Huxley's Brave New World is a good companion piece to 1984 if you haven't already read it, goon. They're similar on surface level but have two very different viewpoints when you get down to it. I always preferred Huxley's book personally, it just seemed to have more in common with the world we live in now. Orwell was concerned that the truth would become suppressed and censored, whereas Huxley was worried that the truth would become irrelevant. Orwell worried about books and records being banned while Huxley worried that there would be no need to ban them since no one would want to pick up and read them anyway. 1984 is about how the things we fear and hate will destroy us. Brave New World is about how our lusts will be the end of us.
Different shades, but there are some nuances in the latter book that feel surprisingly relevant, especially how people are born into predetermined roles where the whole purpose of their existence is to maintain a functional society. Society is not something that exists to better people's lives; on the contrary, the purpose of people's lives is to optimise the economy, and no one's really sure why, so in-between they take lots of drugs and have plenty of emotionally detached sex and reduce every human experience to a pleasing chemical reaction in the brain.
Bosscielny wrote:
Klaus wrote:
Ah! Well, let me know what you think about. It might be a little difficult to get into unless you're familiar with his style, but you really should read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle too regardless. It's a stunning book.
Back into reading after a bit of a hiatus.
Sorry to reply to an 8 year old post, but after wrapping up, and loving, The Savage Detectives a couple of weeks ago, I thought I would explore some Murakami, and chose The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.
Almost half way through and loving every minute of it so far. Can’t wait to see where it goes from here.
Did you like the rest of the book? I reread it last month and it was as good as I remembered it. Definitely feels like Murakami's masterpiece.
