1984
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1984
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Narrated by:
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Charlton Griffin
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By:
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George Orwell
About this listen
Only four years after publishing his fable Animal Farm, a biting satire of Joseph Stalin’s horrific regime of terror, George Orwell turned his attention to the future. But his next book was to be no satire, no fable. What emerged from Orwell’s pen in 1949 was the most grimly dystopian novel ever written: 1984.
Foreseeing that Stalin’s brand of radical socialism would prevail and spread, Orwell decided to describe the likely outcome in a future where a single party held absolute power, and kept it by using newly developing technologies in order to maintain their hold. The weapon that would keep party members in line was terror. Many of the book’s themes parallel the Soviet regime. The omnipresent images of Big Brother were based on Stalin. Production figures are a reflection of Soviet five-year plans. The methods of torture are similar to the procedures used by the Soviet NKVD officers. The constant state of war is used to rally the support of the masses. Hate Week was inspired by the constant rallies held throughout the Soviet Union. The surveillance state was all-powerful, and no one could escape it.
The only question that remained in Orwell’s mind before he died was what kind of despotism the democracies would fall under. Would it be a nationalist coup d’etat from above? Or communist revolution from below?
Public Domain (P)2021 Audio ConnoisseurCritic reviews
"The picture is of Stalinism, and Stalinism only." (Isaac Asimov)
“One of the most defining characteristics of Orwell's novel is the extent of Big Brother's surveillance state.” (The New York Daily News)
What listeners say about 1984
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Luke Miller
- 02-13-21
This copy is missing the ending!!!
I have read this book before. Either Amazon chose to remove the ending or this is an incomplete copy!
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10 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 02-08-21
Prolefeed from Mass Media of 2021 Reality
Frighteningly prophetic for current AmSoc NewSpeak from Demoncrats and RINOs.
Listen and HEAR before we all are mind melded into loving Big Brother!
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- rockhavenw
- 04-08-21
Wow. This book was more prophetic than I remembered.
When I read first 1984, in high school over 50 years ago, it was impossible to imagine such governmental surveillance! Now, in many ways, with cell phone tracking, surveillance cameras with facial recognition, and Siri & Alexis listening all the time, we are beyond this! I had forgotten a lot of the details. I pray "We the People" wake up and demand our politicians restore everything that is being destroyed, before our amazing, free, Constitutional Republic is beyond saving!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Matthew Campbell
- 02-28-21
Still an amazing
This was a mandatory reading in Jr. High and I missed a lot or didn't really know what I was reading. Fast forward almost 40 years and it is still an amazing book. "Down with big brother".
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tyler E
- 01-27-21
A satisfying performance
I enjoyed Charlton Griffin's narration of a chilling view into an overpowered Totalitarian dictatorship. 1984 was once a requirement in school, but has since been taken out. However, it definitively illustrates the evils of Socialism in a government without checks or balances.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 01-17-22
1984
The lack of an appropriate female voice detracted from this dramatisation. The female character was a weak, pleading breathy articulation of that character.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kayla Kibler
- 01-15-21
pretty good.
struggled to finish it but its worth hanging on to it. a friend recommended it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- GT
- 09-17-21
More important than ever
Considering the current affinity to totalitarian thinking - left and right - this book should be in the curriculum for all growing up.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- C Norman
- 10-16-21
Eerie premonition. But okay story.
This is more of an educational read than a good novel. I think it's a good read as a cautionary tale to remind us to maintain our freedoms. That said, I didn't think it was a particularly good novel.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Matt
- 04-08-24
Ahead of its time
Good first act but then loses its narrative focus for a meandering slog pace and half the second act is just endless exposition with nothing happening. The third act has more a philosophical interview but at least something was happening.
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