Brave New World and other books like it

[Guernsey]

Has anyone read the book “Brave New World”? I am reading it right now and I am currently on chapter four, I am very impressed at how Huxley is able to disguise the dystopia of Brave new World’s London with images of flowers and rabbits but I can se the dystopia in the sense that they are stripped of any ability to choose, babies being mass produced and how everyone seem to be always the same. Of course I haven’t dove to into the book but I am hooked on it nonetheless and I am planning to finish very soon. Did read the book like Brave New World, 1984, the Giver, Stolen Voices or any book like it or if not, what do you think about the book Brave New World? I beginning to see why most people like this book so much especially when it describes the dystopia in using pleasant imagery but of course I had yet to finish the book so I do not have a full review on this story. I had yet to finish the book but I am enjoying so far along with 1984.

[anti-random]

You will eventually hate the ideas presented in brave new world. Its a good read but in the end it is sort of a disturbing reflection of our own world in a way. Huxley tries to point this out to us. My thought was that he was trying to say that we know everything; war, hate, love, etc.. and that we need it or else we become less then human and our existence becomes meaningless.

[Ledgem]

This book was presented along with others like it in our tenth grade English class. Some other titles were:

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
1984 by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Animal Farm was more of a commentary on politics (maybe communism; I don't remember exactly). 1984 is often cited these days and you've probably heard of it, but like Brave New World it examines a future where society is strictly controlled. A Clockwork Orange is about a dystopian future but I'm not sure of much more than that. Fahrenheit 451 is another take on a controlled future society, where books are illegal, "firemen" are called on to start fires (burn books), and information is tightly controlled.

You may also be interested in the upcoming videogame, Mirror's Edge, which is based off of a comic (I think). It takes place in a futuristic society where information is strictly controlled and everyone is monitored, but there are certain people who exist outside of the monitoring - these people hand-deliver messages back and forth between regular people for a price, risking detection and their lives in the process.

[yezhanquan]

Animal Farm is rather specific in nature. One can easily draw parallels to Soviet Russia.

[Mumitroll]

Animal Farm is rather specific in nature. One can easily draw parallels to Soviet Russia.

Animal Farm was clearly intended by Orwell to be a parody on Stalin's USSR. however, in the preface published much later, he remarked that many of the same traits also exist in the "free" Western societies.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
1984 by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

1984 is IMO the best of those. it is an excellent book about media propaganda and still absolutely valid today. Fahrenheit 451 is solid social criticism in a sci-fi setting.

[shelter]

Most of the most famous classic works of Dystopian literature have already been mentioned in Ledgem's post.

But alternatively, you can always try some less conventional versions which also paint quite a disturbing view of the future:

The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood (1985)
Family, by Joyce Carol Oates (in her short story collection Heat & Other Stories, 1991)
River Rats, by Caroline Sternvermer (1996)

Atwood's novel is about the role of women in a religious dystopian society of the future. It's impressive because of the way it seems to parallel politics nowadays. The short story Family by Oates is more of a first-hand view of how a family survives in an apocalypse by becoming the exact opposite of what it should be. And River Rats is actually young adult fiction, but explores the themes of how freedom in a dystopian society is achieved by a band of travelling rock musicians.

And if you're not a book person, watch Children Of Men (2004), which starred Clive Owen. It's an ironically accurate portrayal of a future society marred by racism, class divisions & violence.

[nanafan]

i liked brave new world. the only books that are similar that i can think of are 1984, animal farm that's all i can think of atm