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A review by mediaevalmuse
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
4.0
Surprisingly, I never had to read this book as a high school student, and on top of that, I didn't read it until I was in grad school (despite being a huge sci-fi nerd). A lot of bias against it might come from people who were forced to read it for class, but on its own terms, Brave New World is a sci-fi classic for good reason.
Things I Liked
1. Premise: Huxley’s premise is incredible. Keeping in mind that this novel was written in 1931, his foresight into the future is astounding. He chose to create a utopia/dystopia that is largely centered around reproduction, and given the conversations about reproduction in today's politics and social conversations, this book continues to be relevant.
2. Prose: Huxley’s prose is excellent, always doing things I wasn’t expecting. For example, early in the book, we get a series of brief excerpts from the three or four different events going on at once, which creates a kind of mosaic of the society in Brave New World. Huxley also uses very poetic metaphors, which I found to be pleasant contrasts with the stale, orderly world.
3.Themes: In addition to reproduction and sexuality, Huxley's novel raises some very important points for discussion aside from just being a science fiction tale. For example, he inserts a debate about the purpose of art, which complicates the larger themes of society, pleasure, and science. Such a broad spectrum isn't so much distracting as it shows how all of these things are interrelated.
Things I Didn't Like
Most of the things that bothered me about this book will, no doubt, be products of the changing attitudes and beliefs of Western civilization over time. Again, this book was written in 1931, so values have changed dramatically since then.
1. Depictions of "Savages" I was uncomfortable at Huxley’s decision to make all the “savages” persons of color, particularly those of Native American or Mexican descent. However, the “star” savage, John, is a white man. There’s a whole discussion about race and culture that can be done about this, but there’s no room here.
2. Sexual Privilege: There was definitely an undertone of male sexual privilege and uncomfortable portrayals of rape culture. Men can “have” girls whenever they want (women can too, but the focus is definitely on male sexuality), and at one point, the character Lenina is encouraged to “just take” John whether he wants to have sex or not. I’m not sure if Huxley did this deliberately to show the problems with this type of society, but these attitudes (note: not the promiscuity, exactly) made me cringe.
Recommendations: Read this book if you plan to hit up all the sci-fi classics and if you have interests in utopia/dystopia, human sexuality, and reproductive rights. You might also enjoy this book if you liked 1984 and The Handmaid's Tale, though the prose styles are different.
Things I Liked
1. Premise: Huxley’s premise is incredible. Keeping in mind that this novel was written in 1931, his foresight into the future is astounding. He chose to create a utopia/dystopia that is largely centered around reproduction, and given the conversations about reproduction in today's politics and social conversations, this book continues to be relevant.
2. Prose: Huxley’s prose is excellent, always doing things I wasn’t expecting. For example, early in the book, we get a series of brief excerpts from the three or four different events going on at once, which creates a kind of mosaic of the society in Brave New World. Huxley also uses very poetic metaphors, which I found to be pleasant contrasts with the stale, orderly world.
3.Themes: In addition to reproduction and sexuality, Huxley's novel raises some very important points for discussion aside from just being a science fiction tale. For example, he inserts a debate about the purpose of art, which complicates the larger themes of society, pleasure, and science. Such a broad spectrum isn't so much distracting as it shows how all of these things are interrelated.
Things I Didn't Like
Most of the things that bothered me about this book will, no doubt, be products of the changing attitudes and beliefs of Western civilization over time. Again, this book was written in 1931, so values have changed dramatically since then.
1. Depictions of "Savages" I was uncomfortable at Huxley’s decision to make all the “savages” persons of color, particularly those of Native American or Mexican descent. However, the “star” savage, John, is a white man. There’s a whole discussion about race and culture that can be done about this, but there’s no room here.
2. Sexual Privilege: There was definitely an undertone of male sexual privilege and uncomfortable portrayals of rape culture. Men can “have” girls whenever they want (women can too, but the focus is definitely on male sexuality), and at one point, the character Lenina is encouraged to “just take” John whether he wants to have sex or not. I’m not sure if Huxley did this deliberately to show the problems with this type of society, but these attitudes (note: not the promiscuity, exactly) made me cringe.
Recommendations: Read this book if you plan to hit up all the sci-fi classics and if you have interests in utopia/dystopia, human sexuality, and reproductive rights. You might also enjoy this book if you liked 1984 and The Handmaid's Tale, though the prose styles are different.