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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
Technically this is a re-read as I read this long ago in an attempt to be an intellectual but I remembered almost nothing from it other than it ended in an orgy
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I'm against burning books... but if I had to choose...
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.”
2013 Read: 3☆
2024 Reread: 3.75☆
2024 Audiobook Narration: 2.75☆
In a world where everyone is always happy, no one truly is. Because without loneliness, there can never be passion, without grief, there can never be love, and without strife, there can never be true joy.
In grade 12 in my school, you either read 1984 or Brave New World. I was given Brave New World. And I'm glad I was because, imo Brave New World is just... better. I find Aldous Huxley's ideas more interesting, creative, and insightful than George Orwell's. George presents a pretty stock standard dystopia in 1984, where everyone is sad and knows they are oppressed. Aldous, on the other hand, presents one where everyone is happy and content. That is super interesting in itself. I also found the world in Brave New World to be far more believably futuristic than 1984 (which even in name, feels much more dated). I am forever impressed that Aldous wrote this book like 100 years ago because it reads like it could almost be written today. Lastly, I found the characters in Brave New World so much more relatable and I actually cared deeply about what happened to them (Especially Bernard and John).
SIDE NOTE: As an introverted demi sexual myself, I find the idea of a society where sex is (not only free but) basically compulsory, where everyone belongs to everyone else and where engaging in solitary activities is seen as antisocial and condemned, an absolutely terrifying one. No, thank you. I agree with John on this one. I reject permanent comfort if it means I can enjoy all the highs and lows that life has to offer. Even if it means I have to suffer sometimes.
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
If I didn’t have to read this for school I would have liked it even less.
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Brave new world is a powerful and unsettling vision of a future where human beings have surrendered freedom, individuality, and meaning in exchange for comfort, pleasure, and stability. In this world, people are not born but manufactured in labs, conditioned from childhood to fit into strict social roles. Pain, conflict, and strong emotions are suppressed through the use of a drug called soma, while art, religion, family, and love are considered outdated and even dangerous. The result is a society that runs smoothly, but at the cost of the human soul.
Some one who has grown up outside the controlled system and still holds on to old ideals like truth, beauty, God, and suffering. When he is introduced to the “civilized” society, he is both fascinated and horrified. He cannot understand how people can live without depth, without questioning, without love or belief. His resistance to the system and his refusal to give in to its comforts eventually lead to heartbreak and tragedy.
Though the book describes a fictional future, it struck me how close some aspects of Huxley’s world feel to our present. It’s different from real life, of course, but there are undeniable similarities. The way people are obsessed with pleasure through constant entertainment and social media, how mood-regulating drugs are normalized to avoid discomfort, and how we’re increasingly outsourcing our thinking to systems *cough* artificial intelligence ? reminded me of the society we live in. It made me pause and reflect on how much we may be walking toward that same emptiness without realizing it.
One part that especially saddened me was how religion was portrayed as something obsolete unnecessary because pain, death, and fear had been eliminated. That idea really hit me. It made me grateful for the freedom I still have to wrestle with questions of meaning, to turn to faith, and to experience life in its full emotional range, even if I’m living between two very different cultures , being from a place with strong traditions and now residing in a country where personal freedoms are more restricted. Despite the challenges of both, I still have room to think, believe, and feel.
Giving people everything they want all the time doesn’t make us more human , I feel it destroys what makes us human. Our struggles, our longing, even our suffering, are part of a life that has depth and purpose. This book took me a while to read, but it will stay for a while. Considering it was written almost a century ago, it’s astonishing how accurate it is in predicting parts of the modern world.
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes