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INTHEMIDSTOFLIONS OP t1_it7yl9u wrote

Reply to comment by ImJoshsome in Does 1984 ever dive into how the Party took control over Oceania? [no direct spoilers please] by INTHEMIDSTOFLIONS

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback.

Tbh, I may not be emotionally able to finish the book at this time. I get really heavy political anxiety especially around midterms, and I was so stressed reading the book last night I had to take 0.25mg of my Xanax prescription.

I don’t want to just stick my head in the sand with emotionally difficult material, but man this sounds like such a stressful environment to live in (Oceania).

I have had to quit books due to being too dark in the past (a game of thrones, and American psycho for example). I think understanding how things came to be helps me cope better with understanding why things are the way they are, as opposed to just being in the dark the whole book.

That’s why comments like “it doesn’t matter, read the book” aren’t necessarily helpful, bc I don’t know if I want to finish the book if it’s going to be too much. If that makes sense.

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Scarsquid t1_it7zmiy wrote

While your question is never answered, you should probably stop reading now. The book gets very bleak and hopeless in a way that is terrifyingly real.

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INTHEMIDSTOFLIONS OP t1_it7zths wrote

Thank you

Not looking for another “the road” experience. That book fucked me up for weeks.

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suicidal_warboi t1_itc0yym wrote

I’m not trying to be offensive, but maybe it would be wise to temper the extent to which you allow your emotions to decide whether you finish a book or not.

It’s hang ups like this that allow the totalitarian-for-profit to achieve further control. People are too sensitive and can’t withstand discomfort even when the discomfort is caused by something as harmless as a fictional dystopian novel.

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sosodank t1_it85qxs wrote

the best thing you could do, then, is read some history. everything has happened before, and everything will happen again.

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makingnoise t1_it8y4zc wrote

I think this statement fails to capture for some folks the importance of history. Knowing what happened in the past is one thing, understanding why things happened in the past is another thing. People with a failure of imagination know that fascism rose to power in WWII, but see no modern parallels because they never realized the purpose of learning history was to relate the past to the present.

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