Rating: 
Summary: middle of the road
Review: This book was not even as good as 'Brave New World'. I opened it up hoping for that same almost humorous satire of a Utopian society. bad move...The storyline of this novel, with the ambiguity of the main character's past, falls flat in the first few chapters. I cannot really remember any portion of this book that really jumped out and grabbed me. The book was not bad, but it was not very good, either. Read this one if you are a Huxley fan or would like a small window of insight into one writer's view of a perfect society.
Rating:
Summary: BORING New World.
Review: This book was not terrible, but compared to Brave New World, it was Boring New World. I took it on vacation with me (to an island) and I ended up being disappointed because I had nothing else to read. But I did finish the book, and as a few other reviewers have commented, it seemed to be low on plot... and to not really get off the ground. I think that Huxley was a genius, and a wonderful writer, and so it pains me to say this about this particular book. I just think he was trying to say too much here... too much selective philosophy rammed into a novel. What do I mean by selective? Well, for one thing, it leaves no room for the possibility of a God who is separate from his creation. Theism is mocked here. A more well-rounded novel about philosophy would be Jostein Gaarder's "Sophie's World".
Huxley's Island is this isolated Pala, a magisterial queendom, founded on the principles of Mahayana Buddhism and western/scientific atheism. Dr. Robert, who is the grandson of one of the two founders of Pala, says, "The Palanese were Buddhists. They knew how misery is related to mind. You cling, you crave, you assert yourself - and you live in a homemade hell. You become detached - and you live in peace." (ch.viii). The residents of Pala have developed a society based upon disciplined detachment, admirable enough in many ways. A peaceful compassionate world where even the wild mynah birds are trained to say "have compassion, have compassion." This detachment is achieved through many methods, including hypnotism, transcendental meditation, animal magnetism, and of course, the ingestion of hallucinogenic mushrooms (called "moksha-medicine"). Living in the "here and now" is of paramount importance, in fact, it could be said that this is the worldview of Pala. "Matter is evil" is a big idea too.
Will Farnaby (an outsider) is deliberately shipwrecked on this tropical would-be utopia and seeks to influence the Queen or "Rani" regarding the lucrative oil rights to Pala. But Mr. Farnaby becomes integrated into the life of the island, and is experientially impressed to the point of second-guessing some of his own motives and ambitions. What seemed to be opportunity now looks like exploitation. But it may be too late for anyone (including Huxley) to do anything, one way or the other, about the inexorable conclusion.
At any rate, the ending seemed sort of weak. Somewhere I remember reading that Huxley was pressured to finish the book quicker than he would have liked. If so, that is unfortunate. Have you ever watched one of those movies where at the end the screen goes black, and you're expecting a bit more but the credits start rolling by, and you turn to whoever is next to you and say "What?" Well, that's how I felt, out in the paddle-boat when I finished this book.
Everyone knows that Huxley was tremendously interested in the hallucinogenic experience. I agree with him that hallucinogens can grant a momentary heightened awareness, maybe even make someone feel that they are thereby tapping in to some kind of mystical Oneness. Whoop-de-do! But the benefit of such experience will always break down when applied to society. The benefits, if any, will always be individual, and individually experienced. Let's face it, for utopia to be sustainable at all, a certain amount of society has to be brutally sober. For instance, there's nothing "utopic" or peaceful about taking off in a jet when the pilot is up front burping mushrooms and "tuning in to his Oneness".
Pala doesn't work for me, because it's too simplistic. I'm rounding off 2.5 stars upwards, out of respect for the author in general.
Rating: 
Summary: Island is superbly crafted. An amazing comment on society.
Review: This is an amazing book. As opposed to his novel, _A Brave New World_, this novel illustrates pure happiness. The people inhabiting the island of Pala, are truly happy. The novel also poses some excellent ideas and commentaries on our society today. Your ideas of religion, truth, faith, the human body, the mind... all are questioned. It's hard to put something this unique into words. I really reccomend reading this book and I hope you get as much out of it as I did.
Rating:
Summary: A one-way ticket to Pala, please...
Review: This is the kind of book you buy to give to friends, feeling that the world would be a better place if more people read it. Huxley's novel of ideas is an engaging story about the forbidden SE Asian island of Pala. Through the eyes and ears of a London journalist shipwrecked there we learn that "the best of both worlds- Oriental and European, the ancient and modern-" form Huxley's answer to his own dystopic _Brave New World_ (1931). These books not only share the same author but also their remarkably timely critique of the modern world, of "Western philosophers- even the best of them- [who]'re nothing more than good talkers..." and of "unverifiable dogmas and the emotions inspired by them." While the Palanese embrace the "applied metaphysics" of the East, they needed a written language (English), the scientific method for improved agriculture and certain surgical practices, and other more humane parts of Western civlization (Mozart). The rest, including heavy industry, missionaries, and imperialism, they happily left behind. In this day and age of globalization, cultural homogenization, overpopulation, resource depletion, environmental degradation, and general malaise over what modernity has made us, this introduction to Buddhism, Huxley's last novel written in 1962, is as relevant as ever. Tse-Sung Wu (at c m u dot e d u) PS: Interestingly, in his recent travelogue, _To the Ends of the Earth: From Togo to Turkmenistan, from Iran to Cambodia, a Journey to the Frontiers of Anarchy_ (1997), Robert Kaplan writes about Rishi Valley of India (v. Ch. 23) that reads as if it were lifted straight out of _Island_. Could this be Pala in real life?
Rating:
Summary: Enlightening
Review: This is truely an amazing book, Aldous Huxley was a genius. Although different from BNW in that the plot is a little slow, the ideas of society and the individual expressed in this book make it one of the most influential books that I ever read. Don't read this book to be entertained, read it to be enlightened.
Rating: 
Summary: The other side of "A brave new world "
Review: This science fiction novel walks around the speculative situation about a natural (not social and not even political choice) population distribution, in agreement his skills and gifts.
Naturally many facts occur in this interesting tale , but the most remarkable issue is to make us think the elusive dreams about a better and even pacific society.
Rating:
Summary: Read it
Review: Yes... I do agree that Huxley's "Island" has some faults, which may be keeping a lot of people from reading this book. But how I was happy imaging the Pala paradise on Earth! Paradise in a strict human sense, but a world so promissing and inspiring, the final thoughts of this great human being. The perfect last book and some gorgeous reading. Delightful!
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