Customer Reviews

Ape and Essence

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ape and essence is a great book. It thrills me to witness such great imaginations of a great mind, and a great writer. I couldnt even imagine Huxley living in today's world, I guess he will not be suprised how rights his foreseeings are: he is beyond his time.

In Ape and Essence, he creates a post-war world..People are worshipping to Satan and they see the anomalies which are caused by radiation as Satan's work. They kill toddlers with more than 3 nipples-7 fingers. They make orgy's -not caused by soma but religion this time- and it is easy to control those people, make them beleive, make them abandon "thinking"... somewhere in the book, loola mentions, that thinking is not necessary. you could witness such behavior everywhere in todays world, it really impressed me to see future in Huxley's eyes. recommended if you like distopias!

A very under-rated work that should be up there with 'Brave New World'. It envisions a post-nuclear war wasteland - influenced by his life in California at the time. It's a wild ride and unique in Huxley's writing.

Probably Huxley's darkest and most cynical work. Planet Of The Apes meets Brave New World... gripping and original context yet, personally, couldn't match some of the other dystopian texts I've read. Lead protagonist very similar to Brian Foxe in 'Eyeless In Gaza', only he actually gives in to his baser instincts - would be interesting to explore thematically.

I read this in 3 hours. It truely is a masterpiece. It seemed Huxley had forseen the future down to the smallest details. Everything he mentions in this book is seeming to become true now; nuclear powers, outlandish religious views (Mormonism), environmentalism and the overall self destructive nature of the sciences. A must read.

An interesting enough allegory for the insanities of militarism and hierarchy in the twentieth century, if a bit heavy-handed. Sex figures heavily, which probably made it more punchy when it was published than it reads now. And, as usual, Huxley delivers passages of brilliance. But not quite enough to raise it above the level of an alternate Animal Farm.