Considered Huxley's greatest work, Brave New World has been ranked fifth on Modern Library's list of 100 Best Novels. This dystopian novel is set in London, England in the year "632 A.F." which is more like AD2540 in the Gregorian calendar. This is a place where people are hatched from bottles on a conveyor belt, promiscuity is encouraged and being called a "mother" is outrageous and insulting.I had high hopes for this novel because of it's ranking and because of it's genre. Dystopian novels are my thing; 1984 by George Orwell and The Giver by Lois Lowry are my two absolute favourite books. So I'm at a loss for words to say that this book let me down a little.
It started well with a tour of the Central London Hatching and Conditioning Centre where the Director of the Hatchery explains to a group of boys how humans are created. Bottles containing embryos travel along on a conveyor belt through the factory-like building. Then there is the Bokanovsky Process where eggs can be manipulated to produce identical multiples of up 96 humans. Embryos are grouped into castes, Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, or Epsilon. The Alphas are allowed a natural gestation while every succeeding caste is treated to become less mentally and physically capable than the preceding caste. Later, we meet Lenina Crowe who is being criticised by her friend, Fanny, for not having more lovers. What would everyone think if they knew she had been seeing Henry Foster exclusively for several months? The horror! Bernard Marx feels as if he does not fit in with his fellow Alphas due to inferior stature. His views on sexual relationships differ from what they've been conditioned to believe their whole lives. They live in a loveless society. "Everyone belongs to everyone else."
The opening chapters of the book definitely pulled me in and I was interested in seeing where this would lead to. Bernard and Lenina meet John the Savage on a trip to a savage reservation in New Mexico called Malpais. Malpais is translated to "bad country" in Spanish which is rather ironic considering John's final views on Bernard and Lenina's "mother"land.
Without giving too much away, the ending is what disappointed me. It's not that I didn't understand it, I just felt as if there could've been more. Once John is introduced, Bernard and Lenina fall into the shadows of the story line. I would've wanted to see more of them since they were the first two characters I met. The world is seen through John's eyes now.
Considering that this book was written in 1932 as a projection of society in 2540, Huxley is definitely ahead of his time. He has predicted a lot of the problems that western societies face today; uncontrolled consumerism, drug and substance abuse, and deteriorating interpersonal relationships.
I really want to love this book so I may give it another chance some day. But don't take my word for it. If you have read the book, let me know what you think. If you haven't, then take the time to check it out and see for yourself.
Wish you were here!
