Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

60 reviews

mirabellee_'s review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Abortion

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

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

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

First time reading this book as an adult. Read it in school maybe like 2009 so it's strange to read it 15 years later. I remember finding it interesting and enjoying it. Now it feels weirdly nostalgic so I'm not sure what to rate it. Also because I definitely have a much different understanding of it now.

The audiobook had good narration.

I think this would be a 5 star for me if the story was a bit tighter, and the tone (because of when the book was written) feels kind of weird at points. 

Towards the end of the book it feels more like the author is telling us some of his societal hot takes via 2 characters having a conversation rahter than like working it more seamlessly into the story.

wish we saw more of what happened to Helmholtz and Bernard on their island of misfits. Also wish we saw what happe ed to Johns father. The part with John's anger towards Lenina was really interesting, lots of like weird projection shit on John's part - I hate the men who slept with my mother, they were bad, so now that I want to sleep with Lenina I'm bad? But he never wanted to hurt his mother for her actions and really loved her, so it was kind of weird how violent he got towards Lenina

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: War

carla20's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Genocide, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Medical content, Death of parent, and Classism

kokoberry's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Fatphobia, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Abortion, and War

cursed_sapphire's review against another edition

challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

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

4.5

The world and concepts are fascinating. If you can look past some of the dated ideas, you'll see a surprising amount of our world here. Huxley predicted some parts of our society too well. 

The characters are interesting but not likeable, I recommend knowing that going in. This book is an exploration of a potential future built on consumption, sameness, and constant pleasure. The characters are meant to embody different parts of humanity/society. Bernard is only content if he's more special than everyone else, Lenina wants more monogomy than is normal but otherwise accepts everything, Helmholtz is just kinda bored and wants to be a tortured poet, etc. John is supposed to be the last real person, representing a true believer in religion and art which cannot survive in this society. Mind you, John is a very 1930's Christian ideal of a true, good person. And while his obsession with suffering for his sins serves as a counter to the painless society of the book, it came across a bit overzealous for me. It felt like Huxley was trying to make John suffer all the pain everyone else never had to, but that made him feel a little too obsessed with pain instead of the virtues he claims to care about. The same could also be said about his obsession with chastity. 

This is a book more focused on ideas than on characters. The plot is a bit sparse, but that leads to a slice-of-life feeling, where the day-to-day life is the focus. There's a certain horror in the mundaneness that the characters experience, and that brings out the themes in a different, but still very effective way. 

Overall I recommend this for anyone who likes the philosophical side of sci-fi/dystopia, as long as they are able to handle the old-fashioned lense.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Suicide

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

honkinggoose's review

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Suicide

Moderate: Body shaming and Classism

Minor: Gaslighting

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

emjbarnes's review against another edition

medium-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? No

2.5

Well written prose - not sure what Huxley was trying to argue to be honest. I thought the colonialism was an intentional comment on the same to begin with, but I guess not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction and Sexual harassment

katkatniss's review against another edition

dark funny lighthearted reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail