This book totally gives me the heebie jeebies. Set in this futuristic society, humans are scientifically mass produced rather than reproduced naturally in families. There are no families at all, actually. The term and concept of "family" is shunned as scandalous. Because the people are produced this way, the population is easily maintained (limited, rather), which promotes the overall societal peace. Another contributor to this "peace" is the fact that soma, which is a hallucinogenic drug, is given freely and encouraged to be taken. High people generally tend to be pretty compliant. That much is true no matter what the century is. Sex is also encouraged, but only recreationally. There is a repetitive mantra of "everyone belongs to everyone else" within the society that makes it permissive for any man to have any woman he so desires, and vice versa. The soma prevents emotional attachment in such encounters.
Comprehending the construct of the society itself is exhausting and mentally taxing. Intertwined with the cultural parameters is the story of a man named Bernard. Bernard is a guy who has taken a preference to one of the girls. This is forbidden, of course, so everyone Bernard shares this with just shoves more soma down his throat. Eventually Bernard and the girl take a trip to a village operating outside the rules of their society, and they witness shocking situations between the people, such as a play which suddenly turns to the mob beating of a young boy. Bernard begins to question the structure of their world, and the result is a ripple effect ending with more soma and recreational sex.
In short, the book seems rather pointless on the whole. Even as I attempt to present a brief summary on the work, I find that it is difficult to synthesize the story because so much of it is...well, ridiculous.
And I hated every word of it.
Brave New World (Alduous Huxley)
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