I read this book in 2002 as part of a BookCrossing ring. I had read this book once upon a time back in high school but, like many aspects of high school, had forgotten it almost completely, so this re-read was actually more like reading it for the first time. I am actually rather surprised that we were told to read this in high school, what with the rather promiscusous nature of the majority of the characters in the book -- seems like the sort of thing a high school would discourage teenagers from reading, rather than encouraging. But, well, classic literature, heh.

This story presents a very disturbingly complacent society. It is very easy to identify with most of the main characters, because most of them are, in one manner or another, misfits, and nearly everyone has gone through some period in their life feeling like they didn't quite fit in. The book presents some very interesting debate regarding religion, sexuality, and fate vs. free will, among other things -- definitely food for thought.

Not as amazing as 1984 (very different too), but a solid, enjoyable read. Brave New World Revisited is particularly interesting and is not to be overlooked ( )

One of my favorite books. Set in the future, when babies are born in jars and sex and drugs are the nation's most popular pastimes. Lenina is a typical girl who develops a relationship with a "savage," a man born the old-fashioned way, named John. The book details his adjustment (or lack thereof) into the new world. ( )

This masterful story is one of the great dystopias. The characters are strong and relatable. The pace of the story gets you hooked instantly. The Revisited essay is amazing and scary. ( )

This is one of those books I seem to have let slip through the cracks until now. I knew a lot about it of course (being among the more widely referenced and discussed of books), and have had it recommended to me for years by friends....but hadn't bothered to pick it up until recently.

Right. So. It's the future and humanity has created a society in which selective breeding, developmental engineering, and social conditioning are used to control the lifestyles and well-being of all humans. But there's also a small community of folks living the old, free, uncontrolled way of life on a reservation in the southwestern US. The plot centers on several characters and the culture clash that ensues as they cross the borders between these societies.

The point of Brave New World is not its plot, though, but rather its examination of a society that has embraced behavioral determinism and harnessed it in extreme ways to maximize the happiness of its inhabitants. I have to admit, I'm not sure what the message of this novel should be to someone in the 21st century. The methods used to uphold Huxley's utopian community are (and were intended to be seen as) appalling. Its citizens are arbitrarily subjected to rigid programs of biological engineering and socialization designed to place them in specific roles for the betterment of society. Rote jingoism, organized drug use, and the erasure of prior cultural history are all tools used by the state to keep people content in these roles. Many people I know who have read Brave New World regard its vision as entirely undesirable because of unjust removal of individual freedom among the citizenry -- a "cautionary tale" on par with 1984. I found it much more ambiguous than that. Its a little too easy to attack the lack of freedom and autonomy, while ignoring its near-universal achievement of individual happiness and fulfillment. The only characters in Huxley's story who are exceptions are those for whom the system was not applied properly or consistently. Thus, while Huxley succeeds in highlighting problematic consequences of inefficiency in the system, its less clear to me that he establishes problems of injustice inherent to the totalitarian program itself -- which, in my discussions with others who have read the book, is the major source of people's discomfort with the story.

Ultimately I have to admit some admiration for some of the goals to which Huxley's society are aimed, and some of the ends it achieves, even while rejecting its methods. When I read a novel, I sometimes imagine what I would do If I was a character. When reading Brave New World, I found myself imagining how I would reform the utopia to improve it, rather than how I would rebel.

Now, I found the actual writing pretty average, but I found the ideas deceptively challenging -- certainly still worth reading today, some 70+ years after publication. I haven't read the "revisited" portion of the book yet (a non-fiction essay Huxley wrote many years after the novel that has been added in this edition); maybe that will help give some perspective. ( )