Great Gatsby vs Nineteen Eighty-Four: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Classics, Fiction
Great Gatsby
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Poignantly and with subtle finesse, Fitzgerald tells the story of the dazzling upstart Jay Gatsby, who celebrates lavish parties on his estate in order to win back his lost love – a story about the power of great…
Nineteen Eighty-Four
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
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Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, often referred to as 1984, is a dystopian social science fiction novel by the English novelist George Orwell (the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair). It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker…
Side by side
The verdict
- Readers rate Nineteen Eighty-Four highest: Nineteen Eighty-Four 4.2 · Great Gatsby 3.9.
- Nineteen Eighty-Four has the widest readership — 5733183 ratings behind its score.
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How to choose
Scores by source
| Great Gatsby | Nineteen Eighty-Four | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 4.2 (5733183) |
| Hardcover | 3.7 (4786) | 5.0 (1) |
| Google Books | 5.0 (1) | — |
| Apple Books | 4.0 (4689) | — |
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Reception
| Great Gatsby | Nineteen Eighty-Four | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 4786 | 5733183 |
| Editions | 14 | 536 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 3170038 |
| Written reviews | — | 171557 |
| Wikipedia attention | 77948 | 140637 |
| Pages | 159 | 244 |
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Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Great Gatsby or Nineteen Eighty-Four?
Nineteen Eighty-Four has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Nineteen Eighty-Four 4.2/5, Great Gatsby 3.9/5).
Which is shorter to read: Great Gatsby or Nineteen Eighty-Four?
Great Gatsby is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Great Gatsby (159 pages, ≈ 2 h 57 m); Nineteen Eighty-Four (244 pages, ≈ 4 h 31 m).
Which is harder to read: Great Gatsby or Nineteen Eighty-Four?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Great Gatsby: Challenging; Nineteen Eighty-Four: Challenging.
Have both books been made into films?
Great Gatsby: 5 film adaptations; Nineteen Eighty-Four: 5 film adaptations.