Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

I don't think I like this book.

I say 'think' because admittedly, I'm not entirely sure. I really wanted to like it, or maybe I felt like I should. Ultimately though I have to be honest and I feel Brave New World falls flat in what it's trying to do.

Okay, my first reason is probably the most 'controversial' but honestly, I don't see the future world as being all that bad. Obviously it is bad in comparison to the real world, I'm not an idiot. But in comparison to other dystopias? Everyone is happy and those who aren't get sent somewhere else to be with a whole bunch of other people like them. Not killed, not brainwashed or imprisoned. Just sent away to live their lives how they please. Again obviously, the constant drugging, biological manipulation of the lower classes and lack of art or science are all terrible things. I do not want to live in this world by any means but I think the sex part is what is supposed to be so awful about it and honestly, that makes the book come across as dated and diminishes its impact.

My second issue is with the characters. In the entire book, the only characters I kind of liked were Lenina, Linda and Helmholtz. Bernard was okay but I could not stand John at all. I think my dislike of John is one of the reasons I can't quite see this as a terrible world. He was so pretentious and utterly joyless that, when presented as the alternative, he doesn't make a very good argument for it. It also makes it harder for me to agree with any of his arguments, no matter how valid they are. His treatment of Lenina is appalling and I did not find him particularly sympathetic. The crush angle also seemed repetitive to me as Bernard's crush on Lenina and John's crush were pretty similar in terms of how they fit into the plot and both played the same purpose narratively.

However, the thing I disliked the most was how unsubtle this book was. Characters literally have long discussions about the theme of the book and it feels like the author is whacking you in the face with it. I do not like books which are purely a vessel for a certain message and while this book was too well-written and developed to be just that, it came dangerously close.

Honestly though, there were a lot of good things about this book. I think I like projecting my own interpretation of the story more than I like the actual story itself. Like John-the whole part where he pleads for the right to be unhappy feels like it should be really meaningful and in my head now, it is. But when I was reading it, I felt nothing but weariness. I think this book has a lot to say but its execution lets it down, which is weird because it is well-written. Something is missing but I'm not sure what. For the first time ever, I'm not going to rate this book because I honestly have no idea what to rate it on. My review probably sounds a lot more negative than I feel and this book will certainly stick with me if nothing else.