A review by rosalind
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Drug use, Body shaming, Suicide, Death, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Violence, and Self harm
Moderate: Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Sexual harassment and Sexual assault
Pinched this quote from Neil Postman (with thanks to another reviewer who shared it here first!) - am copying it here for the purposes of my own reading journal.
‘What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984,
Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.’
I certainly find the world Huxley so daringly and presciently imagined in the 1930s to be chillingly plausible, even recognisable. With that knowledge, I’m now going to go sit and stare blankly at a wall for a while and wonder whether I should rethink my decision to have kids. Fun book lol would recommend to fellow sadists lmfao xoxo