Brave New World was written in 1931 and is set in the year 2540. Aldous Huxley presents a dystopian society in which people are conditioned before birth to be unknowingly supressed into working a role that they are given all of their lives. Using rather primitive sounding technologies (remember - this was written before the likes of genetic engineering), up to around 90 foetuses are raised from just one ovum and are exposed to different environments (heat, cold, alcohol, sleep deprevation) to condition them perfectly for their work.

In this ironically titled 'Brave New World' we meet Bernard and Lenina - both very fitting and well-rounded characters with regards to the setting they are placed into. It is worth noting that in this dystopian society, all people are given names from a limited pool made up of the names of political and cultural figures that contributed to the age that Huxley dreams up (eg: Bernard Marx - from George Bernard Shaw and Karl Marx).

A good, deep session of contemplation. Whilst reading this book a lot of ideas will be swilling about in your mind. What is true happiness? Is it worth being supressed for? Is individuality worth sacrificing the good of society for? And so on and so forth...

I loved the whole vivid concept that Huxley dreams up. He has an amazing imagination - and there is so much laced into the plot that you do not even notice until you look up more information on the book after reading it (e.g: the significance of Shakespearian quotes). The book is really well paced towards the end from when the Savage appears on the scene. The characters fit the plot perfectly - and I like the fact that the likes of Lenina is presented as a bit of a hopeless case throughout... She is exactly as she should be in such a supressed society.

Another technique that Huxley adopts is to segregate society further by having different classes of people wear different coloured clothes (in the same way Atwood does in 'The Handmaid's Tale'.

This book can be pretty slow going in parts and I found myself skimming over the odd paragraph or two.

It will definately make you think if you can plough through to the end. It is well thought out and cleverly written.

It has use of recreational drugs and sex throughout and can be slow and hard-going in parts.

If you like this novel, you may like other dystopian fiction such as '1984' by George Orwell, 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood and for something entirely more gruesome and sickening within the horror genre - 'Meat' by Joseph D'Lacey.

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Created Jan 19, 2010 at 6:19am • Submit your own review...