If you read 1984, you should read this brilliant slant on it . The author presents us with Winston’s lover as the lead character and does an exemplary job of showing us what she really is like.
It follows the original novel but with a number of twists.
Really an excellent read.
I do recommend. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me this ARC.

I have a friend, Jenna May, who wrote a song called Thoughtcrime which is loosely inspired by 1984. When I saw this book was being released, I immediately requested it.
I hadn’t read 1984 in a while and don’t think it fully clicked the first time I read it, so this was a really interesting read. i especially loved the feminine perspective.

I first read 1984 around 1984, and then re-read it in 2020; American author Sandra Newman has done a brilliant job of retelling it from the point of view of Julia Worthing, the one and only female character CliffsNotes lists in its 1984 guide. I read elsewhere that in so doing she'd addressed two questions George Orwell's original posed: what ever did Julia see in Winston Smith? and, how did Julia manage to safely make her way from Semi-Autonomous Zone 5 to a career in the Outer Party's Ministries, free to roam at will among Proles and other hostiles?

I do like how charitable 26-yr old Julia found Comrade Smith to be good-looking in his own way, "a lean man of roughly forty, very fair and grey-eyed... Old Misery had a bad case of Sex Gone Sour." I think the author's fleshing out of Julia's traumatic childhood, sexual precociousness and bisexuality made seamless sense here, and I liked the addition or heightened visibility of so many other female characters like little pretty Vicky from the Central Committee, Mrs Melton the blackmarketer, rebellious Diana "Icy" Winters, and Monitor Atkins from the women's dormitory, among others. I may be mistaken in judging the descriptive level of violence and torture, and particularly cruelty against women to be much more graphic in Julia than it was in 1984, but I guess culture and society have ramped that up in the last 75 years anyways, plus Newman doesn't go over-the-top with it.

This book is a retelling of George Orwell's 1984. Sandra Newman seeks to tell the story from the point of view of Julia rather than Winston Smith who was the main character in the original classic. The author has done a good job of retaining the narrative style, events and vocabulary from the original yet added a lot of contemporary female perspective to the story. The concept of sex-crime in particular and its horrid repercussions on women has been elaborated in much detail. The author also touches upon stuff like abortions, same-sex relationships and such other matters which are frowned upon in totalitarian regimes.

Be warned that this is a slow burn with lots of descriptive narrative and may not be for everyone. Generally, when I read a retelling from a female perspective, I end up loving the female character. However, this was not the case this time. I had mixed feelings about Julia and found it hard to condone some of her behavior and actions. She comes across as selfish, shallow and slutty in parts. I don't want to do spoilers so I won't go into more detail on this aspect but I kept wondering if she had any political ideologies or just wanted an excuse to sleep around.

I read 1984 ages ago and wish I had re-read it before reading this book although it is not absolutely necessary - the book can be read on its own. However, one can definitely benefit from reading them back to back if the objective is to deeper dive into any analysis of the plot and characters. Overall, a deep-thinking book that is perfect for book club discussions.

Thank you Netgalley, Mariner Books, Sandra Newman and Thebookclubgirl for the ARC.

I am... shocked at how much I liked this book.

First of all, I'm a George Orwell stan. He's probably my favorite author, maybe second-favorite. I think his prose is unmatched for cleanness and clarity. I love his calm yet relentless pursuit of truth and justice through the written word. I've read all his essays and all his books, including the ones that no one reads (*cough* Keep the Aspidistra Flying *cough*). I return probably annually to his essay on Salvador Dalí. I've read Nineteen Eighty-Four maybe a dozen times, maybe more. I might go so far as to say that I think Nineteen Eighty-Four is maybe the only really effective depiction of a dystopia out there.

Sandra Newman's Julia is really, really, really good.

Newman does a spectacular job of weaving a different story around Winston's, and of showing the same Airstrip One from the perspective of someone else – a woman, a younger person, a more adventurous person, with a different history relating to the Party and a different set of memories. It feels like the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four is expanded here rather than changed, and in a convincing way that makes room for Winston and Julia both. I really loved Julia here. I loved how she saw Winston, especially how she saw him as lined up next to other people. (I also, to my surprise, had a real soft spot for Ampleforth!) I loved some of the OCs, (view spoiler). I love the way the book injects some wry humor in next to the horror – because it is ridiculous, isn't it, the way the Party operates, pretending like someone never existed when we all know they did, pretending like we're exceeding our quotas for boots and grain when we all know we're barefoot and starving? Horrifying, but ridiculous.

The story makes some bold plot choices that I think will be polarizing – particularly the last quarter or so, which is the only part of the book that I think meaningfully goes against the core of what Nineteen Eighty-Four is about – but I think they're really active choices, not cheap at all, and I think they make sense given Julia's narrative. I was impressed by these choices myself, and I liked them. I love especially that Julia's story doesn't end where Winston's does. That she sees some of the same things that he sees, but differently, but that her version still entirely makes room for and encapsulates the canon. And I love the way the ending mixes societal hopelessness with personal hope.

Much to my astonishment, I would highly recommend this book – to fans of Nineteen Eighty-Four, and to everyone else.

I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGallery and Mariner Books for this ARC. 1984 Julia is George Orwell’s story told thru the eyes of Julia as opposed to Winston. I think this would be a great stand alone for someone who never read the original 1984. Being a life long fan of the original this side of the story tho being a good story kinda lost the the originals vibe for me. Julia is a little more sinister in her ways and again I may be jaded from the original. It is an interesting point of view and dives deep in Oceania and the bleakness of its society.

My experience of reading "1984" in junior high was transformative, one of the few vivid memories I have of my tween years. It was my first taste of dystopian fiction and an awakening to the knowledge that democracy is not always a given. Oceania as imagined by Orwell is frightening but compelling and I was ready to see it through the eyes of a new author.

There was much commotion about this being a "feminist retelling" of "1984" but that seems a rather clumsy and imprecise way of saying the classic will now be told from the perspective of Julia, a woman. In Newman's story, Julia is making do and getting by in her role as a mechanic. She knows how to flex the rules just enough to have little tastes of freedom here and there. Unfortunately, she gets caught up in some interoffice drama that in our real world amounts to very little but in Oceania results in torture, disappearance, and death.

This is a tough read. Hundreds of pages of destruction and cruelty. And for what? Truth be told, I felt lost in certain parts because I struggled to fully understand the motivations of some characters or of the Oceania government. Maybe this was the point? Maybe I missed a critical sentence along the way?

I'm still processing much of "Julia" but I'm glad I read it. Sandra Newman does an incredible job and crafts an ending that will leave readers moved and unsettled.

Thanks to NetGalley for this early read. I totally picked this book by the title and description. I was born in 1984, and I enjoyed the original book so I wanted to experience another telling from the female perspective.

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the book once I really got into it. It took a little bit to get into the rhythm and writing but once I focused I couldn't put it down. Had some Handmaid's Tale vibes and even felt foreshadowing regarding some of the political issues we have faced in the world.

The entire book took be back to classic storytelling and still refreshing for the current time. If you're a fan of old and new books or a blend of traditions, then try this book out.

At first, I was super excited about this book: 1984 retold, focusing on Julia. And I enjoyed reading it--it's got some very clever things going on, and it's very much worth reading and discussing. But the more I thought about it, the more I considered how Julia is also White, able-bodied, apparently conventionally attractive. She undergoes countless horrors, and yet, I kept thinking, what if this was a retelling of 1984 from the perspective of a woman of color, or a woman seeking to hide a disability from Big Brother? Newman brings in characters of color, very briefly, but I feel like there was a missed opportunity there to explore the lives of other women under the regime.

I was a full grown adult before I read 1984, but when I was done I was reeling and this was the perfect fit for that void. I love seeing the story from a female perspective. Great read, and a great addition to the 1984 storyline.

Wowow. I really loved this, much more than I'd expected to. I read 1984 a few years ago, and I think this was such a great idea, executed so well. Seeing things from Julia's perspective, and how smart she was, couldn't have been done better. This book is written beautifully as well, and I actually cried towards the end. This is the perfect example of how to add to and expand upon a preexisting work; doing something new, while keeping the integrity of the source material. Overall, just super impressive.

This is the book I have been waiting for all my life to read. It started when I was a junior in high school, and was assigned 1984 for my literature class. It became an instant favorite and has stayed with me all these years. Then, I heard of "Julia," a retelling of "1984" from the book's love interest and instantly knew I HAD to read this. I was not disappointed. The author stayed very true to the feel and the writing of the classic, yet it had a woman's perspective, and told the tale about the very fascinating character who I did not know enough about in the original, though I desperately wanted to. All my questions about Julia were answered in a very satisfying way, and this book would make "1984" proud. I absolutely loved it, and it too will remain with me for a long time to come. I highly recommend this book.

I wanted to love Julia because 1984 is one of my favorite books and I’m sorry but I did not love this reinterpretation of 1984.

Sandra Newman is a good writer but she could not live up to George Orwell and his writing. This book reminds me of Nick which was a prequel to The Great Gatsby where I feel the author could not live up to the original work.

A companion novel to 1984, this attempts to flesh out the Julia of the original. It throws you into the world, so if you haven’t read 1984 (and if you haven’t I don’t know why you’d pick this up) you’ll be lost.

This isn’t the pithy prose of Orwell, and yet there was still a lot telling instead of showing as we see Julia navigate this authoritarian landscape. This is billed as a feminist retelling but Julia is just exploited over and over while she cares about absolutely nothing, and even when she has growth we see in the end that it doesn’t even matter.

I struggled to understand Julia’s motivations. She’s apathetic for nearly the entire book and I could never tell if that’s a comment on this oppressive regime or just poor character development. Even when she hates Big Brother it was hard to see how she got there, and her final deliverance isn’t really a deliverance at all so I’m not sure what the point is.

This also needs trigger warnings for CSA.

Thank you to NetGalley the publishing for providing me with this book to review.

Sandra Newman's "Julia" is a genre-defying literary achievement that challenges the boundaries of time, identity, and human connection. This thought-provoking novel takes readers on a mind-bending journey through the life of Julia, a character who is as enigmatic as she is compelling.

The narrative of "Julia" is a complex tapestry that weaves together multiple timelines and realities, blurring the lines between dreams and waking life. Julia, the central character, experiences her existence through a series of vivid and sometimes disorienting vignettes. As readers, we are constantly challenged to discern what is real, what is imagined, and what exists in the interstitial spaces between.

Newman's prose is both mesmerizing and disorienting, mirroring the fragmented nature of Julia's consciousness. Her writing is rich in descriptive detail, creating a vivid and immersive reading experience. However, this immersive quality can occasionally be overwhelming, requiring readers to navigate through a labyrinthine narrative.

One of the book's strengths lies in its exploration of the concept of identity. Julia's identity is fluid and elusive, and the novel raises profound questions about the nature of self and the impact of memory and experience on our sense of self. Newman invites readers to contemplate the idea that our identities are not fixed but are shaped by our perceptions, relationships, and the stories we tell ourselves.

The character of Julia is enigmatic and elusive, making her a captivating but often inscrutable protagonist. Readers will find themselves drawn to her complexity and vulnerability while simultaneously feeling frustrated by her opaqueness. This paradoxical relationship with the character adds depth to the reading experience but may leave some wanting more clarity.

"Julia" is a novel that challenges conventions and expectations. It defies categorization, blending elements of literary fiction, science fiction, and psychological drama. This genre-blurring approach can be exhilarating for readers who appreciate innovative storytelling but may prove disorienting for those seeking a more straightforward narrative.

"Julia" by Sandra Newman is a daring and intellectually stimulating work of fiction that pushes the boundaries of storytelling. It is a novel that demands active engagement and rewards readers with its intricate exploration of identity, time, and the human psyche. While its unconventional narrative structure may not be to everyone's taste, those who appreciate thought-provoking literature that challenges the status quo will find "Julia" to be a captivating and memorable read.

Comrades! What a book. I just finished reading this, and the first word I can think to describe it is doubleplusgood, as they’d say in Newspeak. But really, this book was fantastically authentic in keeping to Orwell’s vision and style of writing in 1984. Having just re-read 1984 right before reading this book, I can say that she kept everything true to that in this retelling. (The timeline, the quotes, the characters, ideals, etc.) Honestly the only difference I could tell that it wasn’t Orwell writing was both the swearing and the feminist views (which isn’t a dig on Orwell, but, well, he wasn’t a woman).
I loved how the author came up with these ideas of everything going on in the background of 1984. They all fit so perfectly that it’s like she went back in time and conspired with Orwell about some of the stuff he doesn’t address in the book. I don’t want to give any spoilers in this review, but if you had some lingering questions from 1984, there’s a very good chance they’ll be answered in this retelling.
One thing I really liked was that you don’t get the best view of Julia in the original book- she comes across pretty shallow then. But in this retelling, you get a much better background and picture of who Julia truly is.
One other thing I’d like to add, is that if you are wondering if you *need* to read 1984 to read this book, I would say it’s not a necessity. I’m not sure you’ll get the same thrilling satisfaction as someone who’s read 1984 (especially as someone who loved that book) but I still think it’s a great and important book to read.

Trigger and general warnings:
- Miscarriage/abortion (there’s a pretty explicit scene in the beginning)
- Very violent, with lots of torture, blood, gore, etc.
- Child/sexual abuse
- This book is not for the faint of heart or for young readers. Still an excellent book I think worth reading, but just wanted to put that out there

📖 Read if 📖 :
✔️ You loved 1984 (or liked, or even tolerated)
✔️ The only reason you didn’t like 1984 was because of Winston’s view/treatment of women
✔️ You love a good retelling (particularly a feminist one)
✔️ You love a good dystopian novel
✔️ You like morally grey and complex characters


Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

It is clear that Julia is a love letter of sorts to George Orwell’s 1984. Newman does a fantastic job capturing the tone and feel of the original book with her writing. The main issue with Julia is one that most books like it suffer from. Since it is a retelling from a different character’s point of view, the reader already knows the ending. For that reason, I struggle to decide if a reading of 1984 before Julia would be beneficial or detrimental..

That being said, I can’t help but love the motivation behind the creation of this book. Taking one of literature’s most flat characters and giving her her own motivations and flaws is something I have to commend.

It's been a few decades since I read 1984, and most of what I remember was the feel of the society and a few visuals from the film. Before starting this book, I read the Wikipedia summary for 1984 and feel it helped me get into the book faster, but I also don't think it is entirely necessary.

The book does a good job of recreating the feel of the first and has an engaging story. It portrays Julia as a complex character who shows different parts of life in the society. As one might imagine, the book is depressing in a 'how horrible governments/people can be' way, much like original. The author did a great job in recreating this world.

I found the torture scenes too painful to read and skimmed them. The book also includes discussion/scenes of sexual assault, bullying, starvation, and any number of other cruelties.

Not an emotionally easy read, but, like the original, an important one.

As someone who has read 1984 several times, I was eager to see how the author approached the lead female character in the book from a new direction. The problem with writing in the style of an author a long time gone is to make the language and tone (see Anthony Horowitz in his Sherlock and Moriarty stories), Newman does a fine job here (some might take offense at the exceptional crudeness with which Julia talks about sex, but in the original her character is limited to her physical relationship with Winston, so maybe that makes sense). Julia finds the obsession on the political aspect of things rather boring, as she is more concerned with the day-to-day. It is fascinating to see how every scene in Winston's eyes is wholly different through hers.

The ending is what has me wavering on whether I really like this book or am frustrated with it. (SPOILER ALERT) She works for the system, not against it, and then is allowed to escape the system and fight against the powers that be in a way that Winston never was. This defeats the central purpose of the original where it was a closed system that no one can escape. I wanted her to be trapped in the same way he was because it adhered to the premise of the original story that there is no way to escape to mighty arm of Big Brother.

But then I looked at the ending a second time and a new possible thesis emerges. Maybe the fact the resistance, which uses the same tactics as INGSOC to fight against its enemies, a subtle commentary suggesting that in politics all sides are evil and political structures as a whole are inherently corrupt. Or it might be saying that even the resistance is simply another trick of Big Brother to release some of the proles' anger in. a way that can be controlled.

As far as my review goes, if the author is saying this, then I would give the book 5 stars. If all the author is saying that Julia escapes the horridly oppressive society by some cunning and shear luck, then I would give it 3 stars. Since I cannot determine the author's intent, it earns a solid 4 stars.

With all the feminist retellings of classic myths and fairy tales in recent years, I wasn't sure a feminist retelling of 1984 would carry much weight. Luckily, it's been a few years since I read 1984 so I was able to read Julia as its own works and i have to say I was really impressed with Newman's writing. The tone and setting are really reminiscent of Orwell and this book will stand alone for anyone who hasn't read 1984, giving the same dystopian message and warning for our future.