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walkingandpanicking 's review for:
Julia
by Sandra Newman
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was - and I cannot stress this enough - the most unnecessary novel ever written. This could have been a speculative essay about women's position in the world of Orwell's 1984 or an AO3 alternate pov fanfiction, but no. Someone actually went through the trouble of publishing and advertising it to the masses.
''1984'' is one of the greatest novels ever written. Expanding upon its themes and lore would require someone skillful & intelligent. Someone with a deep understanding of detail who simultaneously gauges what Orwell was trying to say in his critique, and which real-life regimes and institutions the story depicts.
Sandra Newman frankly is not that person. Her take on this world was boring, uninteresting, and extremely predictable. She felt compelled to answer questions that Orwell had deliberately left unanswered to reflect the controlled and secluded environment of Airstrip One (again missing the point of Orwell's story). And worst of all, she made Julia, an unassuming and deliberately bleak character in a similar position to the protagonist of ''1984'' - somehow the catalyst for all major events of Orwell's novel, while mocking and belittling Orwell's original characters in the process.
The one moment I thought she was about to undo her storytelling-assassination attempt by making Julia's faith mirror Winston's in 1984, she took a complete U-turn and turned her into a 2014 Y/A dystopian protagonist. For what?
The beauty of ''1984'' is its ambiguity. We don't know if the rebels are real. If Big Brother is an actual person. What each character's motivations are. If there even is a common enemy. These are deliberate choices made to make you, the reader, feel as trapped and clueless as our protagonist. This is why part III of the original is so effective - it sucks the hope out of you and makes you feel completely defeated. There is no way out of a dictatorship and an environment of complete censorship. All you can do is yield.
Sandra Newman said ''Yeah, fuck that. Watch me Katniss Everdeen Julia'' and undo all of Orwell's brilliance. For NO REASON. Truly, a despicable literary crime was committed here.
My one positive note: she did a pretty good job speculating how women would be treated in a society like this (which could have been better executed in an essay format). That's it. The rest should be purged from my memory.
''1984'' is one of the greatest novels ever written. Expanding upon its themes and lore would require someone skillful & intelligent. Someone with a deep understanding of detail who simultaneously gauges what Orwell was trying to say in his critique, and which real-life regimes and institutions the story depicts.
Sandra Newman frankly is not that person. Her take on this world was boring, uninteresting, and extremely predictable. She felt compelled to answer questions that Orwell had deliberately left unanswered to reflect the controlled and secluded environment of Airstrip One (again missing the point of Orwell's story). And worst of all, she made Julia, an unassuming and deliberately bleak character in a similar position to the protagonist of ''1984'' - somehow the catalyst for all major events of Orwell's novel, while mocking and belittling Orwell's original characters in the process.
The one moment I thought she was about to undo her storytelling-assassination attempt by making Julia's faith mirror Winston's in 1984, she took a complete U-turn and turned her into a 2014 Y/A dystopian protagonist. For what?
The beauty of ''1984'' is its ambiguity. We don't know if the rebels are real. If Big Brother is an actual person. What each character's motivations are. If there even is a common enemy. These are deliberate choices made to make you, the reader, feel as trapped and clueless as our protagonist. This is why part III of the original is so effective - it sucks the hope out of you and makes you feel completely defeated. There is no way out of a dictatorship and an environment of complete censorship. All you can do is yield.
Sandra Newman said ''Yeah, fuck that. Watch me Katniss Everdeen Julia'' and undo all of Orwell's brilliance. For NO REASON. Truly, a despicable literary crime was committed here.
My one positive note: she did a pretty good job speculating how women would be treated in a society like this (which could have been better executed in an essay format). That's it. The rest should be purged from my memory.