Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Published by Anchor Canada; August 28, 2007
Paperback, 229 pages
Bought

Far in the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs, all its members are happy consumers. Bernard Marx seems alone in feeling discontent. Harbouring an unnatural desire for solitude, and a perverse distaste for the pleasure of compulsory promiscuity, Bernard has an ill-defined longing to break free. A visit to one of the few remaining Savage Reservations, where the old, imperfect life still continues, may be the cure for his distress.… Huxley’s ingenious fantasy of the future sheds a blazing light on the present and is considered to be his most enduring masterpiece.

- Description from Goodreads.com

* Note the cover for Brave New World: It is Vintage Canada's edition and it is so absolutely wonderful. It's creepy and so clever.

Whew. What a long short book this was! I mean, 272 pages can seem like 500! There was so much going on and I am amazed at what the author was able to do. Let me start with this: Aldous Huxley must have spent at LEAST two years figuring this all out. Everything in this book was so well thought-out and planned and detailed. 

Now, I've seen some mixed reviews on Goodreads. People talking about how it's unbelievable and the storyline is crappy and this and that but MY opinion is this:

Aldous is a freaking genius. We've held so many discussions on this book in class that only before I have my big test on this book can I look back and say this. I've already mentioned how well planned this book was and I'll say it again...and again....and again. The things he thought up of! And the naming of the characters! All were so brilliant and so obviously from the mind of a genius. One thing that I really found interesting was the fact that Aldous was able to write a tale about a world so much like our own in the sense that I could definitely see our society going down this path. Perhaps not to such an extreme but yes, something like it. It's crazy. So so crazy.

The writing was confusing. I just couldn't keep up with the switching points of view. One second we were analyzing Lenina's thoughts and the next, John's. It was frustrating to have to constantly go back and reread to understand. If you're considering reading this book, know this: you need a lot of focus to read Brave New World. A lot. You CANNOT just blank out and skim. It doesn't work that way, trust me, I know. I've done it and have ended up needing to go onto SparkNotes to catch on everything I've missed.

The story was oddly paced. It was interesting but John, who was such a major character, was only introduced to us after a third of the book or so. After the introduction to him, everything else went by so fast which was quite different than the beginning which was drawn out really long. Which is understandable, after all, the author does need to spend some time to explain the society to us, but still weird.

Despite these minuses, I was still absolutely enthralled and captured by Brave New World. It made me look at our society in a new light. I understand and agree that it's not a masterpiece but the World State itself is the reason why you should read this. You WILL marvel at the detail and you WILL be glad you read this. It is a classic, after all. 

Annie

PS My test is tomorrow and I am really scared. HELP!