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mrchance 's review for:
Brave New World / Brave New World Revisited
by Aldous Huxley
This is another difficult book to review, because it's more of a historical document than a novel. Plus, it's hard not to compare it to 1984, which I just read.
I'll say this: I like this book more than 1984. 1984 is as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face. While Brave New World does its share of preaching, its vision of the world is much less horrific. On the surface, it seems like a great place to live. Sure, there are horrible caste systems, but it's not like they *know* there are horrible caste systems, right? Everyone's a promiscuous drug user and no one is all that unhappy. It sounds like the 1960s minus Vietnam.
The ending with the whip led me to compare this book to the Lars Von Trier film Manderlay. In Manderlay, Bryce Dallas Howard ends up on a plantation in Georgia (I think) in the 20s. No one told them that slavery had been abolished. Yet, it's that uncanny utopia/dytopia that leads you to believe that /this works/. Von Trier does the unthinkable: he makes you think that abolishing slavery was a bad idea. Huxley does the same thing in Brave New World: he makes you think that this society is a good idea.
That achievement makes this novel complex and thought-provoking, unlike 1984 which just beats you over the head with BIG BROTHER IS BAD over and over and over again.
I'll say this: I like this book more than 1984. 1984 is as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face. While Brave New World does its share of preaching, its vision of the world is much less horrific. On the surface, it seems like a great place to live. Sure, there are horrible caste systems, but it's not like they *know* there are horrible caste systems, right? Everyone's a promiscuous drug user and no one is all that unhappy. It sounds like the 1960s minus Vietnam.
The ending with the whip led me to compare this book to the Lars Von Trier film Manderlay. In Manderlay, Bryce Dallas Howard ends up on a plantation in Georgia (I think) in the 20s. No one told them that slavery had been abolished. Yet, it's that uncanny utopia/dytopia that leads you to believe that /this works/. Von Trier does the unthinkable: he makes you think that abolishing slavery was a bad idea. Huxley does the same thing in Brave New World: he makes you think that this society is a good idea.
That achievement makes this novel complex and thought-provoking, unlike 1984 which just beats you over the head with BIG BROTHER IS BAD over and over and over again.