I was simply surprised to see George Orwell’s 1984 released and translated into Indonesian but i had no doubt to buy and read it. I guess it was released in mid 2003 or so here in Indo. The cover is bad compare to original English version and even worse compare to the redesign done by artist Shepard Fairey a.k.a. Obey.

Below is the cover in Indonesian released so you can see.

However, this latest move from Penguin Books is pretty clever, as if kids see the book designed by an artist who design Obey Clothing, will probably bring them more into reading, eventhough, i don’t think kids under 18 should read 1984 anyways. The other Orwell’s book which get redesigned is Animal Farm. But i haven’t read it so i don’t have anything to say. Below is the redesign cover, pretty cool.

As a side note on this. I once recommend and bought another copy of the novel as a gift to my friend that is in the middle of lyric writing session then a social professor mention him as a cool underground musician dude who read 1984 and gets all the credit at a national paper (lol but it’s ok!). Somehow, i have put an online review in my other music blog here (in Indonesian Language) which was originally released as an underground zine published for my underground music company in mid 2003.

Get this via Juxtapoz, more information at The Penguin Blog.