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Not better than 1984. The world is all satisfied and at ease, although freedom is morphed and written out of existence.
The dialogue and openness of the Controller really surprised me. It showed me how a supposed dystopia like in this book could be perfectly justified for the people living in it.
Makes you think that the people living before our time might also have been horrified seeing our world today like Huxley's world horrifies us. The world he imagined with the limits of genetic engineering may not be far away.
The plot and the world is really the whole thing for the book. The characters are not too engaging. They provide just a window into this world. Still, I liked the character of the Controller.
Again, rampant misogyny, as Bernard scorns over it. But, it must not seem as such to the people living in it. Ethics and morals depend on the conditions of society.
There is an argument, like John the Savage points out, that happiness without pain is not true happiness, but that may as well change as our real world changes and the lives of humans gets better.
The part about some of the Embryos being artificially stunted to produce Epsilons and other morons was obviously cruel, although the fact that the Embryos are not discriminated against their ‘family' may redeem this practice. In fact, the words ‘family' and ‘father' and ‘mother' are downright vulgar and taboo.
Overall, a good book, although i would prefer 1984 for its character driven plot, even though I know these two books don't fall nearly into the same genre.
Fascinating. The first half is quite dry although informative.The second half really picks up when the narrator visits Lineland. And how the absence of a dimension for the king of Lineland baffles the king and analogously baffles the narrator when the sphere visits him.
Of course, abject misogyny in every land.
Really makes you think of how a three dimensional being as yourself can conceive of a four dimensional world. Also shows me how it is neigh impossible to see the existence of a fourth dimension without actually entering it.