I was really disappointed in this book.  Orwell did a much better job.  The book was rather monotonous and predictable.  I think the difference between 1984 and this book for me was action.  1984 has more descriptive action that contributes to a sense of foreboding.  Brave New World tries to do this with dialogue...a lot of dialogue.  I grew rather tired of the orations from the characters; probably because Shakespeare is often quoted.  I found myself waiting for a twist or closer approximation to today's news, but didn't see any of these.  You could argue the connection between the book and today's headlines is the increased focus of pleasure and distraction, but the means to do this in BNW is not as closely aligned as it is in 1984.  Overall, it isn't a bad book.  It's just not the mind-blowing story I was led to believe.
I was really disappointed in this book. Orwell did a much better job. The book was rather monotonous and predictable. I think the difference between 1984 and this book for me was action. 1984 has more descriptive action that contributes to a sense of foreboding. Brave New World tries to do this with dialogue... a lot of dialogue. I grew rather tired of the orations from the characters; probably because Shakespeare is often quoted. I found myself waiting for a twist or closer approximation to today's news, but didn't see any of these. You could argue the connection between the book and today's headlines is the increased focus of pleasure and distraction, but the means to do this in BNW is not as closely aligned as it is in 1984. Overall, it isn't a bad book. It's just not the mind-blowing story I was led to believe.