1984

Okay, I'm probably in the minority here. But this book killed my soul.
 

You know that old saying, "If a tree falls and there's no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?" That's kind of how this book is written. It's every philosopher's dream and every sane person's nightmare.  What you think you know, you must forget you know. History is rewritten every single day. But if you somehow remember the past (because humans actually have memory believe it or not) then you are guilty of thoughtcrime. Meaning you thought something outside of what "Big Brother" wants you to think. They want a dictatorship in the purest sense of the word. But even that idea isn't what bothered me. What bothered me was that Winston and Julia opposed Big Brother while working directly for them. When the opportunity arose for them to join the Brotherhood, they jumped on it. But really they were just trading one dictatorship for another? They literally were not gaining a single thing by joining the Brotherhood, it did not help them in any way, shape, or form. But they were prepared to put their lives on the line for another all knowing entity??? For Winston to want free will so badly, he sure didn't act like it.
 

Now in the beginning, Winston starts by buying a journal and writing stories of his past for a future generation. One he knows he'll likely never be a part of, but his words might. Honestly his like.....three journal entries were the best part of the entire book. If the whole thing was written like that instead of him just kind of gallivanting off with Julia every chance he got, I might have given this story more than 3 stars.
 

The last 50 or so pages were also incredibly well written. But again, the logic behind what O'Brien was doing to Winston still made zero sense to me. I understand that Winston was set up by O'Brien to commit thoughtcrime. I understand that Big Brother masterminded this entire thing to trick Winston into thinking he was acting on his own free will. But logically, everyone in the Inner Party would also be committing thoughtcrime because they're divulging past information to the prisoners as they try to reform them. Maybe that was the idea behind this entire book? That the wealthy control everything?

I don't know but I'm not going to keep trying to figure it out.