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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
The future?
Society really is getting more and more like this.
This is a vision of the future where the population is controlled by subtlety and manipulation, the basic premise being that if people are too doped up to realise that they have been conned by a tiny minority who have everything then that elite can remain in charge for ever.
In Huxley's world...
Published 7 months ago by hendrix
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17 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
A terrible dystopia or a beautiful utopia?
I read this book on the recommendation of a work colleague after reading George Orwell's 1984 and, whilst it is fairly entertaining, it just isn't in the same league as Orwells's masterpiece. It might be wrong to compare the two given that they are very different books, but it seems that some people will read one and then turn to the other, as I did, so a basic comparison...
Published 18 months ago by Mr. Mischief
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
The future?, 11 April 2009
Society really is getting more and more like this.
This is a vision of the future where the population is controlled by subtlety and manipulation, the basic premise being that if people are too doped up to realise that they have been conned by a tiny minority who have everything then that elite can remain in charge for ever.
In Huxley's world the method of control is to program people to indulge only their most transitory and materialistic desires all of which can be fulfilled quite readily and in doing so suppress any idea that there "might be more to life than this" and this leaves the population with happy but trivial lives.
The morality of this is questioned through the introduction of an outsider to the society and his actions form the basis of the plot. To be honest I think the story isn't as involving as the world it is set in but the questions the book raised easily merit this book classic status.
It seems we are getting closer and closer to the kind of happy trivial life that Huxley forced upon his population and if you are inclined to wonder whether or not there is more to life than work and shopping then this book is probably going to be right up your street.
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37 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
Prophetic?, 13 Oct 2008
Brave New World and 1984 are considered to be the two great prophetic works of the 20th century. Yet whereas 1984 depicts a stereotypical dystopia, Brave New World depicts a world where everyone is happy, everyone is beautiful, everyone can have whatever they want. As a work of prophecy I think Brave New World is far wittier than people give it credit.
In Brave New World people are created in factories where they are designed and conditions to fit neatly in society. This eliminates families which eliminates any associated problems. People are happy and beautiful, there is no hunger, no disease and no war, and in the rare occassion when something does go wrong they have soma, the perfect drug. Recreational sex is encouraged at all levels of society (Wait until you read the part where young children engage in "erotic play") but at the expense of love. There are no wives or husbands, boyfriends or girlfriends. "Everyone belongs to everyone else."
Since Brave New World was written in the 30s, we have gained the recreational sex and drugs we were promised, genetic engineering has become one step closer, celebrity culture has become a cult, art and literature has been pushed aside by gumph like MTV and reality tv shows, artistic films are shunned in favour of sex and action (Remember the subject matter of the feelies), people ignore their problems with the help of prescribed drugs, people are obsessed with youth and appearance, and, worst of all, I think genuine love is losing ground to fleeting lust.
Orwell wrote of a savage dictatorship at a time when both Hitler and Stalin were setting new standards in brutality. Since then we have generally become more liberated. Are homosexuals still shunned? Are women banned from certain jobs? We have gained one right after another following the War. It is fashionable in the current climate to imply that people are still kept in little boxes, but apart from the occassional case of boot-stamping; the introduction of ID cards in Britain or Guantanamo Bay (And bear in mind there was a time when ALL prisons were like that) Orwell's world is not ours.
Obviuously, Brave New World is a gross exaggeration on the world of today, but it's messages and ideals are frighteningly accurate. When viewed merely as works of literature 1984 is a superior read. Brave New World is an enjoyable book that occassionally trips up when it attempts to be too clever; moreover one must always bear in mind it is satire.
Eh, with that rant to one side, Brave New World is an excellent and thought provoking read, and is more relevant today than in was in 1932.
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14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
Essential reading, 23 Jan 2008
One of the twentieth century's most important dystopian novels, possibly even one of it's most important novels at all. A fantastic combination of engaging storyline and a social commentary that continues to be incredibly relevant.
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17 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
A terrible dystopia or a beautiful utopia?, 17 May 2008
I read this book on the recommendation of a work colleague after reading George Orwell's 1984 and, whilst it is fairly entertaining, it just isn't in the same league as Orwells's masterpiece. It might be wrong to compare the two given that they are very different books, but it seems that some people will read one and then turn to the other, as I did, so a basic comparison seems fair.
1984 is a harsh, brutal novel that preys on our fears of the police state taking over without us even knowing it, something that many would argue is happening right now. The populace portrayed in the book know and understand that their situation is bad but have grown to accept it because they are told and so believe that it is ultimately for the betterment of their nation as a whole.
Brave New World, on the other hand, gives us a future in which the masses are literally bred (in test tubes) into their roles in life, both for work and socially. People are conditioned through chemicals and mind manipulation, both before birth and during childhood, into not only accepting their status in society but actually enjoying it. I actually find Huxley's future quite appealing, especially today when many of us seem to wander through life looking miserable, doing jobs we hate and desperately trying to find our `place'. Even though Huxley's masses' status and happiness might be forced upon them from conception, at least they know, accept and actually enjoy being who and where they are regardless of how this is brought about.
This book is no where near as gritty, nor does it seem as real or as believable as 1984; Huxley's future is cleaner, happier and generally more pleasant that Orwell's, with both the setting and his writing lacking any real bite. Brave New World has been described as one of the great dystopian novels, but I actually see it in the exact opposite light, as a vision of what could be considered a utopian future. By all means read it, but please don't expect it to be a thrilling, terrible read that'll leave you feeling grateful that things aren't as bad as they could be. And I think that is something 1984 still does to this day.
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8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Was and will make me ill...I take a gramme and just am, 10 May 2008
The ultimate dystopian fantasy, made even more eerie by it's remarkable prescience. The masses are kept enslaved by their own hedonistic impulses and the ubiquitous feel good drug soma. Huxley has seen the future and it's ghastly: a society of graded test tube people kept entertained by a virtual reality world i.e 'the feelies'(a kind of interactive movie), an intrusive and prurient media and Christianity forgotten 'because people wouldn't understand it'. Huxley sets his novel 600 years into the future but it's happening to us right now!
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
God does not change. But people do., 16 April 2009
We are treated to a glimpse of a possible future world where friendship can still exist. This is a story of a hand full of individuals in a world that emphasizes "Community, Identity, Stability" that find each other and discus subjects that most of the people of that time cold not understand. However we do. Naturally the author Aldous Huxley builds his own scenarios and draws his own conclusions through the characters speeches and description of experimental history.
Bernard Marx who is about to lose his job because he is different (vary different) form those around him, decides to take a vacation to visit the Zuni's. There he meets a misplaced person named John. Together with the help of Bernard's friend Henry they intend to change the world. So they find out the world is incapable of changing.
We get an Ayn Rand type speech from Mustapha Mond one of the world controllers' that helps you realize that in this brave new world the three friends are the anomaly. How can this enigma be solved?
Do not forget to watch the 1998 movie version with Leonard Nimoy as Mustapha Mond.
Brave New World [VHS]
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Just not quite 1984, 1 Nov 2009
If you're a fan of a lighter, science-derived dystopian adventure then 'Brave New World' is the book for you.
Following a protagonist who would be a social outcast in today's society, an ill-formed misanthrope. This is possibly why he finds the consequence-free, drug-fuelled orgies and clearly defined, pre-determined social roles as demonic.
The key ethical contemplation is that each member of the social rung clings to their place with ecstasy. They are bred to enjoy their place in the world. Does this make the grose transgression against freedom (or more appropriately chance) easier to bear? Possibly even justified?
This question is for the reader to consider, as Huxley presents a story where the loss of virtue is what makes a dystopia (as in his creation, it is a superfluous concept#.
The book is easy-to-read and enjoyable, but when compared #as it is unavoidable to do so) to the other paradigm of dystopian fiction - George Orwell's '1984' - it fails against the fear-inducing Big Brother, as all must.
Read both, but read 1984 after. Just read 1984.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
One of the most significant books ever, 30 Aug 2009
This is simply excellent. It deserves far more attention than it receives. It's every bit as good as 1984, which receives so much attention because the American public was/is stupid enough to think it's a book about Communism. 1984 is, in Orwell's own opinion, a criticism of government in general--a criticism of the way we give too much power to our constructions.
Brave New World critiques things just as well, making a more obvious show of attacking early Hollywood counter-culture and fast-food society. As it was deemed anti-American, the American right never turned it into a falsely labelled puppet, as they did with 1984. But the book itself is superb. Not only is it one of the most meaningful works to come out of the past century, but its prose is clean and beautiful, its story gripping and evocative. My only warning would be that this book is not for the stupid. If you can't understand the import of what's happening, you might find it hard to get into the character. Otherwise, if you're smarter than your average Big Brother contestant, you might recognise some of the nightmares in our own society, and you might relate to the character who imagines something beyond the surface gloss he is offered.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
What a book!, 16 Feb 2009
In a high-tech future where babies are not born but 'decanted' into life after a battery of drugs and tests to ensure each individual is suited to the life determined for them by the Controller, Bernard Marx can't help but feel a little...different. In a world where promiscuity is encouraged, rather than frowned upon, where 'Mother' is a dirty word and everyone is popping pills to get through the day he quietly revolts against the norms to which he has become accustomed.
When given the opportunity to visit the Reservation, a primitive society away from Civilisation, he leaps at the chance to experience this world. (Think early South American society) Here he meets a 'savage' whom he takes back to the new world and they teach each other much about their respective ways of life.
Though the prose is sometimes disjointed, Brave New World is a triumph of modern literature, written before Orwell's 1984 it paints a grand metaphorical picture for today's liberal society. A must-read.
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Brave New World, 12 Sep 2008
I think the future Huxley creates in Brave New World is both imaginative and hugely dystopic, but in describing the mindless existence of the new world's inhabitants Huxley emphasises just how valuable such things as freedom of thought and expression, which we take for granted, really are. So although Huxley's material is dystopic, there is joy to be taken from the heightened sense of the individual, which the reader gains.
Stylistically, I think this book is fantastic. Yes, some will complain it lacks a certain degree of complexity, but if so they have unappreciated Huxley's precise and elegant prose. This is an important book, not to be under-estimated, and hugely prophetic considering how long ago it was written.
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