Reading Through the Classics: 1984

TITLE: 1984
AUTHOR: George Orwell
PUBLISHED: 1949
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Dystopian
PREMISE: In a future imagined by Orwell in the forties, a man starts to question his government and the way things are...
MY THOUGHTS: 1984 is one of those books that has been making the rounds this year (along with The Handmaid's Tale). After finally sitting down and reading it I definitely see why. There is stuff in here that is sadly, incredibly relevant to what is going on in the US government right now. BTW, guys? Our government resembling Big Brother is....really not a good thing. We should all be seriously worried about that.
As with all classics, there is stuff in here that is dated. Orwell's take on women is...more then a little questionable (I'm also kind of getting the feeling that he hated kids. Or possibly people in general. This book is not kind to humanity). I find it interesting how people go after YA dystopia for poor world-building, but when you read this...well...it's not exactly terribly detailed either. Also the romance in this is ten times worse then anything I've read in YA. Just saying. One thing I found interesting was in this one...there's no hopeful rebellion or anything like that. In fact....the ending is rather bleak. Which is a far cry from today's dystopians that try to at least have a rebellion of some sort going on to give hope for the next generation.
Like Fahrenheit 451 I get the sense that a lot of people read this and deliberately misinterpreted things to suit their world view. This happens a lot in classics and entertainment in general. Hell, I admit, I've probably been guilty of it. But I get the sense a lot people think they're Winston in the beginning of this story. Rebelling against authority, sticking it to Big Brother and all of that. The truth of the matter is....most of us are the sheep willingly going along with society because it's the easy path. At worst, we're O'Brien, helping Big Brother stay in power. Or we're the neighbor's bratty kids, gleefully turning on anyone who doesn't follow society's rules.
This book offers a lot of food for thought. I definitely see why people have been reading it again and why it tends to be on everyone's must-read list. I don't think it's a perfect book (the treatment of women leaves a lot be desired for me), but it is interesting and is one of those books that tends to stay with you for awhile.
WHO SHOULD READ: Dystopian fans, George Orwell fans

Reading Through the Classics: The Glass Menagerie

TITLE: The Glass Menagerie
AUTHOR: Tennessee Williams
PUBLISHED: 1945
CATEGORY: Play
GENRE: Realistic Fiction
PREMISE: A family in St. Louis go through family issues
MY THOUGHTS: Believe it or not, I never read Tennesse Williams in high school. No, not even this play. Which is weird when you consider that my school was in the St. Louis area. But that was my teachers for you. They had weird ideas sometimes about what they thought we needed to read.
This is what I've started calling: a family driven play. Basically: it's about a family at some moment in time in their life. I've started to notice this is a common story element in plays: take a family at some pivotal moment in their life. Study how that moment effected the family and their dynamics. It's interesting and it works. This one was one of the more interesting ones to me because of Williams' use of memory in the play.
Like Raisin in the Sun, this is mostly a character study so there's very little action. But it is definitely memorable. I can see why people have revived it over and over again (including this past year).
WHO SHOULD READ: Tennessee Williams fans, those who like plays

Reading Through the Classics: The Stranger

TITLE: The Stranger
AUTHOR: Albert Camus
CATEGORY: Classic/Modern Classic (depending on what your definition of modern classic is)
PUBLISHED: 1942
GENRE: This has been labeled as philosophy on most sites. I guess it is. I've never taken philosophy so I don't know for sure.
PREMISE: A man tells of a murder he committed in two parts, as it happened and during his trial.
PAGES: 123
MY THOUGHTS: This is another classic that was on my TBR list that I decided to finally just get out of the way. It was short after all. I knew nothing about it beyond the summary when I went into it.
This is not a book I would pick up if you want a light and fluffy, hopeful, entertainment reading. It's very dark, and its topics are heavy. There's much introspection and very little dialogue. I suspect probably those who actually know something about philosophy, would probably get more out of this then well...me. As I mentioned above, I've never taken philosophy. But from what I've read up on this book, this is considered a good book in those circles. I'll have to take their word for it.
This is a case where having a class on this one, may have been more beneficial then reading it on my own. I did get it, in a way. I just think perhaps if there was a teacher around to explain some of the ideas going around, I might have gotten more out of it.
WHO SHOULD READ: philosophy majors, those interested in philosophy, those who like dark books that ponder the human condition