I read a couple of Orwell books in high school and didn't like any of them. I had kind of an intense hatred for the author, really. But as an adult, I wanted to give him another try. I was 15 the last time I read this and didn't really remember much of why I disliked it. It sounds like a book that would be right up my alley. But my opinion hasn't changed. At least now I can articulate slightly better why I dislike it.

First, this book is split into three parts. The first part surprised. I enjoyed it. I thought the world was interesting and Orwell's thoughts on society were worthwhile. I like the points he's trying to make about social change and politics. The first part was pretty much entirely just the world and Winston's character set up.

But then part two happened and everything bad came flooding back. I hate the romance in this book. Just hate it. It doesn't work for me in any way. I find Julia's character annoying and pointless. She exists in the story for the ending, but it didn't feel like she had any role. Winston was just dragging her along on his journey, and I would have much preferred if it was just his journey alone. So much of the story focusing on him finding ways to hook up with his girlfriend it becomes largely about that for the middle portion of this book. I like romance, but I neither like them as a couple or care enough to hate them. They're just crappy boring people, and together they accomplish nothing.

I also hate the sections from the book that Winston receives. He is given an underground secret book about the resistance, that's basically a vehicle for Orwell's thoughts on government, politics, social change, etc. Which is fine, I liked reading about his thoughts, but the problem is that we'd already seen all the concepts explained in that book in action. The war is discussed thoroughly from Winston's point of view, and we can come to the conclusions made in the book on our own. The book excerpts offer nothing new. They just rehash the same concepts in dry textbook-like language. And they go on for so painfully long.

Spoiler thoughts on the ending:

Spoiler

The only thing I did remember about this book was how much I hated the rat scene at the end. I thought it was because I liked rats and books that focus on how evil rats are annoying me (which is kind of true), but that's not why I specifically hate this ending. I can easily replace it with spiders in my head and be properly horrified. My problem is that it feels so trivial. He's been systematically tortured for an extended period of time, physically and mentally. He's been beaten down. He's emaciated. He's lost all his teeth. He's broken. But forget all that, the thing that really gets him is being threatened by rats and telling them to torture his girlfriend instead (even though he knows they already have?). I just don't get it. I don't buy that as the big moment of torture and change when he's already been through dehydration, starvation, sleep deprivation, beatings, and the torture device from The Princess Bride.

I did actually appreciate Winston's character arc, though. I thought that was an interesting progression. I don't necessarily like how Orwell went about it in the storytelling, but I did like the general arc.

I don't think I'll ever understand what so many people see in this book. I found it boring and annoying and a whole lot less meaningful than the general population seems to. Like yes, I think the world is interesting and well done, but I don't think the story itself is. At least now I know for sure where I stand on Orwell.