Have you read "1984"? How familiar were you with the world of "Julia" before reading it? What language and concepts had you heard before?

Have you read "1984"? How familiar were you with the world of "Julia" before reading it? What language and concepts had you heard before?

I actually read "1984" in high school and then again in college. However, that was decades and decades ago (I am not going to tell exactly how many decades, lol) so I refreshed my memory by reading it again. Thus I was reading "Julia" with a strong knowledge of the protagonist from the classic by Orwell. The first chapter was a bit difficult to engage with due to my recent completion of "1984", but I hit my stride and was eager to read on by chapter 2. Much of the language used by Newman was quite similar to Orwell's which was expected and necessary or her book would not be effective. The style of all of the characters' dialogues and inner thoughts were befitting of the environment and there were so many concepts and terms I was familiar with like: Big Brother, Thought Police, Newspeak, doublethink, the Party, and the ministries, etc. etc.

I read it 50 years ago in high school. I remembered the plot and most of the words, such as Big Brother. I mostly remembered the end scene with the rats. I have had a severe lifetime phobia of rats and most rodents ever since I read 1984. It was difficult revisiting that scene.

No, I had not read 1984; however, I had an idea of the premise.

I read 1984 in high school and reread it when I knew I would receive a copy of Julia. I remember being upset by the book and the repression described but I didn’t relate to it then. Now with more awareness of politics and world events I found it to be even more disturbing because I see the authoritarian leaders in the last 110 years and see that it isn’t just a fictional story but also a reality in many parts of the world. Now I see it as a warning to us all to protect our democracy and to be aware of cult figures who lie and manipulate gull7 people to only benefit themself.

I also reread 1984 while I was waiting for "Julia". Im glad I read it first because it gave me insight into their dystopian world. Of course Julia was portrayed more fully than in "1984" so that was a huge revelation. I liked her more in "1984"- and I also had a totally different concept of Winston.

Like several others here, I had read Orwell’s classic in my youth (the book is as old as I am). In those days, I was reading for entertainment and the world of Big Brother seemed like an abstraction, nothing I could connect with the world of the early 70s; the details of the path to totalitarianism were soon forgotten. While waiting for “Julia” I reread “1984,”and its contemporary relevance is astonishing. What were “dull parts” fifty-plus years ago are now “aha moments.” I knew the terms and concepts (like doublethink) that had long been part of our culture, almost clichés of hyperbole in a liberal era—but now they are all too relevant.

1984 was required reading during my student years when the USSR and Communist China remained closed to most westerners. My friends visiting Russia took suitcases full of Levis, Tab, and pantyhose to trade for souvenirs. First read 1984 before 1984. For those of us raised during the Cold War, Orwell’s fiction described our reality. Even a few years later, when I moved to Taipei, I understood why the tiny Republic of China disallowed any products originating from a Communist country to be imported. (FYI, Taiwan is among the most successful economies on the planet). So, yes, I’ve used the terms Big Brother, Newspeak, Ministry of Truth, and the thought police in my normal conversation since my youth. Reading Animal Farm and 1984, plus The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, caused me to vehemently resist any abrogation of my rights. Just saying, let them take away one, and the dominos will fall.

I read 1984, Handmaid's Tale, Animal Farm and Fahrenheit 451 probably in my 20s, and I think at the time I only saw them as parables, or reflections of what the Soviet Union was doing in the 1950s & 1960s. I remember finding them interesting at the time, but kind of felt there wasn't any way these things could happen in the USA today.

Now in my 60s, I've read all of those books again over the past few years, and today I find them much more terrifying than I did when I first encountered them. I feel like our country is at a turning point, where for the first time in my life I can see us slipping into the worlds Orwell, Atwood and Bradbury imagined.

Yes, I read 1984 by George Orwell years ago and remember not liking it. I re-read it along with Julia this past month. We use many of the terms in this book so often now that their shock value has disappeared. Julia by Sandra Newman comes out a time when another warning against totalitarianism, autocratic leaders, and government and capitalism "watching you", is sorely needed.

Yes I read it a long time ago and reread it before receiving Julia. I am glad I did. I like seeing it from Julia’s point of view but I like Orwell’s version more.

Yes, I have read 1984, but it was in high school in the early 1960s and I do not think I fully appreciated it and thought the idea of living in that world was not in my future.
But, I did reread 1984 before reading Julia and it was very frightening as I saw how easily it is to manipulate and control the thoughts of everyday people if you control what news they listen to.

I liked reading Julia as we saw how she and other women lived in the world and how they tried to assert some control over their bodies and mids.

I read 1984 in high school in the 60s. I hope high school kids are still reading it. As a teenager and child of a WWII vet I understood the evil and destructiveness of dictators. I knew the ratting out of neighbors and family was a common control mechanism used in fascist regimes. I think the current use of social media may make teenagers in 2023 less fearful of constant monitoring and more confident they are ‘ok’. Unfortunately they are wrong. Julia may be a good way to engage youthful thinkers about the dangers of giving up too much. For me Julia, the book, did not add much my own imagination had not supplied back in the 60s

I had not read 1984 before reading Julia…and I did this on purpose. My plan is to read 1984 after reading an alternate version as seen through a woman’s eyes. I’d like to see how this impacts my reading of Orwell’s work.

I had not read 1984 but decided that I would read Julia first. As I finished reading Julia, I really grappled with whether I should read 1984 at all, never mind right after Julia due to concern that 1984 would be even more appalling than what was described in Julia. Though Orwell’s depiction of life in 1984 was equally dark, I think his writing made it easier to focus on the reality of Big Brother, the Thought Police, etc. because he did not get overly focused on the minute details of Julia and Winston’s lives. If I were to highlight one drawback in Newman’s book, it is that it lacked notes or appendix to understand some of the political terms used by the Inner Party which made it a bit distracting while reading the first few chapters of Julia.

I read 1984 for the first time almost 50 years ago and I reread it before reading Julia. So I knew something of the concepts in the story. And obviously for those of us old enough to remember or who have studied any Russian history, there is a lot of background knowledge from Communism or even Nazi concept. What I remembered most though was the rats. As I reread 1984, I kept waiting for that part.

I read 1984 as a student and, years later, have used it in classes as a teacher. Like others have already said, I remember being shocked by the book as a teenager, but I looked at it as we did news stories of tragedies from distant places. It was horrible, but it didn't feel entirely real. I am happy to report that many students today seem less naive. I like that they are angry to hear about book banning, and they are willing to speak out against people who seek to limit their access to ideas. They even see the irony in the way that so may of those who want to ban books pretend that they are only trying to "protect children from being indoctrinated."