Book · 1949
Nineteen Eighty-Four
by George Orwell
A low-level bureaucrat rewrites yesterday's newspapers for a living, until he starts keeping a diary the government would kill him for.
What does Reddit think of Nineteen Eighty-Four?
The most-upvoted 1984 comment on Reddit isn't about the plot, it's a correction: Orwell was a socialist, and the book targets left and right authoritarianism both, not liberalism, whatever the person he's replying to assumed (r/suggestmeabook, ↑558). That's the actual fault line in these threads — not whether the book is good, but who's allowed to claim it politically. Everything else reads calmer. r/booksuggestions has someone working out, half as a joke, that 1984 was published before Fahrenheit 451 despite what the numbers in the titles suggest (↑253). r/suggestmeabook pulls the opening line — "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen" — into a stack of other famous firsts, Angela's Ashes among them (↑249). High-school reading lists in r/booksuggestions treat it as one dystopian assignment among several, not singled out.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · Who gets to claim Nineteen Eighty-Four politically
- · Authoritarianism critiqued from both directions, not just one
- · The opening line as its own famous-firsts entry
- · A default fixture on every dystopia and high-school reading list
Common praise
- + The top-upvoted correction gets Orwell's actual politics right instead of letting a one-sided misreading stand (r/suggestmeabook, ↑558).
- + r/booksuggestions works out the Fahrenheit 451 publication-order trivia as its own small puzzle, evidence people engage past the plot summary (↑253).
- + The opening line still gets pulled into famous-firsts lists next to Angela's Ashes, on its own merits (↑249).
Common criticism
- − Most high-school-reading-list mentions in r/booksuggestions treat it as one dystopia assignment among several, not singled out for anything specific.
- − The political-ownership argument gets stated once at high visibility, but nothing in the displayed excerpts shows the other side actually arguing back.
Who it's for
Arguing about whether 1984 belongs to the left or the right? Read the top r/suggestmeabook correction first: Orwell wrote it as a socialist criticizing both, and that's the disagreement actually worth having, not the plot. If you collect opening lines, this one still holds its own next to Angela's Ashes in the famous-firsts threads. Assigned in high school and never revisited? r/booksuggestions treats it as interchangeable with Animal Farm and Brave New World on those lists, so there's no particular urgency here beyond your own curiosity.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Nineteen Eighty-Four?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“1984 is about Authoritarianism and was written by a socialist. It’s a criticism of both left authoritarianism and right authoritarianism but has virtually nothing to do with liberalism. Liberalism as a concept is founded on freedom— usually it’s associated with social freedom and democracy, and ty…
“I'm going to gently disagree with you here, but not because I think Katniss and Peeta are a great relationship. It's because my understanding of *The Hunger Games* is that as a dystopian work, part of what Collins was critiquing WAS the "shipper wars" phenomenon and how audiences are suckered into…
“If you are saying you haven’t read 1984, you totally should! It’s weird, parts of 1984 almost seem cliché because Orwell created the genre and it has been pulled from and borrowed from and copied over and over since it was first published.
“1. Demons by Dostoevsky: Intensely philosophical, deeply penetrating in it's insights. Prophetic about the 20th century 2. War and Peace by Tolstoy: Beautifully written, a long, deeply meaningful story, memorable characters. 3. The Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn: Unbelievably dark and devastati…
“Numerically 451 comes before 1984. On the other hand 1984 was published prior to Fahrenheit 451. Alphabetically 1984 comes before Fahrenheit 451 in most systems I have seen which put numerals ahead of the letter A. On the other hand alphabetically Bradbury comes before Orwell. But consider that…
“Here's the full list of what I read in my high school classes: Animal Farm The Giver To Kill a Mockingbird Things Fall Apart Siddhartha The Life of Pi Brave New World Lord of the Flies Frankenstein All Quiet on the Western Front Catch-22 The Color of Water Catcher in the Rye Black Boy …
“"Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." -Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” - 1984 by George Orwell “Whether I shall turn out to…
“My top three are all basic as f***, but they are undisputed classics for a reason and each changed how I view the world and left a profound impact on me. 1 - The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck - radicalized me against the American capitalist ownership system. Shows how inhumane the system is and alwa…
“Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. The way the world is heading Huxley was more on point than Orwell in 1984. Both books should be read. Ideally one right after the other.
“1984 by Orwell, if you’ve read the book you’d understand! It’s a warning of what can happen from overt government and propaganda etc. especially with technology! it’s also just very very well written, not overtly radical and fun at the same time
“**1984** by George Orwell - it paints a shockingly accurate image of the future we are racing towards
“# "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." \--*1984*, by George Orwell.
““If you can feel that staying human is worth while, even when it can't have any result whatever, you've beaten them.” It’s hard to choose only one quote, but that’s it. Orwell’s 1984
“If You Want To Laugh: *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*, by Douglass Adams If You Want To Laugh And Cry: *Slaughterhouse-Five,* by Kurt Vonnegut If You Want To Be Terrified: *1984*, by George Orwell If You Want To Be Depressed: *Roadside Picnic*, by The Strugatsky Brothers If You Want To Be…
“"We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin scratched the itch 1984 originally left for me after I read it more than anything else. It was basically a direct inspiration for all the more well known dystopian books.
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Readers also mention
All books like Nineteen Eighty-Four →Books that share discussion threads with Nineteen Eighty-Four — counted from the comments, not curated.
Nineteen Eighty-Four — frequently asked
Is Nineteen Eighty-Four a criticism of the left or the right?+
Both, according to the most-upvoted correction in these threads: a r/suggestmeabook comment points out Orwell was a socialist and the book targets left and right authoritarianism alike, pushing back on a reading that reduces it to an anti-liberal tract (↑558).
Was Nineteen Eighty-Four published before or after Fahrenheit 451?+
Before. A r/booksuggestions comment works through the trivia directly, layer by layer: numerically 451 comes before 1984, but 1984 was actually published prior to Fahrenheit 451, and alphabetically the two titles and their authors' surnames sort in yet another order again (↑253).
What's the opening line of Nineteen Eighty-Four, and why does Reddit still quote it?+
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." A r/suggestmeabook thread collects it alongside other famous opening lines, including Angela's Ashes, as an entry that holds up as a standalone line rather than needing the rest of the book (↑249).
Is Nineteen Eighty-Four still just a high school reading assignment on Reddit?+
Largely yes in r/booksuggestions, where it appears folded into lists alongside Animal Farm, Brave New World, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Catcher in the Rye as one required title among many, without special comment. The more pointed political engagement, arguing over what the book actually critiques, happens elsewhere, mainly in r/suggestmeabook.