I was just thinking the other day how less and less prudent society is becoming these days, and how sexuality is much more open now than I once knew it to be. But maybe this is more about my aging than society as a whole.I finally read Brave New World after being culturally ignorant without having read it my whole life. And now I can understand the allusions so often pointed toward it - hurrah!
I can't say that I was all that blown away by the book, though that is fault of so many spin offs having come from Brave New World, no doubt. But all in all, clones in tubes and a life of duty are nothing new in this day.
One thing that did surprise me was the society of Savages. I was expecting before Bernard and Lenina's trip that these old-fashioned beings were going to be contemporary people rather than literal savages. I think perhaps this might have been a better twist...though I see how that wouldn't have corresponded with Huxley's use of John in the end.
There were reviews from the time of publication at the end of the edition I was reading that I agree with in regards to the lack of interest that is stirred for these two-dimensional characters. They are this way for a reason, I think, and that is important...but even in John, the escapist to this, there was little time to grow any sort of attachment for. He even grew to be kind of annoying, so emotional was he. He is indeed a son of Shakespearean literature.
I could use some futuristic temperature control right about now though...it is hot in Chicago. One of my most hated things.
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