Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Brave New World
Book Review: Back to the Future
Summary: 5 Stars
Production of identical beings, neo-Pavlovian conditioning, surrogate parenting, ranking from birth, mass production in biology, Fordism--these are factors in the new age the novelist describes. Sleep teaching is practiced. The caste system is followed in the new world. There are soma bottles and sex hormone chewing gum used to satisfy the desires of the populace. There is a Bureau of Propaganda, (and a College of Emotional Engineering), to assist in the running of society.
Names of the character are clever and significant--Lenina, Hoover, Bernard Marx, Herbert Bakunin, Morgana Rothschild, George Edzel. Sometimes people go to New Mexico to look at the savages. Travel is nearly instantaneous in rockets. The best quality is Fordliness. There are two kinds of existence, one of which takes place at the Reservation of Savages. In the other kind of existence clothes are discarded, not mended, people look healthier, and Bloomsbury is the centre of industry. There is a Social Predestination Room filled with embryos.
Bernard Marx, an Alpha-Plus, is to be sent to Iceland by way of punishment until a trick is played on the Director. The Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, Bernard's overlord, is confronted by Linda, a savage, an apparition in the nature of the first Mrs. Rochester in JANE EYRE. The man becomes an ex-Director. Upper caste London is agog.
Linda obtains soma and remains in Bernard's apartment. While touring Eton, Linda's son John is told that the students don't read Shakespeare. Hemholtz Watson is Bernards friend. He has also come into conflict with authority. Ultimately John gags on civilization.
Reading the book leaves the reader as puzzled as before the experience takes place. It is a solid work, sustaining a place among the top literary titles. The book is a rebuttal to the formation of mass society and resultant standardization. The challenges to liberty are suggested. Ideas such as history is bunk, end not mend, (forced obsolescence), the loss of individuality are chilling.
Book Review: Be brave with an open mind!
Summary: 4 Stars
I really enjoyed reading this book. I can't believe I never read it before! I love utopia/dystopia books and this is one of them. I'm not going to review the plot as I'm sure many other reviewers have done so. This book really got me thinking about happiness and what makes people happy and content. Also, about all the complaining about little things that people do on a daily basis. I recommend this book to anyone who has an open mind and is looking to think outside the box a little. I only gave it 4 stars because toward the end, Huxley was wrapping up all of the political sides and reasons behind things and I got lost and wanted to skip sections of it. It became confusing between which of the characters was saying which part and why. However, it all tied together nicely, tragically, in the end. An excellent read!Book Review: Brave New World
Summary: 5 Stars
In this classic novel, Huxley introduces readers to a future society where humans are mass produced and must stay in the class to which they are delivered. This is a tale of conflict and culture shock when into this regimented society comes John "The Savage" - a human that has lived outside this society and is now learning about it from an outsider's point of view.
-- Reviewed by Jodi Turchin
Book Review: Brave New World
Summary: 1 Stars
I did not like this book. It had a few interesting elements but the concepts are a little "out there." I would not recommend this book to anyone unless they had nothing else to read. I did not even finish the book.Book Review: Brave New World
Summary: 4 Stars
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley ****
The precursor to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four, and the opposite theory. This was and still is one of the most important novels in the history of novels. Huxleys thoughts on a world obsessed with sex, and personal pleasures is so relevant today.
The premise of the book is that the previous world the one we knew in the 1920's was replaced by one obsessed with personal fulfillment with reckless abandon for others and yet we still 'all belong to one another.' It is a hard concept to rap your head around which makes this a challenging and fulfilling read. Though sometimes the book lags in places it makes up for it in others.
Though it was written so long ago the book shows a chilling truth to today's world much like Nineteen Eighty Four does but on a different plain. It is worth the read if you are really interested with an open mind and have patience but if not, then don't even try.