🥰 Who Would Like It?

If you've ever wondered what the world could look like if the government had complete control over the people, this book is your answer. There were times where I felt in this book the same oppressive presence as when I've visited Cuba, of course, the world here is much much worse, but it was an interesting additional dynamic for me. Overall if politics and dystopian societies interest you in any way, this is an enjoyable read.

🔍 How I Discovered It

Had a friend mention it a long time ago and it stayed on my mind as something I wanted to read. Finally decided to give it a go after scrolling through my "to-read" book list and trying to find a fiction book.

⚠️ Spoilers Below ⚠️

📦 Compressed Summary

Winston is a worker who feels like he is different from the rest of society and begins to write his thoughts down in a diary, an act that is unlawful at best. This leads to him slowly questioning the oppressive authority the government has over current social dynamics, which is only further promoted by his job in falsifying information to make sure the government is never wrong.
Winston meets Julia, a coworker who he wants to kill initially but eventually, they grow to have an intimate and unlawful relationship. They decide to meet with another worker they suspect is also against the government to try and join a resistance movement as they have been risking death every time they illegally meet.
They are betrayed and tortured to the point of complete brainwash. They are not allowed to die though, not until they are conditioned to truly love Big Brother and in this process betray each other. In the end, they accomplished nothing, changed nothing, and ceased to exist from the world as nothing.

🧠 Thoughts

- What I Liked About It

The world-building is very powerful, you really feel as if you have an understanding of the society and the constant fear the characters feel. There is nobody to trust in this world and the atmosphere is hard to breathe in as you go through the pages. It made me feel frightened for a future where this is reality because it was so thought-out and developed that I could see it happening. In this fact, the book is a masterpiece.

- What I Didn't Like About It

Had a hard time wanting to pick it up to read. This could be because it's not a very happy book, or because it's not my usual type of genre, I'm not sure. The first half of the book in particular I found to be not very enjoyable, the ending half is completely different though and so I found myself coasting through it.

🤓 Memorable Quotes:

If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable...what then? - Winston, pg. 53

He wished above all that they had some place where they could be alone together without feeling the obligation to make love every time they met. - Winston, pg. 92

The aim of the High is to remain where they are. The aim of the Middle is to change places with the High. The aim of the Low, when they have an aim - for it is an abiding characteristic of the Low that they are too much crushed by drudgery to be more than intermittently conscious of anything outside their daily lives - is to abolish all distinctions and create a society in which all men shall be equal. - Goldstein, pg. 134

Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood. - Winston, pg. 168