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jcariwa's review against another edition
3.0
Helped me get through the London commute. Was not overly thrilled by it though
divya968's review against another edition
1.0
Had to read this for english class, I absolutely hated it. Not really a story just so much imagery SO MUCH. Mostly just explaining what he saw.
miztrebor's review against another edition
3.0
I wasn't sure what I was getting into when opening the book. I picked it up randomly one day a few years ago knowing I'd eventually read it. In ways I'm glad I did, in other ways I could have gone without it. There wasn't anything wrong with the story, aside from the last several chapters being accounts of histories of the culture the main character stumbled upon. With that said, the chapters on the machines really caught my attention. This book was published in 1872 and shows a prediction of "robots" or machines being the dominant "beings" on the planet at some future time. It also goes into how like organic organisms machinery can be. This is a unique view on the topic to me. I'm sure it's been brought up before; science fiction has much to say about the topic, but for this time period it awakened me to a new view on what people thought back then. There was also the discussion on whether or not meat/plants should be consumed. I found that quite funny due to the rise in vegetarianism in today's world. All in all, this book wasn't terrible. It's a bit slow because of it's age and how slowly I read older books due to difference in language. But it's not entirely a waste of time.
neema_sedai's review against another edition
2.0
Like many others in this review section, I found this novel to really overstay its welcome. I found the story to be rather interesting and fun to follow, its just too bad the story only inhabits half of the novel. The other half seem to be rambling/stream of consciousness about random topics. I understand that it is satirical/a critique on aspects of society, but it was just tiring and uninteresting as a whole. I don't think I would recommend this book to anyone, but I don't necessarily regret reading it. Historically, it is neat to think such a novel was published in the 19th century.
kpasteka's review against another edition
2.0
This was a very choppy read that would have been better served to be presented as a series of essay and cutting out the meager plot of unlikable overly-romantic characters.
The redeeming characteristic of this novel was the "Book of the Machines" and the look at mechanical evolution and the affect of what we would today call the technological singularity. It's strange to think that the author could look at the world of the 1870s and see the evolution of intelligent machines and humanity serving their needs.
Overall, I did not enjoy this book and was surprised that it is so much more widely read than The Coming Race, if you do want to get that early look at the technological singularity just read chapters 23-25 the rest isn't worth your time.
The redeeming characteristic of this novel was the "Book of the Machines" and the look at mechanical evolution and the affect of what we would today call the technological singularity. It's strange to think that the author could look at the world of the 1870s and see the evolution of intelligent machines and humanity serving their needs.
Overall, I did not enjoy this book and was surprised that it is so much more widely read than The Coming Race, if you do want to get that early look at the technological singularity just read chapters 23-25 the rest isn't worth your time.
ianjsimpson's review against another edition
2.0
http://theforgottengeek.wordpress.com/2014/03/22/the-history-of-science-fiction-literature-challenge-erewhon-by-samuel-butler-1872/
sharonleavy's review against another edition
3.0
This book was thrown up in a reading challenge, and that's the only reason I read it. I'd never heard of it before - which is unsurprising given that it's a Utopian novel from the 19th century.
In the beginning, I have to say I really enjoyed it. The protagonist initially had a fairly mundane existence, looking after animals in a remote part of his homeland with a gruff companion. He ached to explore lands beyond his own, so set off on a risky adventure alone. The language and descriptions used in the exploration chapters were captivating - I thoroughly enjoyed reading of the vast landscape and his treacherous journey to Erewhon.
When he arrived in Erewhon (an anagram of Nowhere) it all went a bit snoozeworthy I'm afraid. What could have been an amazing adventure turned, essentially, into a man landing in a town, writing about the town, and then leaving. It is, as many other reviewers have pointed out, a satire on many European customs and traditions. Illness is punished, crime is pitied. The Erewhonians are desperately afraid of machinery, therefore anything considered a machine is banned. This is shown when the character arrives and his watch is instantly confiscated. He is imprisoned when he arrives. Much fuss is made of his "light hair", which holds him in good stead and prevents him from being kept in prison.
He writes very lengthy chapters on all the Erewhonian customs and traditions, their thoughts and opinions, and their treatment of various classes of society. I found myself speed-reading many of these chapters because I just found it so boring, and the language was hard to get to grips with sometimes. There's a chapter near the end about vegetables and plants that I read thinking "what on earth is this about" the whole way through (albeit in slightly more flowery language).
The end is a bit confusing, he and his Erewhonian love fly off in a balloon (why is that allowed? Would that not be considered a machine?!)and then when they eventually get back to England, none of his mates are excited to see him because they thought he was dead long ago, so he decides to figure out a way of going back to Erewhon.
I definitely wouldn't read this again, but I am glad I gave it a go and managed to finish it, because it's so far removed from anything I'd pick up. Three stars for the first half of the book.
Apparently there's a sequel - but I definitely will not be reading it.
In the beginning, I have to say I really enjoyed it. The protagonist initially had a fairly mundane existence, looking after animals in a remote part of his homeland with a gruff companion. He ached to explore lands beyond his own, so set off on a risky adventure alone. The language and descriptions used in the exploration chapters were captivating - I thoroughly enjoyed reading of the vast landscape and his treacherous journey to Erewhon.
When he arrived in Erewhon (an anagram of Nowhere) it all went a bit snoozeworthy I'm afraid. What could have been an amazing adventure turned, essentially, into a man landing in a town, writing about the town, and then leaving. It is, as many other reviewers have pointed out, a satire on many European customs and traditions. Illness is punished, crime is pitied. The Erewhonians are desperately afraid of machinery, therefore anything considered a machine is banned. This is shown when the character arrives and his watch is instantly confiscated. He is imprisoned when he arrives. Much fuss is made of his "light hair", which holds him in good stead and prevents him from being kept in prison.
He writes very lengthy chapters on all the Erewhonian customs and traditions, their thoughts and opinions, and their treatment of various classes of society. I found myself speed-reading many of these chapters because I just found it so boring, and the language was hard to get to grips with sometimes. There's a chapter near the end about vegetables and plants that I read thinking "what on earth is this about" the whole way through (albeit in slightly more flowery language).
The end is a bit confusing, he and his Erewhonian love fly off in a balloon (why is that allowed? Would that not be considered a machine?!)and then when they eventually get back to England, none of his mates are excited to see him because they thought he was dead long ago, so he decides to figure out a way of going back to Erewhon.
I definitely wouldn't read this again, but I am glad I gave it a go and managed to finish it, because it's so far removed from anything I'd pick up. Three stars for the first half of the book.
Apparently there's a sequel - but I definitely will not be reading it.
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