A review by fireflying
Island by Aldous Huxley

challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I enjoyed reading about some of the ideas in this book and dreaming up a society in which things are done with people's wellbeing as a first priority. Cool stuff on education, emotions, emotional processing, relationships, family, art, creative expression, sex, death, religion, identity, purpose,... really quite a lot. A little bit derivative but hey

The issue with this book is that it can't really be classified as a novel. The whole book consists of monologue-y conversations with a bunch of flat characters that could have all been one and the same character. Sure there's a bit of a plot but the plot isn't the point, we might as well have gotten a lecture series on Buddhist philosophy to get the same ideas.