Brave New World
Ratings1,714
Average rating3.9
Story: 5 / 10
Characters: 8
Setting: 10
Prose: 8
Very strange story structure. It isn't until the 4th character that we encounter, that we ultimately reach what seems to be the protagonist.
El concepto del libro (trama, contexto) es mejor que el libro en sí. No me arrepiento de leerlo pero no lo haría otra vez
Lo de Ford es hilarante
DNF. I was feeling a dystopian science fiction novel, so I picked this one up. I'm not sure what the author's dystopian vision is, however, because I didn't make it past the gross concept of an assembly-line childhood.
Age range: 18+
Mature themes and challenging worldview. Not for younger readers.
So good!
This guy was ahead of his time. Finally I listened to this book. There's a guy on YouTube who does full audiobooks with great voice acting and atmospheric sounds. It was a great experience and the story in itself left me wanting to revisit it from time to time. I think this and 1984 combined are a great way to foresee the real life dystopia that humanity is heading towards.
I'm just glad I read this.
Brave New World, 1984, Animal Farm, all come under the same genre, and in an avid reader of dystopian fiction making this novel something I was deeply interested in.
I loved reading it, however, the plot got a bit stagnant at times. The symbolism and vast number of allusions emphasize the main message in a unique manner that I find synonymous with “A Handmaid's Tale” by Margaret Atwood.
I'd definitely encourage reading this.
Heads up, lots of references to sex.
Started reading and then stopped because something was really annoying me v
Excellent book, I would rate this a 4.5/5. Just a warning my review and thoughts are completely unedited lol. So it's very messy and may just not make sense…sorry not sorry lmao. I would like to say comparing this to 1984…this is more similar to our world.
For a book written in 1931…wow i genuinely felt as if i was in the future. To the extent of the date this was written and published i am lol. As my usual book reviews go, I like putting in quotes from the book. Before however I'd like to say the reason this is not a 5/5 for me. The mid section of this book just was just…uninteresting compared to the beginning and end. Perhaps not interesting, just not as. I like to judge a book based on how many times i put it down to take a “break”. I found myself doing this continuously...although it was still enjoyable and interesting to read. Which is why I still rated it high. “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.”
In this world there is no religion, no true freedom or danger. How can you be truly free if your thoughts and dreams are locked away by soma or simply inaccessible? When i say inaccessible i mean the delta and lower status of people who can not even from the thoughts they may have otherwise been able due to the modifying in early stages of life. Are they even humans with souls? To be honest for a second I wondered to myself if perhaps a world with no pain, war and even simple distress is worth living in. The people truly wanted to be there..maybe it is the perfect place to be. It was so perfect it got to the point where a god is unnecessary. A question I thought to myself was if God truly gets further away with the development of technology and so on, At one point will God cease to interact with us. Maybe we are at that point already. (Mustapha Mond spoke of this in the book) Also random but the sheer self control that John had when Lenina approached him for sex…undressed. I was surprised when he denied it. I got deja vu of Joseph from the bible. I know Bernard is the main character but I genuinely did not like him. I'm not sure if I was supposed to but in my head he was an attention hungry, disloyal and cowardly man.
I'll stop talking now but I liked the book.
Some other quotes without my ramble. You can understand without my gibberish lol
“Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.”
“Ending is better than mending.”
“If one's different, one's bound to be lonely.”
Contains spoilers
Overall, Brave New World was an interesting read. My only regret is reading it after 1984, which set my expectations very high. I especially appreciated the inclusion of Aldous Huxley’s letter to George Orwell, where he acknowledges that society may be heading more toward Orwell's vision of a dystopia than his own.
The story truly captured my attention with the introduction of the "savages". Before that point, I kept expecting for more from the writing. As Huxley himself says in the preface, “Good is better than perfection,” and I respect that he recognized the flaws in his work yet chose to keep it in its original form.
A world where everything is artificial and focused only on profit and comfort doesn’t stay far from home. It’s worrying that a novel written in 1931 still has discussions that resonate today. The comfort zone that Huxley’s world promotes opposes completly the creativity and critical thinking that are inherent from humans.
In our own dystopian reality, we could associate this comfort zone to our constant consumption of content and entertainment. When John demands his right to be unhappy, it serves as a reminder that we should also reclaim our right to be bored and let our brains rest.
This book is the bomb. And not just any bomb, Huxley wants to blow your mind. I just kept turning the pages, becuase I craved the introspective thoughts and reflections on human dignity that this book tries to spring on the reader. You find yourself cheering for people who are looking for more, only to be disapointed by their fatal flaws. The book's setting that is so inherently inhumane that it paints a beauty on the tiniest slivers of humanity.
Seriously, how was this book written in the 1930's and still relevant... human nature, I guess. The ways we fall are different but the reasons stay the same.
cuốn sách thật, hay và ám ảnh nhất Manh từng đọc. Một xã hội đáng sợ, một cái kết truyện rùng mình.
It was natural to assume that BNW would be as much to my liking as the notorious classic 1984. Mr. Huxley did build a very interesting idea of an anti-utopian world that might not be that far from the one we have today, but somehow his ideas didn't fully transcribe to paper.
If I were to rate the work purely from a philosophical point of view, I would certainly have to give it one star more.
“But that's the price we have to pay for stability. You've got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art. We've sacrificed the high art.”
Contains spoilers
I found the story good, it had believable characters who did believable things. Even in the parts where the author was clearly making snide remarks about ideas, they were still fairly subtle. Everything felt like it had a soul, never did I feel like I was simply reading propaganda.
I liked the ending very much, it was rather a perfect irony that, in Johns desperate attempt to find meaning and reject "brave new world", he ended up destroying something with great meaning, someone who cared for him, his friend. John failed to see that, even in the hellish "brave new world" there was still some good, a good that he rejected along with the bad.
As much as the over-sexualization and lack of empathy towards characters seem to be a constant complaint on readers I did not mind these. The allegoric way in which Huxley seems to perceive the perfect society is masterfully depicted. It’s insane to think it’s been almost a century since the book was written. The description of the mundane activities that took part (and are almost robotically done so) in said society is very rich and purposeful. Really enjoyed the read and thought it was interesting in many levels. The highlights for me were the second to last and last chapters.
4 ⭐️
It's impressive how Huxley managed to tell such a complicated story and draw this weird world in a relatively short novel.
Not as good as 1984, although I think far more plausible at least in the western world. It's interesting to compare the two books (I read them back to back). Both sets of tactics are used by governments to keep people in line. In North America, where I live, we lean towards the pacification of Brave New World but our governments are certainly not above the “boot in the face” totalitarianism of 1984 as we've seen with the suppression of indigenous land protectors, peaceful protestors, and the policing of minorities.
Again, a lot to think about, a good thought piece, but not a great book, the story just wasn't all that compelling and the pacing felt off to me.
I listened to a dramatic audiobook version.
The start and the setup is very good. The world itself is interesting and a utopia from a certain angle. This is a world where you will be programmed to the most alpha (literally) have great appearance, pleasure, orgies available everywhere, work will be simple and optimal, there are no intellectual challenges, no marriage, commitment, fun events everywhere, constant travelling of the world available. But it still has a few flaws and one of the main characters for some reason is let to participate in this society despite not meeting any of the genetic requirements which are very carefully conditioned.
The main conflict is a bit weird, it's like the main characters want the suffering, the sadness, ageing, and terrible things that happen while living. I don't think we are deprived of these things currently so not sure how to apply the story to any of my thinking. I guess any societal extremes are detrimental to the individual and we should seek to balance both the society and individual needs.
The main male character idealises, but also devalues the person he loves at the same time, recognizes her as an object created by society, but also wants her. It's a bit odd, I dunno, I don't feel there was a satisfying conclusion to most things or how they progressed.
This book has good concepts and with better execution it would have rocked. There is a chapter at the start in particular which is so fragmented and shifts perspectives so rapidly, it was very jarring. Not sure how modern it is to call one of the characters from tribes a savage, did they have a name? I don't remember it. I expected this to be a little more interesting idk, the very start was very fun tho with all the genetic modification stuff, it's such a fascinating subject.
2.75 stars “Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery”
Wow. I still don't know what to feel about this book. So many complex emotions but one thing for sure: it could have been better. It was just too erratic and feels too unplanned in some places. So many parts could have been better and that ending was so underwhelming. Objectively, the first half was better than the other half.
Also the “debate” with the controller was so obviously one sided. There was no actual argument. The debate felt built on emotions and they weren't actually making opposing points. Each person was talking a totally different thing.
The characters were ALL unlikable. There were no grey areas, just caricatures of people you know would never exist. The dystopia was actually very appealing anyway because there was no solid argument made against it and carried through till the end. Pointing out the lack of something is not argument in favour of its existence.
My two stars are for the first 100 pages, the writing style and in general, how the story progressed.
Not to mention the unnecessary racism. The time it was written in is not an excuse. The book was progressive in many other issues, but calling darker skinned people “dog-skinned” outside of narration, outside of character dialogue or thoughts... so unnecessary.
That racism actually was part of the lower rating, not only on principles, but it literally created a plot hole. It was no longer this world in my head of these principles, but something that invaded the construction of this world and weakened it because it didn't make sense.
Почему-то я долгое время путал «Дивный новый мир» с «Утопией» Томаса Мора и от того не хотел читать (старая фантастика). Но со второй попытки мне понравилось и я даже дочитал.
Также я думал (много думаю), что эта книга похожа на «1984-й», но оказалось, что нет :-)
Эта книга скорее философское размышление на тему альтернативного общества. Очень напоминает коммунистов.
Как часто бывает с такими книгами (поэтому меня оценка 4/5): классных идей дофига, но текст и сюжет сравнительно унылые. До Тургенева или Гоголя Хаксли как до Луны.
Поэтому, хочется многое отмечать, цитировать, размышлять над этим, но восхищаться слогом не приходится.
Мне понравилась фраза: «Пылесосить? Зачем пылесосить, если для этого есть Эпсилон-полукретины?..»
En mi opinión "Un Mundo Feliz" es un libro excepcional y totalmente adelantado a su época. Si bien tiene muchas similitudes con 1984 de Orwell, y es claro el porqué, ambos se sitúan en distopías en las que la especie humana pierde gran parte de sus libertades. Difieren en algo muy importante, que es el cómo se llega a esto:
En 1984 nos situamos en un totalitarismo dirigido por el "Gran Hermano". Y la forma en la que este gobernador controla a los ciudadanos es mediante la represión. En 1984 se limita el lenguaje y se espía a todos los ciudadanos para encontrar desertores y desaparecerlos, la Policía del Pensamiento. Este es un sistema no muy alejado de nosotros en Latinoamérica ya que suena similar a lo que se vivió en las dictaduras o golpes de estado militares, que operaban de una manera similar.
En cambio, en "Un Mundo Feliz" los ciudadanos son adoctrinados desde el nacimiento, primero que nada se elimina la esencia del ser humano, el amor. Nadie tiene padres, hermanos o pareja. Esto se logra mediante el control del sueño y el suministro de una droga tranquilizadora y liberadora de estrés llamada "Soma", la felicidad en pastilla. Además se eliminan las artes y se limita la cantidad de información escrita de acceso público.
Esto consigue algo mucho más grave que lo que pasa en 1984, en Un Mundo Feliz la gente no es reprimida, si no que son condicionados para ni siquiera tener la necesidad, ni la información necesaria, ni la capacidad de pensamiento crítico para revelarse. No les interesa, no lo necesitan, viven en la felicidad de la ignorancia. Por eso cuando nuestro protagonista muestra un poco de interés en cuestionar el sistema nadie está preparado para casos así, es un caso muy aislado. Ya no es necesaria una fuerza que reprima a los desertores, porque no existen.
Mientras leía "Un Mundo Feliz" no podía evitar hacer una relación entre el Soma y los Celulares y las redes sociales. Cada vez me parece más acertada y me da miedo la cantidad de similitudes que terminé encontrando entre nuestro mundo, nuestro día a día, y lo que pasa en el libro. Tenemos toda la información recabada por la especie humana en nuestros bolsillos pero, no nos interesa investigar. Y capaz el hecho de que esté disponible tan fácilmente es lo que genera esto, al tenerlo siempre a la mano se elimina nuestra curiosidad, las ganas de investigar por el simple hecho de hacerlo. Preferimos ver TikTok o Instagram, perdernos en ese caudal infinito de videos digeribles en 30 segundos que a la mínima que nos aburran pasamos al siguiente. Perdemos la noción del tiempo, pero no sólo eso, perdemos la capacidad de leer un libro, incluso de ver una película sin estar con el celular en la mano. Es incluso peor que el Soma, porque conscientemente lo consumimos, conscientemente dejamos que nuestra vida se someta al scroll infinito.
¿Porqué lo hacemos?
Porque nos da una instantánea ilusión de felicidad.
No es loco pensar que nos dirigimos a una variante de lo que escrito por Huxley, a nuestro propio Mundo Feliz.