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emma's Reviews > Brave New World
Brave New World
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emma's review
bookshelves: classics, sci-fi, non-ya, project-clear-ur-sh-t, dystopian, unpopular-opinion, reviewed, eh, 2-and-a-half-stars
Dec 19, 2021
bookshelves: classics, sci-fi, non-ya, project-clear-ur-sh-t, dystopian, unpopular-opinion, reviewed, eh, 2-and-a-half-stars
I would like to be an intellectual.
In an ideal world, I wear a monocle, and I have a pocket watch on a chain, and all of my sweaters have elbow patches. In this world, I consume exclusively classics at a very slow pace (so as to examine every word), but somehow simultaneously I have read everything that's ever been called worth reading by any person who's ever been called pretentious.
But that is not this world.
To be fair, I AM trying. I read literary fiction the most of any genre. I used to have a quest where I would have to read at least one classic every month, but I retired it because I typically read more than that. (Last year, for example, I read 46. And granted I have a loose definition of "classic," but still.) I tend to rate books from those two categories higher than others.
But still, we find ourselves here.
I didn't like this book. I can say there are a lot of reasons, and I can even tell the truth: I can say that the depiction of women in this was so offensive it turned around and became funny and absurd, or that this dystopian world is not nearly as prescient as 1984's, or the Handmaid's Tale's, or even goddamn The Hunger Games', and both of those would be fairly respectable criticisms that I do have.
But that isn't completely accurate.
I didn't like this because it felt silly and boring.
That's really all.
Bottom line: I'll try to be smart next time.
------------------
pre-review
either i did not care for this or i was being intellectually stimulated.
i'll figure it out later.
review to come / 2.5 stars
------------------
tbr review
personally being very brave by adding classics to my to read list
clear ur sh*t book 49
quest 22: free space
In an ideal world, I wear a monocle, and I have a pocket watch on a chain, and all of my sweaters have elbow patches. In this world, I consume exclusively classics at a very slow pace (so as to examine every word), but somehow simultaneously I have read everything that's ever been called worth reading by any person who's ever been called pretentious.
But that is not this world.
To be fair, I AM trying. I read literary fiction the most of any genre. I used to have a quest where I would have to read at least one classic every month, but I retired it because I typically read more than that. (Last year, for example, I read 46. And granted I have a loose definition of "classic," but still.) I tend to rate books from those two categories higher than others.
But still, we find ourselves here.
I didn't like this book. I can say there are a lot of reasons, and I can even tell the truth: I can say that the depiction of women in this was so offensive it turned around and became funny and absurd, or that this dystopian world is not nearly as prescient as 1984's, or the Handmaid's Tale's, or even goddamn The Hunger Games', and both of those would be fairly respectable criticisms that I do have.
But that isn't completely accurate.
I didn't like this because it felt silly and boring.
That's really all.
Bottom line: I'll try to be smart next time.
------------------
pre-review
either i did not care for this or i was being intellectually stimulated.
i'll figure it out later.
review to come / 2.5 stars
------------------
tbr review
personally being very brave by adding classics to my to read list
clear ur sh*t book 49
quest 22: free space
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Reading Progress
November 29, 2021
– Shelved
December 20, 2021
–
Started Reading
December 22, 2021
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-23 of 23 (23 new)
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Sydney
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Dec 19, 2021 10:29AM
Brave New World is a really fun classic, if you liked Orwell, you’ll like it!
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Sydney wrote: "Brave New World is a really fun classic, if you liked Orwell, you’ll like it!"I agree! I even ended up liking it more the 1984 or Animal Farm by Orwell. I need to read my classics shelf too
"either i did not care for this or i was being intellectually stimulated." Hmm... Perhaps you don't really care to be intellectually stimulated?
i gave it a 3 star as well and it most likely just intellectually stimulated you because it's one of those MEH classics. it is interesting if you read it from a feminist perspective though! there's no alpha women :(
Sydney wrote: "Brave New World is a really fun classic, if you liked Orwell, you’ll like it!"i preferred orwell unfortunately!!
cra-cra girl ©¬© wrote: "Merry Christmas! :)"you too!
John wrote: ""either i did not care for this or i was being intellectually stimulated." Hmm... Perhaps you don't really care to be intellectually stimulated?"that's the joke
daniel ( ͡๑ ͜ʖ ͡๑) wrote: "i gave it a 3 star as well and it most likely just intellectually stimulated you because it's one of those MEH classics. it is interesting if you read it from a feminist perspective though! there's..."so funny, this is what i ended up doing! lenina's and linda's roles really cry out for you to do so
emma wrote: "daniel ( ͡๑ ͜ʖ ͡๑) wrote: "i gave it a 3 star as well and it most likely just intellectually stimulated you because it's one of those MEH classics. it is interesting if you read it from a feminist ..."yesss. it sucks because all of these important dystopian works are so misogynistic. 1984 made me so mad. So I end up having to put aside my feelings and looking at the writing and content, ignoring the sexism or I just DNF if I am reading it not for a class. I read this one for AP Lit back in the day so I had to finish it. Do y'all know any non misogynistic dystopians from this era because I want to try them?!
emma wrote: "daniel ( ͡๑ ͜ʖ ͡๑) wrote: "i gave it a 3 star as well and it most likely just intellectually stimulated you because it's one of those MEH classics. it is interesting if you read it from a feminist ..."no literally they were dying to be alphas😂
Lindsay wrote: "emma wrote: "daniel ( ͡๑ ͜ʖ ͡๑) wrote: "i gave it a 3 star as well and it most likely just intellectually stimulated you because it's one of those MEH classics. it is interesting if you read it fro..."OMG i just saw a recommendation for a feminist dystopian and it's called "The Power" by Naomi Alderman! It's about women developing the ability to release electric shocks from their fingers, which makes them become the dominant gender :)
The strength of this novel isn’t its literature quality in the strictest sense but the ideas showed by Huxley back in 1930s. Read some essays with analysis, by Christopher Hitchens or Margaret Atwood for instance, and it will grow on You.
Axsiu wrote: "The strength of this novel isn’t its literature quality in the strictest sense but the ideas showed by Huxley back in 1930s. Read some essays with analysis, by Christopher Hitchens or Margaret Atwo..."respectfully, i'm not going to do that
honestly u shouldn't have to read scholarship on a text in order to enjoy it
Loved reading this review! I need to add more classics to my want-to-read list but think I'll skip this one. LOL
yep. i find the idea of a dystopian hedonistic society interesting, but the execution was bad. reading it was a horrible experience. it's boring, the characters are unbearable, the worldbuilding is all over the place, the infodumping is a nightmare to get through. honestly, i'm just happy to see someone disliking the same book i disliked lol
Funny, I find this book much more prescient than 1984. Our society is much more similar to Huxley's than Orwell (which doesn't even belong to him - most of 1984's critical genius comes from Zamyatin).
Idabel.ink wrote: "Maybe you are overthinking it. I read it in 6th grade when it was assigned to my big brother and it really snapped me and my views and love for dystopian sci-fi. Can you separate the heavy intellec..."you think i should think...less about what i read?
Amanda wrote: "Funny, I find this book much more prescient than 1984. Our society is much more similar to Huxley's than Orwell (which doesn't even belong to him - most of 1984's critical genius comes from Zamyatin)."interesting!
Carolina wrote: "yep. i find the idea of a dystopian hedonistic society interesting, but the execution was bad. reading it was a horrible experience. it's boring, the characters are unbearable, the worldbuilding is..."it's one of my favorite experiences < 3 shared hatred
Kaila wrote: "honestly u shouldn't have to read scholarship on a text in order to enjoy it"you're right!
Mo wrote: "Loved reading this review! I need to add more classics to my want-to-read list but think I'll skip this one. LOL"love a classic and would agree lmao
