End of 1984 (1985?)

Working backwards;

I think the reason Winston's transformation is so unsettling is because of the third-person limited viewpoint Orwell uses - We only see things from his perspective, and so in watching him "become sane" as O'Brien would put it, we're watching him do exactly as his captor told him he would do on the road to rehabilitation - right before they shot him in the head. So its also like watching him unknowingly walk the plank.

Of course we don't find out till the end that in all their diabolicality (believe that's a word), the Party doesn't even bestow the mercy of making good on their promise to blow his "fixed" brains out.

Meanwhile, my mind has been sufficiently blown.

Thinking back, I don't think I've ever read a book that employs so many symbols throughout -

Big Brother
Telescreens
Memory Holes
the Coral Paperweight
the Churchbell Nursery Rhyme
Winston's Varicose Ulcer
The "Prole" Woman
Julia's Red Sash
The Book (crucially italicized)

And there are a bunch more that are either used only briefly, or are too subtle for my dull mind.

Admittedly, the second-act Info-Dump that was The Book was a little tedious, partially because, as even the characters recognized, it didn't say anything anybody didn't already know. I'm not sure I would have made the choice of submitting my readers to that - a lesson I've learned the hard way is that acknowledging a flaw in your work, and flaunting it in the audience's face does not, in fact, make it a legitimate artistic choice.

On the other hand, it does make a couple moments of O'Brien's "Malevolent Mastermind Monologue" a little more powerful, as it made me feel as though I were the one strapped to the table.

On the other hand, the only reason that was possible was because the characters are so flat and lifeless that they can easily be imposed upon. I mean, Winston Smith? Honestly? I still prefer Protagonist McGenericname.

So while I liked the way the third act was navigated, and a certain stretch bookended by Winston receiving two important documents (namely Julia's "I Love You" note and The Book), everything else was...uneventful. Up until he gets the note its nothing but him thinking heretical thoughts and occasionally journalling while going about his every day routine, and the rest is literally him reading a book. In the book.

Nobody wants to read about somebody reading. I still can't get over the choices that made that particular sequence of exposition so clumsy...especially as it was a hefty bit of exposition.

In the end though, there's a lot to be said about the book, and I feel unable to say any of it right now. Hopefully my thoughts will be consolidated by tomorrow morning.