1985 is neither feathery nor amusing; but it is a truly bad book. I'm afraid no amount of "plumping up" would save it; indeed, one wishes the prolific Mr. Burgess had thought better of it and left this one in the locked and darkened drawer.

That 1985 is so very bad is curious as well as disappointing. One would think Burgess the very man to take on Orwell….

Finding the modern world so dangerous and inhospitable a place, it is not surprising that Burgess and Orwell cast quick, backward glances to seemingly safer, more sensible times…. Burgess and Orwell can only look stonily, warily ahead; and the shape they give us of things to come is distinctly unpleasant. Orwell left us with 1984, that dark and looming prophecy of totalitarianism. And Burgess has churned out a series of what he chooses to call "cacotopian" (from GK Kakos bad + topos place) novels...