He doesn’t have to be a good person, that’s fair. I just found myself not giving a shit. He lives in a dystopian authoritarian truthless hellscape, and all he cares about is the thrill of getting his dick wet under the Party’s nose. His concerns are so small and hedonistic, I just couldn’t care less. The backdrop of the world was far more interesting, but the book goes out of its was to not actually dig into all of that too much once the scene is set early on.
I’ve come to understand that, had I carried on reading, there is some payoff where the nympho turns out to be a honeypot or something? Or both of them are being monitored and get arrested by the regime? Or whatever? That would have made it like 10 percent more interesting I guess, but it just dragged on in his misplaced priorities for far too long to keep me going. A book should not be an exercise in endurance, in my opinion.
Yeah, see, that’s not how the protag’s mindset read to me. He seems almost entirely complacent about the other aspects of his and everyone else’s oppression. He even scoffs at the rumors of rebellions and mocks those who would try. The one thing he cares about is his lack of sex.
He very much read as a sexually frustrated incel type from the very beginning, lamenting that he couldn’t just sleep with whomever he wanted, not for love, but for passion and lust. Hell, doesn’t he have a rape and murder fantasy over some woman (Is it the girl he ends up sleeping with? I cant recall). Like, he’s absolutely a piece of shit. But, grain of salt, maybe I’m remembering that wrong. I cant recall a ton of details. So, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Again, passion and lust are fine. I just couldn’t give a shit about your lust when the world is a machine of lies and control. It’s far too petty a concern. Their rebellion was far too self-centered, personal and base to be compelling to me. They are entirely apathetic to Big Brother’s control over everything, even one’s own thoughts, except where it affects themselves and what they personally care about. They will sneak around to sleep together, consume smuggled luxuries, but then do absolutely nothing to benefit anyone else around them. I just dont care about people like that or want to put myself in their minds. I find it distasteful.