I had a hard time getting through this. One of the issues is that it’s extremely text heavy - especially halfway through when it is basically just 20 or so pages of nearly all text. The Illustrations fit the story very well - dark and depressing. I just wish there had been more illustrations and less text.

<i>Thanks to NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

Any new adaptation of “Nineteen Eighty-Four” is to be welcomed, and Matyas Namai’s graphic novel, rechristened “1984”, is a glorious addition to English literature’s dystopian library. It’s obvious from the lavish production values of this volume that this is a major adaptation of George Orwell’s timeless classic.
Like most people I know the story well, so there’s no need to recap it here. Originally a commentary on Stalinism, it has become an eternal warning against the horrors of totalitarianism. The omnipresent Big Brother resembles a faded 1930s matinee idol, with a touch of Oswald Mosley, which is appropriate, and Winston Smith is aptly depicted as a downtrodden slave of the system. With the art mostly in harsh monochrome, Julia’s red sash is a vivid splash of colour, and she is drawn as a loyal party member, but she softens later on whilst remaining a strong character. O’Brien, the main antagonist, for want of a better word, is perfectly rendered as a ruthless and barbaric Party member.
The lettering throughout is small and not as bold as is usually the case with comics; this story demands your close attention-this isn’t a Marvel comic to be read in five minutes and discarded. The speech-bubbles are often densely packed with words, necessary to properly convey Orwell’s work. The script is rigorously faithful to the source material, even including prose extracts from Emmanuel Goldstein’s forbidden book.
Namai’s art throughout is emotive and effective, spare and economical; reminiscent of the best artists of 70s. The panels depicting Winston Smith’s world are dark, cramped and dirty, while the scenes of Winston & Julia’s furtive trysts in the outside world are wildly free and refreshing. Later scenes of interrogation are forensically brutal and utterly haunting. And beyond all that is Room 101…
The book is rounded off with galleries, original character sketches, rough drafts of the excellent propaganda posters used throughout, etc. The amount of work that went into this graphic novel is staggering.
Matyas Namai’s adaptation both respects and maybe even improves on Orwell’s original story. It brings “1984” to visceral, vivid life, kicking and screaming, and is doubleplusgood.

Reading George Orwells' 1984 is like watching the present being predicted decades ago. It's bizarre How accurate somethings in the distopic story can be related to some actions of individuals and as society itself nowadays. Anyway, this narrative in graphic novel is well balanced between ilustration and text, and is a good way to present George Orwell most famous book to beginners.

The graphic adaption of George Orwell's 1984 knocks it out of the park with hand in hand art and storytelling. I'm quite fond of classics getting graphic adaptions to make reading accessible to more audiences.

The art balances a gritty darkness with intimate detail to help the reader get the most from the story. Namai uses splashes of red amongst the black and white to draw the reader to the heretical ideals of our main characters. Namai also creates the sense that we are seeing this novel as a movie. I would liken the contrasting wide and close shots, as well as the touches of absurdism imagery, to directors like David Lynch and Darren Aronofsky.

It is quite long for a graphic novel, and while I enjoy being able to read the story all at once, it is possible it would do better as a two volume set.

Overall, a must have for libraries and schools.

I tried to read this one. I dowloaded the specified software, which is far from user friendly. The writing was so tiny and blurry even on an ipad, and zooming in only made it worse. I had to guess what some words were. I feel this is likely due to the ebook and would not be an issue in print. My main problem was that the graphic novel seems to assume the reader is familiar with 1984. I had read about a third of the book years ago and it was really hard to follow this version. Large parts were left out to the point where there was no continuity. Between the format quality and the lack of cohesiveness of the story, I could not finish this. I was able to read about a quarter of it. I won't be posting this review on social media.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to review an ARC of this book. This is a good graphic novel adaptation of "1984", though overall I felt that without prior knowledge of the novel, it might be difficult to follow the plot. The bleak, black and white illustrations with splashes of red were very effective in highlighting moments in the narrative. It's great to give readers another option when accessing classics and modern classics.

Great adaptation of the classic novel. The digital ARC was hard to read sometimes with the writing being a bit blurry but I'm sure this is just a digital files sizes issues that won't be there at all with the physical copy. Worth reading!

As grim and bleak as the original. The atmosphere is well done, but I feel the medium of a graphic novel could have been used to a larger extent and potentially with a bit less tell (via book excerpts) and a bit more show.
Always the eyes watching you. Nothing is your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull.

In a back, grey and white style, sometimes interspersed with some orange, the tale of Winston is effectively told in this graphic novel by Matyáš Namai. The style fits the story in all its bleakness, but I feel there could have been worked more by just showing instead of telling. Especially halfway there are around 20 pages of literal book excerpts that really slowed down my reading experience. The scenes in the ministry of love, with all the torture and hardships then again worked very well. Of course the story is fantastic, and in general well rendered, with sometimes exquisite sentences to ponder on:
But if all others accept a lie, then that lie passes into history and becomes truth. Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present controls the present.

Still I feel this book is probably hard to appreciate standalone so 3,5 stars rounded down.

Only wish is that this was able to be downloaded to kindle
Great graphic novel of Orwell's classic! I really liked how the drawing style worked great with the plot!

Unfortunately, I’m not able to open this one. I download the file on NetGalley, but once I try to open the file in the Digital Editions app, or at least try to, I get an error. It tells me, “Unable to download. Error getting license. License Server Communication error.” I look forward to being able to read the graphic once it’s published anyway. It looks good, and I love 1984. I look forward to the graphic adaptation.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This truly was an excellent visual representation of the novel. However, I would call this a companion to the original book, rather than a "read this instead!" as I'm not sure it's suitable to people who have not read the book before. A lot of the content is conveyed visually rather than through dialogue or writing -- as is the case with graphic novels of course! -- but it means that so much of the original context could be lost for those who are not familiar with, or have forgotten, some of the intricacies of the plot/societal commentary (of which there is a lot).

In some cases though, this is actually beneficial for those who don't want to have to traipse through 20 pages of Goldstein's Testaments haha.

Still, the core themes and commentary are there and the artwork is absolutely fantastic -- the minimalistic use of colour in comparison to the red of Big Brother representations etc. works especially well. The artwork is often incredibly morose and depressing. Perfect for 1984 let's be honest.

I also think that, in the original novel, the characters are often lacking in depth; but seeing them represented visually helped with this for me.

I'm rating this 4 star based on having already read the book and watching a stage show adaption fairly recently!

This was a strong edition of one of the most important literary works to exist but this medium, in graphic novel form, felt like more of a companion piece than a story. The illustrations and dialogue were visually stunning and brought new ways to the story but left much to the imagination that the novel conveyed. This is a good starting point for new readers but existing readers may feel that this is not a fully appreciated story.

A beautiful graphic novel of this Orwell classic that captures the harsh tone of this story. I think some people who are intimidated by the original would gladly pick up this graphic novel and still understand the overall message of 1984. From thought crimes to the revisionist history, Orwell's classic comes to life in the pages of this graphic novel. It is not one to be missed. The pages took a bit to load in the digital edition, but the illustrations and text were perfect to convey the message.

this was a very well executed novel-turned-graphic-novel. the art style was great and i enjoyed the story the panels told. i think this could be a great alternative for readers who are intimidated to read the original classic!

- thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the digital arc!

A very vivid take on the classic story, and well worth reading and considering in addition to the original text. The artistic approach conveys the menacing world of 1984, and illustrates the experience of the main character through both words and images. Recommended reading.

TW: violence, control, slavery, abuse.
This graphic novel of 1984 had some excellent visual representation that can be lost in the book.
However, it still felt very chaotic to read and, at times, hard to read. So, while 1984 has never been a favourite of mine, I do appreciate and recommend this graphic novel to help those who are visual readers.

Overall, I loved the execution of 1984 in graphic-novel form. I think the heartbeat of George Orwell's original book remains strong in this edition, and it's such an important literary work that I can't help but support any endeavor that gets Orwell's message into younger generations and more hands!

Having said that, I don't think this edition is the right way to introduce new audiences to Orwell. This is a true graphic novel, in which much more of the content is conveyed visually than through dialogue or writing. The illustrations absolutely bring the story to life in new ways, but there is still much context left to the imagination (or to the reader's recollection of the original) that a graphic novel simply doesn't convey.

I enjoyed 1984: The Graphic Novel more as a companion to the original, than as a replacement. The artwork is fantastic and is the best part of the book (I really loved the minimalistic use of color!), but you need at least a moderate understanding of the original story to fully appreciate this one.

——

A huge thank you to Matyáš Namai, Palazzo Editions, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

1984 is, at this point, a classic. So it would be silly of me to review 1984 itself. Instead, the graphic novel has to stand on its own as a good, bad or indifferent representation of that timeless dystopian. It does a great job of summarising the book without the repetition and detail that the original novel conveys, whilst still capturing everything you need to know if you hadn't read the original.

Should a graphic novel be reliant upon fantastic illustrations to consider it "good"? No. But should a graphic novel which serves as a retelling of an already established story require fantastic illustrations? Yes. And that's where this falls down. If you're wanting to read this graphic novel because you're unfamiliar with the story and would prefer to enjoy it with less narrative then you most likely will love this book. But if you are familiar with the story, you may find yourself disappointed because the illustrations fall a little flat. They're intentionally flat I suppose, with sparse use of colour and grim expressions throughout which felt like a brilliant choice, but they also suffer from small text, illogical layout and scruffy design. I guess it's personal preference? But these didn't work for me at all as a style.

Otherwise, a great way to enjoy 1984 as an alternate to reading the full text or a fun adjunct to the original.

ARC provided from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

Very impressive. I really liked the artwork and visualization of the novel. The story came to life on the pages

Great graphic novel of Orwell's classic! I really liked how the drawing style worked great with the plot! The only negative was that each page took quite a lot to load in Adobe Digital Editions.