Reviews

This book is pretty horrible. The beginning where the main character is setting off on his adventure is incredibly boring, and most of the sections after that aren't much better. The author quibbles a bit too much and his comparisons with modern society are too obvious. There is little actual story involved, and what is there is incredibly uninteresting. I did enjoy the baby dimension concept and the book of machines though, which is why it gets a two instead of a one.

sarah_dietrich's review against another edition

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2.0

Oh dear, I found most of Samuel Butler's Erewhon to be really boring. I enjoyed the brief part at the start when the protagonist is working at a high country station farming sheep. The descriptions were beautiful & it certainly reads as if its set in the Canterbury high country, where Butler spent a few years. Once the protagonist goes on his adventure & finds Erewhon, the story turns into a collection of essays satirising Victorian beliefs. Fair enough, but unfortunately the essays were super boring.

mattbeatty's review against another edition

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3.0

I decided to read Erewhon because we were going to New Zealand, and I thought it appropriate to have read some its (outdated) literature. (This being said, I still have a couple of others NZ books to read.)

Erewhon is the "second great satire of the nineteeth century" (following Gulliver's Travels). It follows Higgs as he travels to and meets the Erewhonians and their bizarre double-standards and lack of reason. It is meant as satire against Victorian culture. The only problem with this is that much can be lost on an unsuspecting and unknowing reader (I think in particular of The Musical Banks--something that did not resonate with me).

Butler humorously treats religion, education, technology, diet, crowd mentality, criminal justice, currency, health, pregnancy--all skewed through the light (dark?) of a culture that sees logic in a backward way, against typical western mindsets. He crafts grand mythologies and prophets, provenances for the strange ways. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on machines, vegetarianism, and unreason.

I will admit it took me a fair amount to slog through it (my ancient mass market paperback with minute and fading text may partially be to blame).

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Select quotes:

Diet:
-- "What is the offence of a lamb that we should rear it, and tend it, and lull it into security, for the express purpose of killing it? Its offence is the misfortune of being something which society wants to eat, and which cannot defend itself." (81)
-- "Birds, beasts, fishes, have as full a right to live as long as they can unmolested by man, as man has to live unmolested by his neighbours." (166)

Religion:
-- "I have since met with many very godly people who have had a great knowledge of divinity, but no sense of the Divine" (109)
-- "Mention but the word divinity, and our sense of the Divine is clouded." (109)
-- "whenever any one ventured to differ from him, he referred the matter to the unseen power with which he alone was in direct communication, and the unseen power invariably assured him that he was right." (166)

Politics:
-- "A man's business ... is to think as his neighbours do, for Heaven help him if he thinks good what they count bad." (136)

Lifestyle:
-- "you ought by this time to have outgrown the barbarous habits of your ancestors. If, as you believe, you know better than they, you should do better." (167)
-- "there is no genius who is also not a fool, and no fool who is not also a genius" (136)
-- "an art is like a living organism--better dead than dying" (88)

Technology:
-- "How many men at this hour are living in a state of bondage to the machines?" (150)
-- "it is the machines which act upon man and make him man, as much as man who has acted upon and made the machines" (160)

cognative's review against another edition

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3.0

My favorite section from the book was:

“Why,” asked one Professor, “should a man want to be better than his neighbours? Let him be thankful if he is no worse.”

I ventured feebly to say that I did not see how progress could be made in any art or science, or indeed in anything at all, without more or less self-seeking, and hence unamiability.

“Of course it cannot,” said the Professor, “and therefore we object to progress.”

I absolutely loved this book when it was in fiirst person as you read from the journal, however much of this was written a general discussion of theories of the fictiotious Erewhon. The story telling reminding me of Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, the "translations" tended to loose me as my focus wandered.

However, Butler brings up some interesting concepts of a Utopian society. What if your well being was based exclusively on your appearance? It was a crime to embezzle or steal, however a common cold could land you in prison. A child will be killed if unable to be a commercial value to their parents in a early age.

Over all, an enjoyable book, just wish there would have been story and less "translations".

poppygemini's review against another edition

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adventurous funny informative slow-paced

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

3.0

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