Reviews tagging 'War'

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

11 reviews

bilbili's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Hate crime, Misogyny, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Death of parent

Minor: Racial slurs, Suicide, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and War

pleu's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

It's a classic for a reason and I found it very thought-provoking in an enjoyable way. I didn't care for the ending tho as it felt a bit like an "easy escape", on the other hand the essay by the author seem to indicate that he too didn't care for the ending as he grew older so I guess it's a pretty acceptable opinion.

Some part of the Swedish translation makes me wonder how this was received in it's original language, as some expressions seem oddly worded. I'm not sure if that's the author or the translation.

I did get a chuckle out of the Swedish preface by Göran Rosenberg, as it was from 2000 and clearly dated itself when he said that 1984 is now very unrealistic to him as information is free and open and it will be hard for any country to change that. In this day and age that part falls a bit flat but the text was still a good preface for the book. Currently available at https://www.rosenberg.se/frord-huxley if one reads a different edition of the book (only in Swedish).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Racism, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, and Colonisation

Minor: Incest, Sexism, Sexual content, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, and War

The last chapter has a character "driven mad" were he's flogging himself and eventually ends his own life, he's driven on by a big crowd of people and it's very dehumanizing.

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

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

teawiththefates's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I understand it’s merit from a philosophical perspective but dang this was a miserable book. The three stars is based on my personal experience with it - fascinating in places, provoking deep thought about human nature and the things that shape us; then also upsetting and disturbing, both sides being equally unpleasant and repulsive. So, yeah, this book was a lot. It won’t be a book I revisit, but it will inspire some good conversation at bookclub I imagine.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Sexism, and Classism

Moderate: Fatphobia, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, and War

chrisljm's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racism, Suicide, Medical content, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Vomit, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and War

ajourneythroughpages's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse

Minor: Infertility, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Abortion, and War

summerb's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Misogyny, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Genocide, Infertility, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

karol99's review against another edition

challenging dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Extremely interesting read, especially drawing comparisons to a capitalistic society as well as progress seen and made in 2022

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Sexual content, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Racism, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Suicide and Abortion