Book Review: Brave New World

After writing my last review of 1984, I was inspired to reread Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. In this futuristic fantasy, one that predated Orwell's, we find a gentler way for a government to maintain order. In this society, happiness is maintained through social conditioning and pleasant distraction. No one needs to be tortured or imprisoned. On the rare occasion that a person refuses to conform, they are simply sent away to live on an island.

I think the links between Huxley and Orwell are fascinating. In 1917, Orwell was a 14-year-old student in Huxley's French class. In 1932, Brave New World was published to lackluster critical reviews. In 1949, Orwell published 1984 and received a letter from his former teacher.

Essentially, Huxley writes this letter to say that his own fictional future is a better prediction than Orwell's:

"My own belief is that the ruling oligarchy will find less arduous and wasteful ways of governing and of satisfying its lust for power, and these ways will resemble those which I described in Brave New World."

For the most part, I agree. I think both authors imagine governments that waste their energy trying to exert absolute control over the population. They differ in their methods - in 1984, it's force; in Brave New World, it's drugs and brainwashing - but the two books have an awful lot in common.

Both worlds are obsessed with "orthodoxy". Both see overproduction as a problem to maintaining necessary class division. (Orwell solves this problem with perpetual war; Huxley with consumerism.) Both dismantle families and any sort of close human relationships. Both discourage any time spent on one's own. Time is filled with community activities. Books and historical records are destroyed.

Actually, it seems to me that 1984 is simply an earlier evolutionary stage than Brave New World. Force is necessary as long as people can still remember being raised in families. Once those relationships have been forgotten, the pleasant distractions of Brave New World are all they need. 

Book Review: 1984

"The best books, he perceived, are those that tell you what you know already."

                                                                                             -Winston Smith

George Orwell's futuristic (at the time) novel about a totalitarian government feels especially relevant in today's political climate where our president keeps secret "kill lists" and has claimed the right to indefinitely detain or assassinate American citizens without due process. When people describe these things as "Orwellian", they aren't far off.

With record levels of poverty and wage stagnation, America has made greater gains in wealth than any other country. Meanwhile we are in secret wars in around 100 countries. Passages in 1984 that explain the use of perpetual warfare to maintain class division and inequality were especially dog-eared:

"The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labor. War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent. Even when weapons of war are not actually destroyed, their manufacture is still a convenient way of expending labor power without producing anything that can be consumed... In principal the war effort is always so planned as to eat up any surplus that might exist after meeting the bare needs of the population."

By the third section of the book, Orwell pushes from cautionary tale into an extreme that doesn't seem to relate to our current problems. The Party maintains power for it's own sake and expends so much of it's energy to degrade and cause pain in order to control even the thoughts of the citizenry. I feel like the people in power may not care whether we are in pain, but that our pain is not their main goal. They're bound to have more free time to enjoy their power if the masses are distracted by cable and overwork.

Which reminds me of the following comparison between 1984 and A Brave New World:

Perhaps it is a mix.

Book Review: Before I Go To Sleep

The premise of this book hooked me: a woman has experienced a trauma that results in her memory being wiped out on a daily basis. Christine wakes every morning to a stranger in her bed who tells her he is her husband who has been caring for her since her accident. He shows her photos and gives her a tour of her house, then leaves for work

Eventually, Christine begins seeing a doctor in secret, writing down her daily experiences in the hopes of recovering her memory. As she reads her journal each day, she begins to find inconsistencies in the stories her husband tells her. Is he lying to her? And, if so, why?

If you're looking for a plot-driven, suspense- this might be a good choice. The plot twist at the end was something I did not see coming and I had that great moment where a book gives goosebumps on the scalp.

However, if you enjoy character-driven fiction where you connect with a story- this is not it. Perhaps by virtue of her condition, you never even get to know the main character. She doesn't remember who she is and is in a constant primal state of fear and confusion. She trusts no one and neither does the reader. None of the characters are people you understand or root for, including Christine.

In the end, I was disappointed by this read and probably would not recommend it.

Book Review: A Feast for Crows

A Feast for Crows is the fourth book in George R. R. Martin's series of novels that the HBO television series Game of Thrones is based on. Though this is not a genre I typically read, I was a huge fan of the last book, A Storm of Swords, which I reviewed here.

This installment was a bit slower. If it had been my first introduction to these characters, I might have been bored - but since I already love them, I was willing to follow them on long voyages across the sea, through the woods, and down icy mountainsides. If I had one complaint, it would be that there were so many Cersei chapters. While none of Martin's characters are wholly good or wholly bad, Cersei remains wholly unlikeable.

What I realized in this book is that Martin is a feminist. All his female characters are powerful women confronting a society that isn't ready for them to be leaders. The women are all challenging traditional gender roles- some are learning to swordfight like knights and others are trying to change the laws of inheritance so they can rule kingdoms on their own.

The next book, A Dance with Dragons, will be available in October. If you can't wait, it's already available on Kindle.

Book Review: Sunflower

It's hard for me to believe this is Cass McMain's first book. It's beautiful in it's simplicity. If you're looking for a fast-paced thriller, this isn't the book for you. If you're looking for meaty characters with regular problems, a quiet drama that will stick with you long after you put the book down, look no further.

In Sunflower, McMain has created characters who feel like real people; Michael and Jess could live next door. The story is made more vivid by the details of the area in New Mexico where they live. The dialogue is so realistic that you don't mind when it seems like what they're discussing is inconsequential. It's enjoyable just to be a fly on the wall. Of course, the brilliance of this book is that there are no inconsequential conversations. Even the most seemingly simple misunderstanding can lead to catastrophe and what isn't said - the hurt feelings, guilt, pride - weighs just as heavily.

In one scene, McMain writes: "If Jess had gone to him then, and put her arms around him, he'd have collapsed into her and told her everything. . . And then maybe everything would have turned out differently." But she doesn't, and the reader watches helplessly as this couple continues to fail each other, no matter how good their intentions.

In a matter of weeks, their contented life unravels in a series of almost mundane problems: a stressful work schedule, the pressure of someone else's expectations, a missed phone call, an argument with a delivery driver, the heart attack of an unfriendly neighbor, the decision to take in a stray cat. Things skid further and further off track and when they're righted, everything has changed.

Sunflower is a book about identity and shows that sometimes it is only when life gets hard that we find out who we are.

Monsoon Season: Interview

I only just found this interview that I gave to Cass McMain at the beginning of the summer. She asked some great questions and I got to talk about many of my favorite writing topics: genre debates, sexism, how to create characters, blogging, etc.

Cass claims to have a hard time coming up with blog ideas, but her response to Cosmo's "How to Drive Your Man Wild" was absolute genius:

"I should email him. At work. With messages about how I just got finished “touching myself” and thinking about how I can’t wait for him to ____ his ____ for me. Blank his blank? Oh, I get it: that’s code for I can’t wait for him to lose his job. (Maybe I can leave group messages for everyone at his office. I want your ___ in my ____. Then his boss can send it back filled in: I want your resignation letter in my in basket right now.)"

I am currently rereading Cass's debut novel, Sunflower, and thoroughly enjoying it. The review will be my next blog post.

A few months ago, I interviewed Cass about publication of her first book.

Book Review: To Kill a Mockingbird

This book was enjoyable the second time, but I couldn't help thinking it would never have been published in today's market. The trial isn't even mentioned until about seventy-five pages in. Until then, everything is background helping to create the picture of the innocent childhood the trial interrupts with its sobering reality of a racist community. The first quarter of the book reads like children's literature, full of descriptions of childhood games, punishments for sassing adults, building snowmen, fantastical stories created about the reclusive neighbor.

Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird was one of two books I was assigned in high school with female authors. The other was Pride and Prejudice. What struck me most on this reread was what a heavy burden falls on these two books to represent the entirety of women's experience in the world: a British lady from the 1800s and an eight-year-old American girl in the 1930s. These were the books I was given in the 1990's; these were the same books assigned a generation before.

Is it any wonder why boys grow up unable to associate female authors with universally relevant writing? Girls grow up reading a majority of male authors, required to find and discuss universal themes. Boys are very rarely asked to do this.

And are we to believe that nothing of value has been written since 1960? Are we frozen in a time that was unapologetic in its sexism? Will these be the same books assigned to children in a hundred years?

I'd love to hear what other books people were assigned in school, especially younger readers. Is this changing?