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Originally Posted by frabjous
I just finished Orwell's 1984. It's one of those books that as a Sci Fi fan, I've always felt is a must read, and so many people praise it. I just didn't get it though. Most of it read more like a political treatise than it did as a novel, and a treatise with holes in it, and no counter-suggestion to make. And the rest of it was just needlessly bleak and depressing.
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It is most certainly a novel written to make a political point - about the dangers of totalitarianism (both the Stalinist form of communism, and fascism). You got absolutely the right idea about it.
Bleak though it is (and is most certainly is!) it's been hugely influential and has given many words to the English language (such as adding "-think" or "-speak" suffixes to words like "doublethink").
It is one of the classic "dystopian" novels. Bleak though it is, it's still worth a read. Just don't expect it to be a barrel of laughs.