megusa98's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
jeli_reads's review against another edition
2.0
While full of sharp and witty images and commentary, the plot and characters are rough caricatures for the narrator briefly examine and dismiss. The dialogue and set up doesn't particularly shine nor is the romance particularly compelling. It is mercifully short and Huxley has a mastery of the English language best seen in his other work. If this isn't your first time reading Huxley then by all means look to the others for entertainment if it is Belial has you by the horns.
mochiwaffles's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Religious bigotry, and Gore
Minor: Racism and Antisemitism
tildafin16's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Oh dear - the first Huxley I’ve read other than BNW - not great for me
roxanamalinachirila's review against another edition
2.0
Two guys from Hollywood are talking about... stuff. One of them is the first-person narrator, the other is a guy who's gotten a mistress despite the fact that he didn't really want one, and now he's in trouble with his wife.
I'm making it sound way more interesting than it actually is. I spaced out while reading some of their discussion, which was about Gandhi getting murdered and the nature of marxism and fascism and politics and whatever.
In the middle of the philosophy, I shut the book and read the summary on the back - "In February 2108, the New Zealand Rediscovery Expedition reaches California at last. It is over a century since the world was devastated by nuclear war, but the blight of radioactivity and disease still gnaws away at the survivors." Yeah, no relation to what I was reading. I had the weird feeling the book's cover had been replaced, you know?
So, as the two Hollywood guys walk around, a truck filled with manuscripts headed for the incinerator takes a sudden turn and three scripts fall out. Two are declared to be crap, one is read by the two friends, who go in search of the mysterious writer, but find out that he died a few weeks before and has no family, but his neighbors piece together a short history of the guy, which... whatever.
And then the script is reproduced in its entirety - and, well, to be honest, no wonder it was heading to the incinerator.
It starts with SYMBOLISM!!!! and baboons who act like humans and who have Albert Einsiteins on leashes, making them create weapons which let them destroy the world. Very symbol, much wow. More spacing out on my side, I had to re-read some of this stuff.
Later on, New Zealanders go off to explore the world, since they're the only ones who apparently escaped the nuclear war because nobody cared much about them (go, New Zealand!). They land in America, somewhere next to L.A., and one of the characters, a botanist, is captured by a tribe of genetically mutated people who have extra fingers, toes and pairs of nipples, who have mating seasons, and who are dead-set on worshiping the devil, seeing him as a cause of the world's destruction.
I'm making this sound interesting again. It's all very symbolic and philosophical and the priests keep explaining how the devil convinced humanity to self-destruct.
So the New Zealand dude gets left behind by his colleagues, falls in love with one of the natives and runs off with her in search of a colony of other humans, because the devil-worshipers hate people who have sex out of mating season.
Symbolism, poking fun at humanity, philosophising about the world, more poetry thrown everywhere, more random words your eyes will skip over, and less fun than "Brave New World".
I'm making it sound way more interesting than it actually is. I spaced out while reading some of their discussion, which was about Gandhi getting murdered and the nature of marxism and fascism and politics and whatever.
In the middle of the philosophy, I shut the book and read the summary on the back - "In February 2108, the New Zealand Rediscovery Expedition reaches California at last. It is over a century since the world was devastated by nuclear war, but the blight of radioactivity and disease still gnaws away at the survivors." Yeah, no relation to what I was reading. I had the weird feeling the book's cover had been replaced, you know?
So, as the two Hollywood guys walk around, a truck filled with manuscripts headed for the incinerator takes a sudden turn and three scripts fall out. Two are declared to be crap, one is read by the two friends, who go in search of the mysterious writer, but find out that he died a few weeks before and has no family, but his neighbors piece together a short history of the guy, which... whatever.
And then the script is reproduced in its entirety - and, well, to be honest, no wonder it was heading to the incinerator.
It starts with SYMBOLISM!!!! and baboons who act like humans and who have Albert Einsiteins on leashes, making them create weapons which let them destroy the world. Very symbol, much wow. More spacing out on my side, I had to re-read some of this stuff.
Later on, New Zealanders go off to explore the world, since they're the only ones who apparently escaped the nuclear war because nobody cared much about them (go, New Zealand!). They land in America, somewhere next to L.A., and one of the characters, a botanist, is captured by a tribe of genetically mutated people who have extra fingers, toes and pairs of nipples, who have mating seasons, and who are dead-set on worshiping the devil, seeing him as a cause of the world's destruction.
I'm making this sound interesting again. It's all very symbolic and philosophical and the priests keep explaining how the devil convinced humanity to self-destruct.
So the New Zealand dude gets left behind by his colleagues, falls in love with one of the natives and runs off with her in search of a colony of other humans, because the devil-worshipers hate people who have sex out of mating season.
Symbolism, poking fun at humanity, philosophising about the world, more poetry thrown everywhere, more random words your eyes will skip over, and less fun than "Brave New World".
nobodyatall's review against another edition
2.0
This is a wierd book.
Flavours of Vonnegut.
It seems both incredibly modern in its commentary on war, politics, exploitation and ignorance about the environment, and incredibly prurient and old fashioned.
I found the satirical commentary really interesting, topical and insightful. The style and framing though, make it a difficult and often uncomfortable read which has sadly not aged very well.
I'm pleased that I read it, but no more than 'okay' for me.
Flavours of Vonnegut.
It seems both incredibly modern in its commentary on war, politics, exploitation and ignorance about the environment, and incredibly prurient and old fashioned.
I found the satirical commentary really interesting, topical and insightful. The style and framing though, make it a difficult and often uncomfortable read which has sadly not aged very well.
I'm pleased that I read it, but no more than 'okay' for me.
libdibs's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
fast-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
2.5
I see what you're trying to do... but gruesome, grotesque description of human violence is not my idea of a good time.
bloodonasnuggie's review against another edition
5.0
A wonderful dystopian literature where the story shifts so much from the original intent to the end...tied back up again. True craft of storytelling, and a harsh parody of Hitler's Germany.
aneides's review against another edition
2.0
Unlike revenge, satire is a dish one oughtn't serve cold.
Some of the (wrongheaded) philosophy embedded in the satire was interesting.
I was pretty impatient with this one.
Some of the (wrongheaded) philosophy embedded in the satire was interesting.
I was pretty impatient with this one.
interplanetarypages's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Pretty much falls into the classics trap of being anti-Semitic and sexist but the text itself and the prose were really impactful and the structure of it being a publication of a fictional screenplay with the forward of the man who found it was so cool