I apologize for not having two discussions like I planned. The month got away from me, and I was having trouble getting into the book. I finally finished it today.
I've heard a lot of great things about this book so I guess I was expecting to be wowed. I didn't hate it or anything (4 stars on Goodreads, but maybe closer to 3.5). It just had a lot of ups and downs for me. Just when it would start to get exciting, the long philosophical talks would start. But that's enough nitpicking. Let's talk about how appalling it would be if the world was to come to be as it is in this book.
No families, no parents, a caste system decided by level of intelligence which is genetically engineered in every person. It's normal for seven year old children (and probably younger and older as well) to participate in erotic play (!). No books, meaning literature...no Shakespeare, etc. No one grows old because they're disposed of before they can even become elderly. Psychological manipulation and conditioning. The list goes on and on. It's such a generic society, it does border on hilarity. The way they talk, act. It would be a shock if you had not always lived like that so I completely understand John's (who they call the Savage) reaction. How else could someone who had grown up reading the beautiful words of Shakespeare act?
Huxley was a visionary in a lot of this, as this was published in 1932. He writes about many of the things we are now capable of in our current society. Pretty scary. I hope I'm long gone off this earth if this kind of world ever comes to pass. Not a brave new world in my opinion.
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What did you think? Share any and all thoughts in the comments.
Our next book for the 1000 Books Project is
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. We will read and discuss in August and September, with the latter month being
Hispanic Heritage Month and
Banned Books Week also falls in September. I will post the reading schedule before the end of July.
