Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

56 reviews

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, Suicide, Self harm, and Racism

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

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

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.

rochelleisreading's review against another edition

challenging dark funny medium-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Child abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Medical content, Sexual harassment, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual content, Addiction, Abortion, and Sexual assault

mirabellee_'s review against another edition

dark reflective medium-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Death of parent, Self harm, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Violence, Sexual content, and Suicide

Minor: Abortion, Vomit, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts

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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Ableism, Kidnapping, Medical content, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Fatphobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Infidelity, Sexual assault, War, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Colonisation, Deportation, Racial slurs, Rape, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Violence, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Sexism, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Grief, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Xenophobia

whatamidoing_rn's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

3.0

Idk I probably should’ve waited until I was a bit older to read this so I might’ve got more out of it but oh well. The ending was surprising.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Pregnancy, Drug use, Blood, Death of parent, Violence, Sexual content, and Drug abuse

divergent159's review against another edition

challenging informative mysterious slow-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? No

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Self harm, and Suicide

blynn817's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

1.0

Hated it.
This was suggested as a follow up to 1984 and it's just...not the same.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Racism, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide

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: Racism, Sexual content, Vomit, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Grief, Infidelity, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Misogyny, Suicide, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Self harm

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Cursing, Fatphobia, and Pregnancy

Minor: Abortion, War, and Animal death

cursed_sapphire's review against another edition

challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

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

4.5

The world and concepts are fascinating. If you can look past some of the dated ideas, you'll see a surprising amount of our world here. Huxley predicted some parts of our society too well. 

The characters are interesting but not likeable, I recommend knowing that going in. This book is an exploration of a potential future built on consumption, sameness, and constant pleasure. The characters are meant to embody different parts of humanity/society. Bernard is only content if he's more special than everyone else, Lenina wants more monogomy than is normal but otherwise accepts everything, Helmholtz is just kinda bored and wants to be a tortured poet, etc. John is supposed to be the last real person, representing a true believer in religion and art which cannot survive in this society. Mind you, John is a very 1930's Christian ideal of a true, good person. And while his obsession with suffering for his sins serves as a counter to the painless society of the book, it came across a bit overzealous for me. It felt like Huxley was trying to make John suffer all the pain everyone else never had to, but that made him feel a little too obsessed with pain instead of the virtues he claims to care about. The same could also be said about his obsession with chastity. 

This is a book more focused on ideas than on characters. The plot is a bit sparse, but that leads to a slice-of-life feeling, where the day-to-day life is the focus. There's a certain horror in the mundaneness that the characters experience, and that brings out the themes in a different, but still very effective way. 

Overall I recommend this for anyone who likes the philosophical side of sci-fi/dystopia, as long as they are able to handle the old-fashioned lense.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Child abuse, Addiction, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Racism, and Sexual harassment

honkinggoose's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Suicide, and Addiction

Moderate: Body shaming and Classism

Minor: Gaslighting