Jesus Christ, could anything more horrible, more sinister, more depressing be written? I am distraught, bitter, saddened, feeling all kinds of things. The ending of this book is both brilliant and unexpected, and leaves me feeling utterly dejected. This entire book is an unnerving tease. To me it is incomprehensible to compare most modern dystopias to this novel. None of the ones I've read have come close to 1984 and the terror within it. I can think of only one recent novel, The Hunger Games, and maybe even parts of Unwind, but they both fall short in my eyes. I don't know what to think or what to even say. Two quotes stood out to me while reading this book, and I feel they summarize what 1984 is all about--at least for me--so I guess I'll start with those: 
 "The terrible thing that the Party had done was to persuade you that mere impulses, mere feelings, were of no account, while at the same time robbing you of all power over the material world. When once you were in the grip of the Party, what you felt or did not feel, what you did or refrained from doing, made literally no difference. Whatever happened to you vanished, and neither you nor your actions were ever heard of again." 
 "Already we know almost literally nothing about the Revolution and the years before the Revolution. Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right." 
 This world that Orwell creates is horrifying on many levels. Not only are all citizens hateful to the core, uneducated, lack privacy, and live in poverty and surrounded by disease, but they are also divided, controlled, and constantly being put up against one another. The most vile of citizens are actual children, who are encouraged since birth to turn in their own families to government officials if they suspect them of conspiring or disobeying the Party, knowing full well that the punishment is most likely death. 
 Citizens are presumably being killed by their own government during random "enemy attacks" to reinforce the idea that there's a war going on against enemies that change at whim. The very core of humanity is stripped away from these citizens, they have no aspirations, values (unless the Party introduces them and holds them to it), or even fulfilling partnerships. Love is a joke, and so is marriage. They are nothing but empty shells. Is there anything more horrifying than that kind of world? Has anyone read anything as dreadful? 
 (view spoiler)[When Winston and Julia were caught by the Thought Police, I was hoping against hope that they would escape, that it was a trick... or I don't know, that they would start their own revolution. But in retrospect I was clearly naive. I was foolish to think this book would have a happy ending. When Winston starts being tortured I accepted it as part of the plot. But then the torture continued, on levels I couldn't imagine, and for several chapters. I almost wished Winston would die so I wouldn't have to witness his pain. After a while I couldn't bear it. 
 And then, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, Room 101 is revealed to us. In Room 101 your worst fears become realized and for Winston this is rats. The goal of Room 101 is to confront the victims with their worst fear so that they in turn will finally betray the people they love the most, and wish that their own worst fears are forced on those same people. That's right, it's torture to the third degree. Simple torture and brainwashing is not enough in this world. (hide spoiler)] 
 I think this is where the genius of 1984 lies. There is nothing like it. As a reader you recognize that it's a horrible world in the beginning, a clear dystopia, but you are not prepared. Citizens are controlled, yes. The past and the future don't matter, true. (view spoiler)[Winston is captured. He is tortured. But he doesn't just suffer physical pain, humiliation, paralyzing fear, and degradation--he is reconstructed, broken down, and then rebuilt completely. (hide spoiler)] 
 "We shall crush you down to the point from which there is no coming back. [...] Never again will you be capable of ordinary human feeling. Everything will be dead inside of you. [...] You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves." 
 (view spoiler)[He is not a person, he is a zombie. Nothing more than a dispensable pawn in a game controlled by slavery of the mind and the spirit. All the convictions and hatred that Winston had for the Party at the beginning of the book were erased, his initial courage is forgotten, his inner rebellion never existed, and this new Winston is presented to us, an oblivious stranger. He doesn't recognize the past or cares for it. His love affair with Julia was a dream he was all too ready to give up. It washed away with this new Winston and I could do nothing but witness his slow and deliberate demise right until the very end of the book. (hide spoiler)] 
 I don't think I'll be re-reading this one anytime soon, but somethings tells me I'll have to re-visit this book eventually. It's just too good to forget.