person? Are you just going to worry about your little personal bubble or are you concerned with the greater picture?"

Of course, we don't face the level of evil and powerlessness that Winston and Julia faced, but in our present times, we do face some elements of freedoms being taken: TSA pat downs at the airport, Patriot Act agents scanning phone calls and emails for potential threats, possible drones roaming the skies, government secrets of less than favorable acts that are only revealed when someone leaks them onto the internet... the list goes on. Much like the Party members and the proles, many of America's citizens barely know what's going on in the hallowed halls of capitol buildings and Senate/House/Oval chambers, but as long as their personal freedoms aren't being impeded they don't really care and prefer to play ignorant. They are the Julias of the modern world. 

Again, a lot of political comparisons can be drawn between Orwell's work and our current political theater. Which is probably way his works are still being used in high school English classes to this day. And of course, depending on your point of view politically or otherwise, you may take away something different from 1984 and/or Animal Farm. I for one am not terribly up to date on politics, on either side of the aisle. I try to gather as much information as I can and try to make as informed opinion as I can, given the spin of events and from differing news channels and media outlets, and the slant given to a five second sound bite taken out of context. The media only tells you what they want you to know... and that sounds eerily familiar. 

On my scale of 1 (literary hari kari) to 10 (literary orgasmic bliss), I give this book a 7.5. It's a thinker book with a doozy of an ending, but still very important and topical today as ever. I recommend you take another round at the book if you'd read it years ago, and certainly pick it up if you've never cracked the spine. And while you're at it, pick up Animal Farm; you won't regret it.

Snivel: The Fifth Circle of Heck Review

Two book reviews in one month, let alone in one week?! What's the world coming to? I've been inspired to read, which is something I haven't had a lot of motivation to do as of late. I adore this series and felt bad it has taken me this long to read the fifth installment. I'm not sure if this is going to be a simple review or more of an essay about this book. It was pretty powerful. Seriously, if you haven't picked up this series yet... what is wrong with you?

Snivel: The Fifth Circle of Heck, is the fifth book in the Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go series by Dale E. Basye. We follow siblings Milton and Marlo Fauster as they are sent to the next circle of H-E-double-hockey-sticks. Snivel is the circle of Heck where the Whiny Kids go, a world set in the summer camp of all kids' nightmares: a dreary, rainy world where the Grin Reaper runs around stealing laughter and mirth, monochromosquitos fly around sucking energy and lust for life from each Unhappy Camper, and Vice Principal Poe (yes, the Poe) is in charge. This circle is full of the trademark dark humor and play on words, as well as the odd placement of historical and literary figures in roles of teachers and camp counselors, and the plot thickens.

Events set in motion in Fibble, the circle for liars, where the plot for stealing the world and bringing forth the Apocalypse is revealed by the Fauster siblings, are now ramped up a notch in the world of Snivel. Apparently a new scheme is in the works involving Nikola Tessla and spiritual video games... it's bound to be a doozy, no? Of course, Milton and Marlo must find a way to save the day, and save the underworld, from the new threats that are rising to destroy the all the worlds as we know them.

And as with the other four volumes in this series, Basye does a smashing job of making this book more adult than the 9-13 yr old age rating the publisher stamped on the back. Again deeper themes of life and death, happiness and defeat, spirituality and humanity creep out from between the lines on the pages. As set up in the previous book (sorry, there are a few spoilers, but it's a series, it all builds on itself), a spiritual war is coming and Heck and the Place Upstairs are fighting for control of the world of the living, and humans are either going to be the prize or collateral damage when it's all said and done. Not only do Milton and Marlo have to save themselves from the horrors of Heck, they have to literally save the universe as we know it. 

This volume changes things up a bit, by bringing the siblings, and the reader, back to the Surface. Marlo finds herself on the surface and finds herself face to face with the realities of what happened after she and her brother died. The world, as well as their family and friends, have moved on without them and not always for the better. The most heart wrenching part of the whole book was when Marlo haunts her own house and sees what happened to her parents as they are left picking up the pieces after their two children died. I actually had to put the book down for a few days because it was too much. And calling Snivel the circle where Whiny Kids go is a misnomer. It's more where kids who have too much spirit, too much life, go to get "put in line". The soul crushing "activities" at Camp Snivel were meant to beat the children down, pull all their spark and life from their souls; which is where the monochromosquitos come in. With each bite from the insects the children's motivation, energy, very spirit for living is sucked from them and leaving the drained, mentally as physically (the children turn various shades of gray with each bite). As Milton and Marlo move through Snivel and go to it's sister world of Arcadia, they are thrown through the pendulum of human experience. Arcadia is a world of insane energy drinks, video games, over saturated colors and nerve-burned sensory overloads. First left with not enough spirit as to cause apathy, and then with so much stimulation it almost overloads the system, the siblings have to find a balance in the two circles, as well as find a balance of emotion in one's own life. Hopefully without giving too much away, I'll quote the "narrator" who provides metacommentary in the forward, middleword, and backward: "The truth is that happiness is found in its pursuit, not its possession."

I am seriously in love with this series. As mentioned before, Basye somehow disguises an adult-level allegory in colorful cartoony covers of children's books. I reviewed the first three books in the series back here and the fourth book's review is here so you can get the full scope of my love for these books, and also whet your appetite so you can go read them as well. I, for one, am going to head on over to Barnes & Noble this weekend and pick up the sixth book, Precocia: Where the Smarty Pants Kids Go. The seventh book, Wise Acres: Where the Sassy Kids Go, is out as well but it's in hardcover. I have a silly thing about hardcovers, so hopefully I'll finish #6 by the time #7 is in paperback in September. 

All right, before this review/essay/love letter goes on any further, I should give my rating. On my scale of 1 (literary hari kari) to 10 (literary orgasmic bliss), I give Snivel a nice, steady 8. That brings the series ratings to thusly:

Heck: The First Circle of Heck:

         Where the Bad Kids Go: 8

Rapacia: The Second Circle of Heck: 

             Where the Greedy Kids Go: 7.5

Blimpo: The Third Circle of Heck: 

            Where the Fat Kids Go: 7.5

Fibble: The Fourth Circle of Heck: 

           Where the Lying Kids Go: 7

Snivel: The Fifth Circle of Heck:

           Where the Whiny Kids Go : 8

Circles of Heck series thus far: 7.6

The Delilah Case Review

Another month and another book to review from our monthly book club. The book for May was The Delilah Case by Mickie Turk. 

The book starts with a death. Dominique Doucette is dead and now we have to find out why. We go back a few weeks to the beginning of a grand experiment: can six hardened criminals, convicted murders and sociopaths, live in a minimum security "prison" and undergo a drastic transformation with a brand new therapy meant to reshape the human mind? Dr. Dominique Doucette plans to find out. One of the nation's, if not the world's, most famous and lauded psychologists, Dominique plans to show the world that her revolutionary Desire Therapy is the wave of the future for reform and treatment of severely dangerous persons. She and her associates start the House of Mithras, an old plantation house turned into a minimum security prison, the first of its kind in the nation, in the outskirts of Dominique's hometown of New Orleans. But not everyone is so sure about having a group of convicted killers in their backyard. Protesters and friction from local law enforcement may derail the project before it even gets off the ground. Is that why Dominique is dead now?

We delve deep into the dark parts of New Orleans, as well as the dark recesses of the minds of the six appointed criminals. Even Dominique herself. She, too, has demons to hide and vanquish. Will she be able to keep her secrets at bay long enough to have some success with House of Mithras? Through the course of the book, we see the complex relationships in Dominique's live: her overbearing mother who pushed her to success at a young age, her old friend Darrnel who stood by her side through hell and back, a powerful voodoo priestess who is able to calm Dominique's darkness, and the convicts themselves give us a glimpse into the mind of evil. 

The story itself is an intense mystery that sends you on twists and turns as you work through the events leading up to Dominique's death. On more than one occasion I had thought I'd figured out "whodunnit" only to be proven wrong. It was a slow burn, building on itself and the layers of mystery and stories as they entwined. The story building, world building, and tension building of the author is finely done; however, the ending lost me and ultimately tainted the beginning of the book. Some major plot points, as well as the climatic ending seemed slap-dash, thrown together at the last moment, or as if the author forgot that she knew how things all tied together and hadn't bothered to put in larger breadcrumbs throughout the rest of the book. Such important pieces to the puzzle, such big revelations that left me with my mouth open when they were revealed... felt very sudden and my book group had the same reaction of "WTH? How'd she know that? When did she figure THAT out?" when we discussed the ending.

On my scale of 1 (literary hari kari) to 10 (literary orgasmic bliss), I give this book a 6. I almost went lower to a 5.5 because of the ending, but that wouldn't be fair to the beginning 7/8 of the book. I wanted to give it a higher ranking of 7, maybe even an 8, but the ending, the randomness of the big reveal and the hurried pacing of the last 5 chapters just left me... feeling rather "eh" about the whole thing. I do recommend you check it out if you're looking for something to read, but be prepared for the ending.

Review of The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Welcome back to my book review blog! I took an unexpected hiatus from this site to get some other projects done, but now I'm back. I recently joined/founded a book club with some former coworkers of mine, and today was the inaugural meeting where we discussed The Help by Kathryn Stockett, which I chose. I know I'm a little behind on this book, since it came out a few years ago, but there's so many books and only so much time. It was sitting on my list of things to read, and I finally decided to bump it up to the top of the pile.

The Help revolves around  a small group of citizens of Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s. We are

introduced to Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a young privileged white woman, Aibileen, an elder maid, and Minny, a feisty maid. Minny and Aibileen are maids for Skeeter's friends, Hilly and Elizabeth respectively. We alternate between the three POVs, giving the reader a chance to see the events through differing eyes and perspectives. Skeeter is the white woman seeking for something more in her life than just finding a husband and fitting into the debutante world of the genteel South. Aibileen is tending to her 17th white child and is just trying to get through each day as a maid the best she knows how. Minny is on her 19th job, having lost many before due to her unfortunate tendency to sass off to the families she worked for. Minny and Aibileen are good friends and barely know Skeeter, only seeing her at functions their employers hold.

Skeeter longs to be a journalist and a writer. She manages to get a job at the local paper as an advice columnist to give house keeping pointers. One problem: Skeeter knows nothing about how to clean a house. She asks her friend Elizabeth's maid, Ailibeen, to help her answer the letters for the advice column. After this uneasy alliance is formed, Skeeter contacts an editor in a New York publishing company about getting something published. The editor challenges Skeeter to write something she wants to write, not what she thinks she should write. A crazy idea forms in Skeeter's head about writing a book full of interviews of black house maids. A Civil Rights movement is just starting and the world outside Jackson, MS is changing, and Skeeter feels she wants to have a part in changing the culture and mindset of her segregated town. After asking Aibileen numerous times to be part of her project, Skeeter starts a chain reaction that she nor the maids who agree to help with the book saw coming.

This was a fantastic read. Kathryn Stockett dipped into her own personal experience of living in the South and having a maid to build the fictional characters of this Jackson, MS. Stockett does an amazing job of transporting the reader back into the 1960s South and helping the reader feel the polarizing world of the culture, a world of the Haves and Have Nots. The three main characters have their own struggles, so separate from each other and yet very fundamentally similar. Each character has their own personal boundaries, societal constructs that force them into certain spaces, certain roles, that neither feel terribly comfortable in. The Help takes the reader on a journey of rebellion, introspection, and self-discovery. It touches on the theme that we are the authors of our life's story and that we are only stuck in someone else's restrictions if we allow ourselves to be. As the reader, you are taken on a subtle roller coaster ride through a segregated world that can be both honorable and deceitful, beautiful and ugly, touching and terrifying. Within the same chapter we see the ugly truth of the class/race separation and also the humor of one well-put snarky commentary of the cultural constructs.

I highly recommend this book. If you've already read it, reread it. I bet if you read it again, you'll pick up on something that you missed the first time through. At our book group we speculated on what it would be like if Stockett wrote a sequel, following Skeeter in the new chapter of her life, and how interesting that would be. Again, highly recommend this book, either read it on your own or in a group. On my rating of 1 (literary hari kari) to 10 (literary orgasm), I give this book an 8.5.

Next month will be a new book for the book club, so hopefully I can get back into the habit of posting here again. Thanks for hanging on for so long. :)