Dystopian Society discussion

I finished last night; this is my first time re-reading this since I first read it in the late 60's/early 70's. I forgot most of the book - certain things jogged my memory.
(view spoiler)[ I had forgotten the ending - it seemed to end so suddenly, and I was pounding on the right side of my Kindle screen wanting more. The press descending on The Savage seemed so "today" - exactly what would happen, even to the helicopters (what "big" event happens today without press 'copters overhead?). I'm not sure I really liked the way it ended. I'll have to mull it over more. I loved the beginning of the book, began to lose a bit of the love with the visit to the US Wilderness, really enjoyed the next part of the book with The Savage and everyone's reaction to him, and then the book kind of lost me with the prudish, religious, self-flagellation. One woman's quick impressions. I'll need to let this percolate for a while! (view spoiler)[
Looking forward to hearing other's opinions. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

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this is a spoiler so if you haven't read don't read.
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ok, so I read the book again, and it was amazing, but when I used this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_Ne..., or just search brave new world in Wikipedia, you can look at the characters and who Aldous Huxley had them represent in real history, just like Orwell did in his book Animal farm, knowing who the characters represent and the history behind them then reading the book again or just skimming through can create a whole new experience and understanding of this incredible book.
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( I hope I did the spoiler thing right)

Wow - seems we didn't have many read the book this time! Maybe it's the holidays?

I just finished reading it last night! I enjoyed the descriptions of beauty in the world in the 1st part - for me they added richness, giving reasons for compliance with the state that was deeper than in some of the more modern dystopian books.

(view spoiler)[I also enjoyed the 'face' presented by the characters later on, especially when their deeper feelings began to be described, and that this was some sort of knowledge/ feeling/ God/ love mixture.

Some of it dragged on too long for me - some of the Shakespeare particularly, and some other parts seemed just in there to shock/ provoke a reaction - that got a bit wearisome.

I felt there was lots of resonance with modern life - materialism and mediocrity at the expense of satisfaction, all wrapped up with a solid and understood set of expectations between the castes.

These are just my quick thoughts too. I totally would echo the 'percolation' comment from Jane! (hide spoiler)]

I'm looking forward to the book for next month! How do we find out about it?

ok! i recently finished and was so glad i reread it. i'm concurrently reading two other Huxley novels: Crome Yellow and Island and it's very interesting to look at his style...he's so understatedly hilarious! perhaps because he's british but his flavor of satire is unparalleled; witty, thoughtful, pointed, gently scathing, highly intelligent, philosphical without being dry or pedantic, and highly humorous...well, if you find human behavior funny that is :)

oh and i agree with Matthew above, the discussion between John and the World Controller was excellent..it was the first time i've read a dystopian novel that made me think...hmmm might not be so bad after all. of course i would want to be on the island with the malcontents but still..no war? happy people? what's a little brainwashing and total societal control ;)

Brave New World is one of my favourites. The underlying theme (one of many) of control through artificial divisions of humanity is one that I have always been fascinated with (so much so, that I am using it as the premise for my first novel, Elementals
). In Brave New World it is done through chemically/physically interfering in the fetal development stages, in Divided Kingdom, children are taken from their homes and assigned groups responding to their personality traits and in Divergent, adolescents choose their preferred group. The oversimplification of the human psyche and the strength of the divide and conquer technique (strengthened by the ever-present "us vs them" ideology) is perfect for dystopian fiction because it relates so well to the discrimination, battles and wars of today...