Life of Pi vs Nineteen Eighty-Four: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Fiction
Life of Pi
“My suffering left me sad and gloomy.”
After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, one solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a…
1 film adaptation
vs
Nineteen Eighty-Four
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
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…
1 film adaptationBanned book
The verdict
- Readers rate Nineteen Eighty-Four highest: Nineteen Eighty-Four 4.2 · Life of Pi 3.9.
- Nineteen Eighty-Four is the quickest read — about 4 hours vs 7 for Life of Pi.
- Nineteen Eighty-Four has the widest readership — 5733183 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Life of Pi | Nineteen Eighty-Four | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.9 (1784421) | 4.2 (5733183) |
| Hardcover | 3.8 (1589) | 5.0 (1) |
| Google Books | 4.0 (39) | — |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (116) | — |
Reception
| Life of Pi | Nineteen Eighty-Four | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 1784421 | 5733183 |
| Editions | 115 | 536 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 884954 | 3170038 |
| Reading it now | 28669 | — |
| Written reviews | 58825 | 171557 |
| Wikipedia attention | 54450 | 140637 |
| Pages | 392 | 244 |