I only read '1984' so I have no idea how ABNW is written. Based on your review I certainly will not be purchasing that book as I have a policy of forcing myself to finish reading any book I purchase. If it's a crappy book I decide I hate I start tearing off pages to toss in the trash. 1984 was so powerful by the time I got done with it, mentally I had been sucked into that world and felt a profound sense of despair. A world like that would not be worth living in. It would suck all the humanity out of you had you grown up in such a world. You wouldn't really be human. Hmmm, much like people living in North Korea, come to think of it. Of the few who manage to escape to South Korea they are shocked at what real freedom looks and feels like. They go through a period of psychic adjustment and these are those who had the mindset that there could actually be a better world out there. What of all those millions in North Korea who believe their government and culture is the best in the world and the rest of us just don't get it? What must their minds be like?
So, yes, North Korea/1984, the real world version of the book.
I suggest Down and Out in Paris and London, also by Orwell. I think the audiobook is on youtube. Great read if you have ever been poor as shit in your life struggling to scrape by.
Best quote in my opinion:
The great redeeming feature of poverty: the fact that it annihilates the future. Within certain limits, it is actually true that the less money you have, the less you worry. When you have a hundred francs in the world you are liable to the most craven panics. When you have only three francs you are quite indifferent; for three francs will feed you till tomorrow, and you cannot think further than that.
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