Review of "Nineteen Eighty-four" by George Orwell

What is there to write that hasn’t already been written about George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four?  Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the novel’s ideas proved so fundamental they have become idiomatic in the English language.  ‘Big Brother’, ‘Thought Police’, ‘Orwellian’, and to some extent ‘doublethink’ and ‘2+2=5’, are expressions most are familiar with and part of everyday speech.  Given the depth political and social realities are delved into in realistic, eye-opening fashion, it’s an understatement to write Nineteen Eighty-four is one of the most significant works of science fiction to have been written.

Ignore the title; Nineteen Eighty-four is not an attempt at futurology.  Intended as a cautionary, the book is the story of Winston Smith, an ordinary government worker living in unordinary circumstances.  His job to revise history per orders from above, Smith’s life is filled to the brim with cameras, listening devices, and government snitches trying to maintain a status quo that is anything but free.  The Party’s totalitarian regime—generally nicknamed ‘Big brother’ by citizenry—monitors nearly all aspects of life, including work, home, even people’s love lives.  Beyond voyeuristic, Smith et al must watch their every move lest the most minor of statutes or laws be broken. The Thought Police watching and waiting, most offenders are dragged away, never to be seen again.  Smith’s days filled with anxiety and dread as he trudges from work to home, meeting the enigmatic Julia one day moves life in new directions.  But is Big Brother watching?

Review of "Homage to Catalonia" by George Orwell

Though Orwell’s name has been idiomized in reference to the totalitarian watchdoggery of 1984, his non-fictional works are no less insightful or intelligently crafted.  Written after having spent roughly five months volunteering for the Marxists in the Spanish Civil War, Orwell’s 1937 Homage to Catalonia is no exception.   

A breakdown of the extremely complex political situation in Spain before the outbreak of WWII, Homage to Catalonia is also a report on conditions from the war front.  Gaining the equivalent rank of corporal, Orwell saw first hand action in the trenches of the front lines in Spain’s northwest during 1936.  Both guarding against and attacking the Fascists who were attempting to control the region, Orwell lucidly describes daily life fighting alongside the poorly-fed, poorly-armed, and poorly educated Spaniards.  Their lack of the most basic of amenities, like firewood, fresh water, and food, even bullets, did not make the time any easier.  Orwell likewise found time to unravel the incredibly multifaceted internal politics causing the war - not only in Catalonia, but on the streets of Barcelona and beyond.  His clean, crisp sentences relaying information in precise strokes, the Communists, Marxists, Fascists, Socialists, Nationalists, and the conservative and liberal groups each subsist of are expounded upon in relevant detail, painting a clear (as can be) picture of the sides and their subsequent agendas.  With Franco’s regime beginning to show signs of taking power (as it ultimately did), Orwell’s allegiance dictates an interesting and somewhat suspenseful escape from Spain, a chapter which nicely closes the book.

In our modern day cultural-relativism-this and social-liberalism-that, perhaps most remarkable about Homage to Catalonia is Orwell’s unabashed passion in opposition of Fascism.  His willingness to pick up a rifle and take a shot at the “enemy” is something today’s journalists and writers would undoubtedly be skeptical in light of the political correctness permeating all regulated statements coming from the media these days.  Reading of the shocking and unique injury Orwell suffers while on the front lines is a sacrifice we rarely if never read of occurring to today’s social and political scribes.  All of this sets into motion interesting questions regarding not only the duties of the writer to make such situations known to the public, but also to what extent the public itself warrants involvement in pressing political situations and what exactly a journalist is.

For its comprehensive content related to civil war conditions and its scrupulous dissection of the political environment of Spain circa 1936-37, Homage to Catalonia is worthy of a special place among the 20th century’s wartime texts.  But that it’s written in a superb, detailed fashion that expresses informed (and occasionally) personal opinions on the general state of social and political affairs in Europe before WWII pushes the book near the front.  Orwell’s account of trench warfare, street fighting in Barcelona, and escape from the harrowing situation in Spain is a must for anyone interested in WWII, Spanish, or modern European history.   Simply a great, informative read. 

Review of "Little Brother" by Cory Doctorow

I’m willing to bear with a writer when their style is less than polished if they have – or seem to have – good ideas.  I’m willing to set aside wooden characterization if it serves a larger purpose.  I’ll accept a little glossing over if the intentions are good.   I’m even willing to ignore large holes in ideology if the story is good.  Unfortunately for Little Brother, the combination is too heavy.  With all of these issues  glaringly apparent, the novel is nothing more than inconsistent, juvenile fiction which complains about society’s problems in conspiracy theory fashion rather than offering imaginative, plausible solutions.  When raising the red flag, it’s best to have your ideas formed before making the effort.

Little Brother is the story of the highschooler Cory Doc—I mean, Marcus Yallow—and his super-ideological, super technical battle with the Department of Homeland Security (Jefferson and Washington applauding on the wings).  The story goes that in the wake of another major terrorist attack, this time in San Francisco, the US government passes what is essentially Patriot Act II.  As a result, the city is inundated with Orwellian security having the legal right to track and interrogate people as they see fit.  Our hero, literally quoting from the Constitution, sets about undermining their attempts at complete control through the creation of his own underground intranet, the Xnet.  So candy-sweet perfect it makes your teeth hurt, Yallow wages his ideological struggle while living a dual life: one half teenage Che Guevara, the other a mild mannered wonder boy who does no wrong and is super-intelligent beyond his 16 years.  And did I mention the girls which dig his anarchist ways?  There are more than one.  Yes, it seems Yallow can do no wrong and lives every juvenile fantasy as a result: women tearing their clothes off on one hand, homemade computer in the other.  

All of this would be no bother if Doctorow weren’t at the same time trying to hammer home his version of freedom.  I emphasize his version as it seems he hasn’t quite settled on the details himself.  At one point in the novel he interprets the First Amendment as having limits, the example being that you cannot run into a crowded building and shout “Fire!” However, when closing in on the novel’s climax, our hero Corey – dammit! – Yallow stands up for his freedoms by convincing his loyal Xnetters to flash mob and play dead, which of course causes a similar situation to - you guessed it - shouting “Fire!” in a theater.  Panic ensues and the regal, stable society of Doctorow’s vision comes crashing down in one grand contradiction.  Sorry, the actions don’t match the words.  Game over.  Please, think again.

The second major ideological issue of the novel is Yallow’s relationship with his family.  All throughout we are shown how much they love and care for each other.  The support Yallow’s family gives him is unfailing throughout the problems that arise from his secret double life.  But again, as the novel nears its conclusion, an ugly contradiction raises its head.  At the drop of a hat, Yallow packs his things and leaves, abandons his family without a thought, and remains aloof of the harm that might befall them in the chaos he intends to unleash.  Now that’s consistent love for the family!!  

In the end, this book should be labeled “YA.”  The manner in which Doctorow sets about educating the reader with regards to web infrastructure, coding, and cryptology are like a parent to child.  There is no subtlety.  Secondly, the self-aggrandizing manner in which the main character is so obviously a teenage fantasy of the author’s visions of himself in high school – too cool for the others – is stomach turning.  (After all, what high school boy wouldn’t want to lose his virginity, win a techno war with the government via his XBox, as well as see his vision of a perfect society emplaced?)  Sorry, but deconstructing an inflicted system with contradictory ideologies without a solution to clean up the mess only makes the problem worse.  Fighting chaos with chaos only gains you more… you guessed it, chaos.  Doctorow’s over-handed proselytizing of this point is just too much for me to recommend this book.  If that isn’t enough, the implausible manner in which our hero escapes in the climax… But I desist.  Little Brother is techno-anarchy for juveniles.  If you want a good book, read the Big Brother.

Review of "A Time of Changes" by Robert Silverberg

One of the best aspects of speculative fiction is, when in the right hands, an author creates a wholly plausible society not unlike our own, yet bends and twists the tradition, custom, and social habit to suit thematic needs.  The narrative which results can subsequently offer brilliant commentary on our real world.  Robert Silverberg’s A Time of Changes is a book that works at this level - like Orwell on LSD.

At heart, the novel is a character exploration of Kinnel Darival, a prince living in the kingdom of Borthan.  Ruled by a Covenant, Borthans follow a strict code that renders personal pronouns taboo.  While simultaneously setting a stylistic challenge for himself, Silverberg describes a society wherein overt references to the self are forbidden.  (The belief is that the repression of such expression makes a person stronger inside, and therefore more suited to the rigors of life.)  Due to a family tragedy, Darival soon finds himself on the run from a brother who seeks to eliminate competition for heirs to the throne.  In his travels, Darival is slowly introduced to the “other side,” a world wherein a person can comfortably refer to one’s self as ‘I’ and ‘me.’  Helping this transition along is his experimentation with a wonder drug that telepathically links people, bolstering empathy.  Not wanting to describe the whole plot, suffice to say the manner in which Silverberg chooses to uses the drug as a literary device is paramount to the novel’s conclusion.  John Lennon would have been proud.

By contrasting a society with strong limitations on expressions of the self with one featuring seemingly no socially unacceptable forms of expression, Silverberg creates a juxtaposition not unlike 1984.  The lies one must tell themselves and the isolated manner in which people move through society echo in A Time of Changes.  While the telepathic miracles performed by Silverberg’s drug are perhaps an idea that only someone from the flower-power generation could sculpt into speculative fiction, the fundamental idea that the freedom to express emotion is something lacking in our present day society still rings true.  Though not quite on par with Orwell or Huxley, A Time of Changes is still worth a read, prose and structure nearly perfect.  And if not for these reasons, why not for the controversial nature of the story?