Thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books for sending me an ARC of Julia in exchange for an honest review.

Julia is a companion novel to Nineteen Eighty-Four. It tells the same basic story, but from Julia’s perspective rather than Winston’s (and with a couple of extra chapters that extend the story). In the same way that Wide Sargasso Sea would make no sense without having first read Jane Eyre, I cannot imagine this novel would work as a standalone as too much context is not explained within these pages.

Julia had some aspects I enjoyed. I just reread Nineteen Eighty-Four to have it fresh in my mind, and I was struck all over again by Winston’s hatred of Julia before he actually meets and talks to her. He’s kind of like a modern day incel, and seeing Julia recognize that “lust and rage” within him and ridicule him for it was a nice corrective. The author made great use of small details and minor characters from the original book to give this story depth. How did Julia get the note she passed to Winston to begin their affair? Why did Parsons and Ampleforth get arrested? This story provides an answer to those and many other questions. And there is much more generally about the mechanics of life inside and outside London, the bombings and the violence, as well as about the black market and the proles and how they live, which was all interesting.

But is Julia as great as the blurb claims? Is it “truly convincing,” “vital and utterly satisfying”? I’m afraid not, for reasons large and small. It rarely dips into the political explanations that help make the original novel so riveting. On a surface level, this book is more graphic than the original, both in terms of violence and in terms of sex and sexuality. One of the extraordinary things about Nineteen Eighty-Four is that it appeals to people of all moral and political stripes (we just seem to argue about which side is trying to Thought Police the other). But I expect a substantial number of potential readers will be turned off by the author’s decision to include a rather graphically described abortion in the early pages, a fair bit of on-page sex, and quite a bit of profanity.

But my issues with Julia go to the heart of the story being told, and to the way it interprets—I would say misinterprets— Nineteen Eighty-Four. And please know I don’t say that lightly, as this novel is authorized by the Orwell estate. But I would argue that a huge part of the enduring appeal of the original novel is its utter hopelessness. That version of Oceania is a tyrannical, fascist, totalitarian state led by true believers who will stop at nothing to preserve their power and seem poised to rule forever. Winston Smith believes himself to be engaging in a fatal act of rebellion merely by writing a diary and daring to yearn for a small bit of freedom, and he is utterly broken for it. That version of Oceania is simply terrifying. Julia, on the other hand, presents a much less powerful Oceania that is led by just another bunch of old, hypocritical men who come up with ‘rules for thee but not for me.’ Julia Worthing is a sex-positive woman who commits sexcrime, but not really thoughtcrime, because to her it’s all a game of trying to live right, limit mistakes, have cards to play if something goes wrong. All of which makes this version of Oceania far more pedestrian. And that’s without even talking about the three biggest changes this book makes (note: the rest of this paragraph is spoilers: 1) having Julia agree to work with O’Brien and the Thought Police in Part Two to seduce and entrap Winston and the others, 2) despite her complicity, Julia is taken to the Ministry of Love and tortured for months but somehow is not broken, and 3) extending the story so that just a few months after the end of Nineteen Eighty-Four Oceania is invaded and seemingly defeated by the Brotherhood.

Julia certainly swings for the fences. I’m sure the author is going to sell a lot of books, and I’m good with that. She obviously worked hard to weave her story in and around the original. It has a definite point of view, an interesting ending, and it will encourage you to reexamine certain elements of Nineteen Eighty-Four. This book’s version of the scene in Room 101 alone makes it worth the read. That said, the author is going to get a lot of criticism from people like me who might have loved what is ultimately a very professional fan fiction but just think the author made some fundamental alterations to the story that cheapened what makes the original so great, and I’m ok with that too. But even though I didn’t love it, I’d still recommend trying this book to anyone who’s read Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Trigger warnings: miscarriage/abortion, violence, attempted rape, blood/gore, torture, death, starvation, war/war crimes, animal cruelty

1984 is on my list of classic favorites so when I saw the premise behind this book I just had to read it. This book was absolutely fantastic. You barely know anything about Julia in 1984 being able to read a possible backstory for her along with details of her every day life was fascinating. You really get a feel for her and her motivations in this. She’s brilliant and compelling and you really feel for her over the course of the book. I really enjoyed reading that and her thoughts and perspectives. The writing in the book was great. The level of world building really brought my understanding of the world of 1984 to another level. The author managed to enliven the world without info dumping at all.

While I’m not entirely comfortable with the direction that her storyline takes (won’t say exactly what that is for spoiler reasons) I can see how that could have played out in the original book. She affected so many more lives that just Winston’s and it’s interesting to see that play out.

The ending was sublime. I love how open ended it is and open for interpretation it is.

Overall I do recommend this book. There are some very intense scenes at the very beginning and toward the end of the book that aren’t for the squeamish but they are well done imo. Overall if you are a fan of the book 1984 or of classic leaning literature and can handle the content this is the book for you.

An interesting spin on a longstanding classic. It is a common literary trope, telling a well-known story from the perspective of another character, and this book is generally a good example of it.

I can’t say much without blowing the end, but seems awfully optimistic compared with the relentlessly grim view of the original, to the point where I wonder how much of it was real or if it was a vision of the titular character as she lay dying.

It's been a long time since I've read 1984, and I think a refresher might have made sense before delving into Julia, but I still enjoyed this story from Julia's perspective, and what it was like to live under the regime of Big Brother.
This is described as a feminist retelling of 1984, and it does focus on Julia more so than Winston. Winston, and all other men, have been relegated here to sexual conquests for Julia. How she describes and considers each one as potential lovers is both amusing and entertaining.

Julia specializes in repairing the truth machines and takes her job very seriously. This book lacks the sense of urgency and tension that 1984 had, with the dangers clearly spelled out and imminent. The last 40 pages seemed irrelevant but perhaps this author did not want to mirror the same ending as the original book. She does have some surprising twists in store which added to the intrigue of the story. This could be considered a stand alone book but a brief review of 1984 is recommended. A very unique and original perspective on race, class and revolution, so relevant to today's political climate!

Thank you to Netgalley and Mariner Books for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

A feminist retelling of 1984, which turns out was approved by the Orwell estate?? Sign me up.

The book had several great aspects: it expanded the world beyond the original novel, which was interesting, and the character of Julia was compelling much more so than the original. It added to the discussion on gender and class in relation to 1984. But it did at times feel somewhat repetitive...it might be because I was reading it with a comparative lens to the first. There were parts that were a touch confusing and didn't seem like they added value to the story.

I can't overstate how much 1984 meant to me as a teenager and young adult, and I was so excited to read more about Julia. But I wasn't a fan of this one at all:

1/3 cool story about Julia's life as a Fiction mechanic! Yeah!
1/3 weird exhibitionist porn where Julia's a whore for Big Brother and says all the 1984 dialogue to manipulate Winston.
1/3 gross torture scenes in Miniluv and after

I guess I'll never have the high of a teenager discovering 1984 again, but this was really awful.

3.5 Stars


‘War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.’ - George Orwell ’1984’

Julia shares similar events as were in ’Nineteen Eighty-Four’, a book I’ve read more times than I can recall, although the events in ’Julia’ are shared through Julia’s eyes and experiences, as opposed to Winston Smith as in Orwell’s novel. Orwell’s dystopian cautionary tale/sci-fi is retold through the eyes of a woman in ’Julia’. Some of those ‘events,’ such as experiencing pregnancy for the good of those in charge, a man would not personally experience, for example.

I can’t honestly say that I loved this, although it had moments that felt like it had promise, it just didn’t feel as connected - for me - as when reading 1984. Where 1984 had a sense of building tension, this seemed to lack that sense of urgency for Julia, that sense of warning for all, despite the moments that should have created at least more of a growing sense of urgency for Julia, but I never felt that from her.


Pub Date: 24 Oct 2023


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Mariner Books

1984 was one of my favorite books that I read in high school. I was really excited to hear about this book - described as a feminist retelling of the original 1984. And even more excited when I was approved to read it on NetGalley. That being said, the actually book fell short of my expectations. The book didn’t pick up until about 35% of the way through when things began to get more interesting. I also was taken aback by the language the author uses - frequently using the f word and c word of all things when a female describes her own body. I’m no prude but I’ve only ever heard that term used in a derogatory sense and as an insult so I was shocked when the author had the main character using it repeatedly in the book. I found it off putting. Especially in a story where it’s juxtapositioned with the “Newspeak” and all the things they’re censored and supposed to say, but maybe that was the point of why the author did it - for additional shock value. As a reader I almost stopped reading the book for this reason because it was so off putting. I felt it was too much of a divergence from the original 1984 in that sense. The story itself was fairly interesting but very focused on sex which I found confusing. It took away from the overall plot in my opinion. The book made me feel like I should go back and read the original 1984 again to see how it compares because this is so vastly different from what I remember. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book. I liked that she expanded on the little we actually knew about airstrip one, I loved that it had a twist that I never in a million years saw coming and that she pulled it off brilliantly. I really appreciated that she took all these ridiculous traits and actions that had been very male gaze focused and gave Julia reason and power behind those actions.
I also loved and hated the end equally.

I just finished reading 1984 not to long ago so it was fresh in my mind and I had questions. I’m sure lots of people had questions after reading, like what happened to Julia?
Anyway I was very excited to see this book was available on NetGalley for review.
I’m not exactly disappointed nor are all my questions answered but I’m still happy to have read this book
Since it’s written by someone else, obviously not written by the author of 1984, it does follow the story. However it is a lot different than 1984, I feel like this one is more centered around sex but of course all about Julia.
I would still consider this a must read
*I had to speed read through the torture scenes, I couldn’t take it. Just a heads up about that

* I received my copy for review from NetGalley

A feminist retelling of 1984 approved by the Orwell estate, I could not wait to read this. This book had many great aspects: the world was expanded far more than the original novel which was interesting to read, and Julia herself was so compelling, a far better improvement than the original novel. I could see this book accomplishing the goal of adding to the discussion on the roles of gender and class as it compares to 1984. That being said, it does beg the question, is this book necessary? I feel as though the aspects of 1984 that made it so fascinating and now iconic don’t come across the same in this, and it feels a bit redundant. I didn’t particularly enjoy where Newman took the story, there were several plot points that didn’t seem to make sense but were added to have shock value.

ARC provided by NetGalley.

1984 is one of those novels that had a HUGE impact on me when I first read it as a teenager. I've reread it a number of times over the years. Julia by Sandra Newman is an absolutely MASTERFUL retelling of Orwell's classic novel. She perfectly captures the tone of 1984 while also making the story infinitely more interesting. I could not put this down and I was so sad when I finished it.

I always enjoy reading retellings as a genre and this worked well with 1984. I was invested in the characters and thought they worked well with the original novel. I enjoyed the way Sandra Newman wrote this and thought it worked well overall. I’m excited to read more from the author.

A feminist retelling of 1984, I really enjoyed Julia. This dark twist on the original is complex and compelling, I absolutely loved it!

*3.5 stars rounded up*

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I was so excited when I heard this book was approved by the Orwell estate, and could not have been more thrilled at a chance to read it early. Sandra Newman's "Julia" does a beautiful job of expanding on the world that Orwell created, giving us a different perspective on the characters we have already met. More than that, Newman builds onto the world in her own way, bringing more vibrancy to Oceania by showing us parts of it that Winston Smith never encountered. Indeed, though much of the world she and Smith inhabit is shared, Julia shows us just how much experiences - even of the same oppressive state - can differ between a well-off male member of the party and a younger woman who lives in a shared hostel. We see Julia's thought processes about the life she leads, and how being raised in Big Brother's world has brought her to a much different place emotionally than Winston.

These high points being said, however, there were some odd choices made in terms of language and plot points that seemed not because they flowed, but to add shock value or what Newman thought readers might expect. I thought Julia was going to end at a certain chapter, where it dovetailed beautifully with the original novel - but it went on for quite awhile more that felt unnecessarily drawn out. Like the original, Julia is not for the faint of heart. I will also add that readers should check trigger warnings, as there is at least one scene that includes some rather graphic details and has little forewarning.

1984 was my absolute favorite book in high school, and I loved this twist on our favorite dystopian tale. "Julia" gives new insight into a story we all know so well, and provides the same foreboding, dark mood.

These days this sort of book just isn't for the faint hearted. If you are reading this review though, I bet you will love it. The estate of George Orwell granted permission for this feminist retelling of 1984. Much of the setting is the same but our story is told through Julia, formerly only known by her first name and a foil to the story on Winston Smith.

Sandra Newman however has painted a complex character in Julia - giving us the inside line on who she is, what she thinks and what drives her actions including the fated moment when she passes a note to Smith. If you are a fan of 1984 I guarantee you will love this story. Newman has paid homage, while also adding electric details to a well known novel.
#marinerBooks #Julia #SandraNewman

Julia is a retelling of the classic novel 1984. We get to see Julia's take on life. We get to see Winston Smith through her eyes.
I liked this novel but found it tedious. I enjoyed learning about Julia and what happened in her life. I don't however love Julia. I just can't find any redeeming qualities that Julia has. Of course I think that's what the author wants to show the dystopian lifestyle and how it makes a person behave and think. I think someone who hasn't read 1984 would enjoy this book better.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but I unfortunately am lukewarm on it. I, like many, found 1984 as an eye-opening book as a young person. This book certainly takes a feminist bent to the story, but I found it less enlightening and interesting, and the pacing was strange. The first half of the book lags and makes you feel like you might need to reread 1984 to get all of the references. The second half was well-paced and interesting. Over all, though, I might have DNFed this.

Stirring and stunning. A dark, rich, luscious look at a literary classic becomes a classic in its own right.