My first thought upon finishing this novel is that it was a little bit overrated. I loved Orwell's Animal Farm, but what technique he employed on Animal Farm became strange and unsuitable upon 1984. For example, the one-dimensional story telling of a corrupted government worked very well with Animal Farm, and little characterization is needed, because each animal was supposed to represent something and they did not required extensive personality. But when it came to human, I believed it is imperative to write them with nuances, and to explore their psychology upon living under a harsh regime. With the exception of Wilson, which was the main protagonist of the story, other characters felt shallow and unmemorable, for they are only ascribed a "surface" characteristics and the depth of their psychology was not explored. 
 Plot: Personally, the plot focus chiefly on world building, had little action going on, and detail Wilson's talking about the society of Ingsoc, his rebellion through sleeping with Julia, his naive trust to O'Brien, and his torture at the Ministry of Love. 
 Worldbuilding : As a dystoia, 1984 does send me a chill down my spine with the world building it is capable of constructing. The way the government gave you victory cigarettes, curtail the English dictionary, the war propaganda, the Hate song...etc., was quite realistic and basically what North Korea is probably doing now. Worse, the government was successful in eradicate complex thoughts within people mind, so much that they were unperturbed by the fact that the news they receive one hour ago was different from what they are perceiving now. They just accept whatever the government tell them. 
 Characters : As mention before, I didn't feel like they were exploring in depth. O'Brien remained a shadowy figure, we saw no machinations underlying the working of the Party. Julia was only rebellious physically, but we saw no building of her character - what does she like, what is her feelings... Basically, she just like sleeping with Wilson and later betrayed him. Who is Rutherford and Goldstein and all those men portrayed as war criminals? What make them become the enemy of the Party, what change their mind? I just feel hollow and unable to connect with the character in this book. I just feel they are too flat, and only serve as plot devices to move the story forward. Even though in Animal Farm, the animals are also pretty one-dimensional - the Machiavellian pig, the hardworking horse, the stupid sheep... etc., I feel it is justified because they are symbol representation of a microcosm and they weren't mean to be profound, deep human. But when you write a story about human, you must also take into account of what is their action, feeling, and motive in response to the government...etc. 
 Conclusion . I like the book, it was a fast read and an interesting one, despite some aspect of the society portrayed in here is quite hard to believe in. I didn't like this as much as Animal Farm though, because I felt this is a flat portrayal of authoritative government, and need further exploration. Otherwise, this book is good.