1984

How it reads

1984 is science fiction (dystopian, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in a big city setting, in the future, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are power and politics, class and society and identity. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is left open, for you to argue about. At 328 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's a mega-bestseller — the book everyone seems to have read.