Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

10 reviews

growintogardens's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Well... that was something. It's an interesting premise, but I didn't like it or think it was a particularly good book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Medical content, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

dexterovna's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book starts as a satirical look at a "utopia" where in women and men have sex regularly, a caste system is thoroughly enforced with subliminal messaging, drug use is regular and encouraged, and to be different is to be a Problem. Everything you would expect a book written in its time to consider bad and evil.

And then it turns into a disjointed novel about an indigenous man wrestling with this supposed utopia hes only heard about and the love of a woman who has fully subscribed to it and a man who was born into this world, critiques it with every fiber of his being, only to in the end cowar at the idea of anything different.

Aside from the all to vasual rascism, both inside the narrative/characters and the author himself, this book is hard to read because it follows no discernable plot atructure. It is interesting for its world building, but it seems to build up all of these Bad Plot Beats to end in just...one Bad Plot Beat. Its obviously trying to say "Hey lets not make the world like this one" but at what cost to my nrrative intrigue?

The chatacters barely change, there is a Ton of monologuing and proselytizing, and the story is just sad. Im sure for its time it was an incredible book, full of new concepts and conversations. But for today, it reads like a much too long high school novel in its first draft. The saving grace is the interesting world building itself and the knowledge that this book is a blueprint for the dystopian genere as we know it today.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

waytoomanybooks's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

triniparade's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Xenophobia and Colonisation

megb64's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Abortion, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

llsouderii's review against another edition

dark reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Minor: Body shaming

jenna_justi2004's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I hate my life but at least I finished that awful book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

jennyvlaar's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Abortion, and Alcohol

madmilliner's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.25

This book is gross. It is meant to be a warning against excess, and the pursuit of happiness above all else,  but, is so unnerving and bizarre that it just feels campy, and emotionally manipulative. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

seedsofsunflowers's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

This book gave me big Narcissistic Christian White Man TM energy. It did make me think about theoretical societal concepts though. Quite comedic at times (

I have been scarred by “Orgy Porgy”

), but Huxley pats himself too much on the back for me to enjoy much of the book. And all the characters are just pieces in his game of Making a Point, so there's not much connection or development really, just the plot as his prediction for the dystopian future society. I only rated as high as I did because it was coherent and introduced ideas that made me think about society today.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Genocide, Infidelity, and Stalking