Monthly Book Review #1

Brave New World is a novel by Aldous Huxley. It was written in 1931 and published in 1932 (during the Great Depression). It is fictitious and the general premise is that humans are all born in labs and conditioned to be leaders or workers in their sleep.
In Brave New World the basic synopsis is that there is this guy named Bernard who is like almost all other people, born in a lab and conditioned to be what the Director's want them to be in their sleep. Bernard doesn't really fit in, because he is odd, he is at the risk of being shipped off to an island. In order so save his career he brings back a savage that is a Director's son. This particular Director is Bernard's "prosecutor", he quits and Bernard is free to stay where he is. The savage, who is a naturally born person, doesn't adjust well to this strange place. He and Bernard are eventually sent off to different places and the savage elects to be isolated. I think this is a thrilling and oddly captivating book tat I would recommend to really anyone who has somewhat matured.

2. For what audience(s) is this book intended, and how can you tell? (In other words, for whom would you recommend this book?)

I believe that really anyone from high school on till death should find this book to be a damn good and interesting read. There are many, many, strange and adventurous themes carried within th depths of its pages. But I believe the people that will truly enjoy this book are people that find something wrong in society today and society throughout time. People who have felt like they don't belong, more specifically, people who think they're the only people that don't belong. But there are people that feel like they don't belong in the world we live in, and therefore they are not alone, they do belong (just with people who feel like they don't belong).
People who feel like there can never be a perfect place, a perfect way to run things might get a kick out of this book, people who enjoy freaky things and equally scary ideas, will definitely love this book. People who like sex, lots of sex, will probably be very happy with this (large) aspect of the book.I liked this book, it was, as I've said, a scary yet truly enchanting novel. So ,if you happen to be like me, however rare this is, you'll probably like, and at the same time, not know what to think of this book.
All in all, I think as long as you aren't opposed to listening to controversial ideals and are old enough to tolerate a lot of talk of "erotic play". If you're old enough to handle the concepts of death and sexual themes, as well as the theme of what I think is "dehumanization", you will probably enjoy this book.

3. What are the weaknesses of this book, in your opinion?

The major weakness of this book is for suuure the ending. I didn't like the ending at all. It wasn't the plot, I understood what happened, it just seemed like it wrote it really, really fast, because he had to make a deadline and forgot to make a better one. Another thing that confused me is that if the Controller is this all powerful/wise person, why wouldn't he send John somewhere completely isolated? I mean, if he's close to a city someone's bound to see him as they fly over or something. I get the authors point that he doesn't fit in anywhere, but it just doesn't fit right. Even if he hadn't moved John farther away, I thought people were conditioned not to like being out in the countryside, why were those people that first spotted him out there?
I really wish I could ask the author if he rushed the ending. It just ended so abruptly and the last chapters setting changed so quickly, without even a decent heads up. It was just like, I'm flying, okay now I'm in the countryside at a lighthouse. Seriously? And why a lighthouse? Aren't tall objects easy to spot? Did John pick the spot? Did Mustapha pick the spot? If John picked the spot and truly wanted to be alone, why the hell did he pick that lighthouse instead of some private island or something like that?
Anyways, that was definitively the weakest part of the novel. Nothing else really stuck out out me. So all in all, compared to most movies this was a relatively sensible read.

8. Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth.

Bernard Marx was the character that interested me the most. Sadly, I identify with him more than I do with any of the other characters except I'm not that conceited or that much of a tool in general. What I find interesting about him is that he seems to be one of three people in the book that find something funny with their Brave New World. But what I like about him is that he is a very modern (as in right now) person. I could see a person like Bernard living in our world, I do see people like Bernard living in our world. People that will curse the world they live in when they are unhappy and when they gain their popularity they will fight to the bone to keep it, and along the way usually loose what little dignity they had.
Bernard is definitely one of those people. Forgive more of my slang but he is a complete tool. He's easily manipulated and when he becomes popular he loses interest in the little things about society that tickle him the wrong way. He stopped his conversations with John and Helmholtz and then he of course went back to them when he lost his popularity (which was only based on the savage, John). I find him interesting because he is a well developed and relevant to people living in our modern age.