Published: 1931
Description: Aldous Huxley's tour de force, Brave New World is a darkly satiric vision of a "utopian" future—where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment. (from Amazon.com)
Well, my overall impression of this book was that Huxley very much succeeded in creating a thoroughly creepy vision of the future (NOT "satisfying entertainment"). He created a world where everyone is so completely shaped by society that no one thinks for themselves.
Huxley did a fantastic job building his future world. When I read this book, I felt like I was there, and none of the characters ever acted out of place in their society. I think he was also spot-on in depicting human weakness: if anything would convince us fallen humans that everything is absolutely all right, it would be constant pleasure.
That said, I didn't actually enjoy this book that much. Yes, it was very thought-provoking, and there were some interesting thoughts and discussions about the nature of religion. However, be warned that there is a fair amount of sexual activity (it was the time of Freud, after all--Huxley's society practically revolves around sex, along with consumerism). This was ultimately a book that revealed a possible future and current problems in society without proposing any sort of solution: ultimately, a very despairing book that I wouldn't recommend.
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