Brave New World Review
Brave New World is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, inhabited by genetically modified citizens and an intelligence-based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by only a single individual: the story's protagonist. (Taken from Goodreads)
Keep in mind that everyone has their own opinion. This review is only my opinion, and you may have your own, different one. I would take into consideration what I say, but do not make a decision about the book solely based off of this review. Let's begin:
I am running into the same issue here as I did with another classic, Fahrenheit 451. They even have the exact same 3.99 / 5 average Goodreads rating. Maybe it's me, but I felt the same way about these classics: the only reason they have such a high score is the fact that they are classics. Well, that and they have cool concepts that sadly are lacking in execution.
I was so bored that vast majority of this novel. I had to read it for one of my classes and, even with the teacher not assigning too many chapters to read at once (not nearly as much as I normally read in one sitting), I found it very difficult to get through. I was rubbing my eyes to wake up more and had to pause between chapters so that I was refreshed and ready to try to focus on it again. It just didn't feel like anything was happening for such a long time that I could not keep my attention solely on the book. There were way too many chapters that revolved around the characters' feelings. I understand that is important- you can't have a good book if it's emotionless. However, you also can't have a good book that is only emotion and no plot. This was how this novel was for the longest time. I was getting very tired of hearing Lenina complain about her sex life.
That's a whole other thing. I found the world to be very disturbing (maybe that's the point though). I enjoyed the idea behind the supposed utopia. It was intriguing and it was different than other dystopia novels I have read. However, I definitely could have lived without the image of little kids being involved in sexual acts. That just weirded me out. I understand that it has significance in the world, I simply couldn't get past the wrongness of it. That is a personal opinion though. You may read the book and think it enhances the concepts and ideas. Who knows?
The writing style and format didn't work for me. I think the writing style was a major contributor to my being bored throughout the book. I did not connect with Huxley's writing at all. There were also many moments where it skipped scenes in the middle of a chapter without indicating the change and confused me a lot. It would take me a moment to understand that, instead of being with Bernard still, we now switched to Lenina and Fanny in a separate scene. I wish there was some sort of indicator that that scene was going to switch completely so that it did not feel random and confusing.
The only reason I gave the novel two stars was for the idea behind it. If it was executed well, this book would have been phenomenal. The concept was very interesting.
Overall, I was very underwhelmed by this novel. I found it to be very boring, and I didn't enjoy the writing style or jumpiness of it. I didn't connect to the story or the characters and actually felt relief when it was over instead of sadness. There was nothing remarkable, at least that I found, about this book, and I probably will not remember it a couple months from now. I already can only give general information about it. If someone asked me a specific question, I would embarrassingly have to say that I do not remember the book I read just a week or so ago. If I didn't have to finish it for class, it most likely would have ended up on my DNF list.
Rating: 2/5 stars
Author: Aldous Huxley
# of Pages: 268 (paperback)
Genre: Classic, Science Fiction, Dystopia
Series: Standalone
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