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Summary: Through the eyes of a savage
Review: Aldous Huxley's novel "Brave New World" is both one of the best science fiction books and one of the most brilliant pieces of satire ever written. BNW takes place on a future Earth where human beings are mass-produced and conditioned for lives in a rigid caste system. As the story progresses, we learn some of the disturbing secrets that lie underneath the bright, shiny facade of this highly-ordered world.Huxley opens the book by allowing the reader to eavesdrop on a tour of the Fertilizing Room of the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre, where the high-tech reproduction takes place. Into this seemingly advanced civilization is introduced John, a "savage" from a reservation where old human culture still survives. Thus, BNW is also a tale of "culture shock" and conflict. Huxley creates a compelling blend of bizarre comedy, serious character study, futuristic extrapolation, and philosophical discussion. His writing style is crisp and witty, and cleverly incorporates references to canonical works of literature. Probably the scariest thing about BNW is the fact that, in many ways, humanity seems to be moving closer to Huxley's dystopian vision.
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Summary: A Review of Brave New World
Review: Brave New World was a very enjoyable, fast and easy book to read. It portrayed a futuristic world with controlled communities of trained minds, and genetically engineered people: all belonging to one another and all working together. Happiness was the main goal in these communities, and many people have agreed that it would be nice to live in a simple world like Aldous Huxley created. But in reality, can we honestly say that anyone is always happy? It would be nice to be placed in a job that you've been trained since birth to enjoy, but where is the freedom? Where is the true happiness that is earned from also learning how to suffer? Brave New World is a book that can change the way you think and also teach you to appreciate life as it is (even though we're closer to this "New World" than we were 70 years ago).
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Summary: Huh....
Review: So anyways, I picked this book up thinking it would be an interesting tale about the future and totalitarianism. While it was about that, I found it difficult to find a plot. Aldous Huxley kind of rambles for a hundred pages, and then he introduces what then becomes the main character, Mr. Savage. He then quickly wraps it up in a crazy crazy way that was not at all what I expected it to be like. Normally surprises are good, but this was one of the crappiest books I have ever read, good night.
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Summary: I didn't want to like this book, but ....
Review: I had to read this book for English class in eleventh grade. I didn't want to like it, especially since I hadn't liked any of the other dreary books we'd read that year. But this is a brilliant book, and I have to admit I liked it. This is no pleasant dream of the future. Like 1984 and Animal Farm, and even Lord of the Flies, this book takes a look at the darker side of humankind. What happens when capitalism becomes a religion and human beings are created in a lab? Where sex and drugs are the cultural rule and reading Shakespeare is taboo? It's a chilling picture, despite the outdated technology and references. It gives us a look at the dark side of capitalism as well as the power of words and symbols over the human mind. It's brilliant, provoking, frightening and unforgettable.
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Summary: A Utopian Society
Review: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World predicts a utopian society set several hundred years in the future. The society Huxley presents is emotionless, sexually promiscuous, and dependant upon drugs. People are peaceful because they have been conditioned to fulfill their place in society. Huxley portrays a dismal situation in which people have no control over the events in their life. Written in the 1930's, Huxley's book predicts many technological advances that are finally materializing about seventy years later. Several of these technologies include rapid of transatlantic flights, the ability to clone, and portable music devices. As a result of these predictions, readers are left wondering how close today's society is to achieving the Utopian society that Huxley predicts. Brave New World has been challenged frequently and banned as well. Many critics claim this book is unacceptable because of its language and moral content. The language throughout the book isn't offensive, but sexual promiscuity, drugs, and immorality are encouraged in the Utopian society Huxley presents. Ironically, many books are banned in Huxley's Utopian society. I came to a horrific realization after reading this book because I believe that Huxley's proposed "Utopian" society is feasible. Huxley did not intend this to be the case; but he intended this book as a fictional work. I don't think that this book should be read for its realism, but for entertainment.
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Summary: Is this a chilling tale of horror?
Review: Huxley's Brave New World has often been described as a chilling prediction of a sterile future world where people are genetically engineered into 'castes' and are unable to advance or better themselves. But is this such a bad world? Someone has to clean toilets. Someone has to sweep streets and collect garbage. Would it not be better to have these jobs done by people who are happy with their lives. In Brave New World everyone below the top caste is inbred with an awe for the Alpha group who are the leaders, movers and shakers of the world. There is no fear of rebellion. People live lives of peace, harmony and tranquility. So what is wrong with this picture? Why do we so fear the very things we seek? What is it in human nature that we want the savage to take root amongst us and tear down our sacred cows? Indeed the savage is the only 'personality' in this book. Brave New Word is relevant because it questions our view of the society we want. In reality we do not want to live a life of social outings and days on the golf course. Man needs adversity in order to thrive. What is it in the nature of man that craves hardship, dirt, pain and risk? What does it say about us as a race? If you haven't read this book, you should. It is one of those must reads which can change the way you think about life. In style it is short, sterile and spare, a reflection perhaps, of life in the Brave New World. There is no adventure here, no great story that will thrill you. But this is a book you will not forget.
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Summary: Forget everything (else) you've heard about this book.
Review: Why post yet another review of a book that already has 300+ Amazon reviews available? Because too many readers come to *Brave New World* indoctrinated with the idea that it describes a "horrifying" future along the lines of Orwell's *1984.* But what makes *Brave New World* so memorable is that the future Huxley describes is (when viewed objectively) quite nice. People live in peace, society is prosperous, everyone is born loving his or her job and status, etc. Unfortunately, most readers today have already heard so much about the book that they automatically reject the society it depicts. This knee-jerk reaction never forces you to admit the many good aspects of Huxley's creation and to articulate why such a future is bad (if indeed you conclude that it is bad). Coming to the book with an open mind will also enable you to see it as a work of art rather than a propaganda piece.
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Summary: One of my favorites
Review: I read this book in 12th grade english and fell in love with it as did many of my friends. It is a very interesting foretelling of what or world could become. People genetically egineered into specific social classes and the ignorance and danger that stems from it. This is a book that everyone should be able to say they read.
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Summary: This Brave New world needs better writers
Review: This book is inevitably compared to 1984, with good reason. But this book lags behind 1984 in the literary sense.
Make no mistake. Huxley was a genius. He was far ahead of his time and had many ideas about the future that have become real. But the problem with the book is his writing.
Orwell is such a fantastic writer that, while you shudder at the bleak vision he has for the world, you become more interested in the characters of the book. Huxley's characters are just props. Huxley felt like sharing his ideas, but he couldn't just write about them. It seems like he just inserted the characters in so that there would actually be some in the book. Without good characters, a book seriously lags. If Huxley had just been a better writer, the book would be worthy of the comparisons to 1984 that it always recieves.
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Summary: Huxley really isn't a novelist
Review: I always enjoy Orwellian novels and those on dystopias, and though BNW was worth reading to see Huxley's view on a bad path, I found the substance of the novel seriously lacking. It lacked a main plot pulling the whole thing together. He jumped around from protagonist to protagonist, leaving you begging for him to settle on one dissenter, but instead all you get is four or five wishy-washy ones. Take a gram of Soma before reading this one.
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