Category: Unit 2: Utopias & Dystopias

In this novel by Aldous Huxley, we are submerged to a futuristic society called the World State. This revolves around science, pleasure and efficiency. While reading this novel, something that I found very interesting was the constant theme of happiness. Throughout this novel we can see how the stability of society is dependent on the happiness of the people. For Mustapha Mond, a Controller, happiness is one of his top priorities. Therefore if there is unhappiness, the system would come to a crash. They achieve this by doing three things that are crucial. First, physiological conditioning. Meaning that people are made to be suited to their jobs and not aim for anything else than what they are given. Second, through the promotion of sex and the termination of families and relationships, ensuring that no one will ever face unreciprocated emotions. Third, whatever minor inconvenience can be solved by just taking some Soma, which is a drug that makes everything go away. These three methods are widely successful in the World State. Everything seems fine and everyone is more importantly, happy. However, I still can’t shake the question, at what cost does this happiness come? This is something that is explored throughout the story, and we can see how it greatly affects society as we see that not everyone is exactly happy.

In Aldous Huxley Brave New World, we are submerged to a futuristic society called the World State. This revolves around science and efficiency. The director is giving a tour, and Henry is explaining the process of heat conditioning for embryos that are destined to become steel workers and miners in the tropics.

 

“And that”, put the director sententiously ,”that is the secret of happiness and virtue-liking what you’ve got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny”. (pg.12)

According to the Director and to the principles of Fordist society, happiness is conditioned acceptance of your circumstances. However, he fails to mention the fact that each persons “unescapable social destiny” is chosen by an authority figure. This quote can help us understand that at the end of the day his world view discounts the possibility of human choice.

To be totally honest, it’s hard for me to say that I really enjoyed this book. As a reader, a lot of things about this book were just really odd to me, and I don’t really see the appeal to the book, at least for myself. I didn’t really understand how the society that everyone lived in was a ‘utopia’, due to a number of large factors. The first one would be that no one has any family members. To me especially, it seems crazy that a society where no one has any family would be considered a ‘utopia’ by any stretch, mainly because a lot of my world revolves around my family. I do know that this depends for a lot of people, as everyone has different relationships with those people. However, for me, most of what I do is with my family. If I’m going skiing, it’s with my family. If I’m going on a vacation, it’s with my family. If I’m going on a road trip, it’s going to be with my family. You get the point. A lot of what I do is with my family, and I like it that way. If I had no family like in the society of BNW, I’d be left not really knowing what to do next.

The second factor would be the amount of sexual elements in their society. While I understand that since no one has any family members and that sex is only for recreation, the whole concept is disgusting. Little children who are just starting to put a picture together of the world playing sexual games with each other is literal insanity at best, but this being part of a utopia is just on another level for me. Flipping through the pages of this book I would be thinking to myself: “Could this be any worse?” I’d then flip to the next page and I would go “Actually yes, somehow they made this even worse!” The final factor would be the genetic modification of humans in this society. I wasn’t really a fan of the fact that people were artificially bred into specific classes of society. The fact that people are predetermined to be in a certain class before they even get started just doesn’t sit right with me. What happened to working your way up to becoming a manager of a massive corporation through hard work ethics and determination? While Epsilons might be just content being janitors and street cleaners, it seems wrong to predetermine a newborn to be one for the rest of their life. Despite the fact that I wasn’t really a fan of the book, I did find the societies’ usage of hypnopedia interesting. It would be cool to see some sort of technology arise using this practice. Overall, Brave New World wasn’t my favourite book in the world, and I personally didn’t enjoy it that much.

Reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley I had many conflicting emotions, both fascinating and unsettling. As this book raises countless important issues around being yourself, having personal freedom, and what we give up to make life more simple and enjoyable, it’s a type of book that will stick with you forever. The story’s discussion on human training, as people are unaware they lost their freedom and have been conditioned to accept their lifestyles, unsettlingly, compared to our own real world it is greatly similar to countless people in media or in our daily lives. Huxley’s universe although extreme from the very first chapter, is yet also quite realistic on how our environment can shape our thoughts and desires so easily. Nonetheless, my attention was most drawn to the way Huxley’s protraits how moral ideals are placed onto children and if parents if fully witnessed their own children being programmed would beginn to doubt the system or countine as normal. I have learned to value the messy parts of real life and how different my personal world be if it was more like in Brave New World. Lastly, this book premotes people to explore investigation into thier lives and systems they may or may not know they are in themselves which I loved reading.

Brave new world is a book about a dystopia where people are all happy, but no-one is free. The story centers around three or four characters. One of them, Bernard, is very unhappy with his current situation and is quickly losing his station amongst society because of how much time he spends alone. he is unhappy because people keep talking about how short he is. this makes him increasing angry at people, in general. I think I like Berend the best because of how he doesn’t like the system. At the end of the book, I wondered about the other people on the island and how they got there. What are their stories? Who are they? It feels like this book should have a sequel.

Reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley was a strange and thought-provoking experience. On the surface, it has elements of a love story-Lenina and John’s connection could’ve been romantic- but it’s clear their relationship was never really about love in the traditional sense. Lenina, conditioned by the World State, doesn’t truly understand love or individuality, while John, raised outside of it, sees love as something more profound and sacred. Their clashing worldviews made their “relationship” feel more like a tragic misunderstanding than a genuine romance.

The Shakespeare references, especially John’s constant quoting near the end, added so much depth to the story. The Tempest‘s “brave new world” quote perfectly captures the irony of the society-what seems like utopia is actually a nightmare. Shakespeare’s works are filled with themes of love, tragedy, and human complexity, which are absent in the sterile, controlled society of the World State. John’s obsession with Shakespeare felt like his desperate attempt to hold on to a world that valued passion and individuality, but it also made him painfully incompatible with Lenina and the society around him.

In the end, the story left me wondering if true love and deep emotion can exist in a world that prioritizes stability and conformity over humanity. Brave New World is both chilling and heartbreakingly relevant even if I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wished, not exactly being my cup of tea.

At first, I didn’t really like Brave New World. Honestly, I found it overly sexual and hard to connect with and I couldn’t quite understand why this was Huxleys idea of a “futuristic/dystopian society”. But as I kept reading, I started to see how much of it reflects issues and actual topics in our own society and I couldn’t help but unsee the parallels made. The characters in BNW keep talking about the problems and stress caused by interpersonal relationships and families and even though I don’t agree with this negative view (because I believe that family, friends and love are necessary), I do think that personal relations cause many problems (fights, domestic violence, divorce, etc.). So it got me thinking: What if everybody belonged to everybody and there was no such thing as relationships between people? Would our world be more peaceful or would we all feel lonely? What is it even that we crave from relationships and love? Is it the feeling of being loved or just lust? Sometimes I found myself confused and almost scared by the possibilities of a certain future that Huxley describes. Even though everything that happens in BNW is made up, I believe that there is some truth to it.

A passage that really stood out to me was Mustapha Mond’s speech to the Savage towards the end of the book. It honestly made me rethink my first impression of Brave New World and left me with a lot to think about. The plot twist, that “the most important” world leader in the story is a rebel and actually opposed to the governement, truly surprised me. I had thought that nobody in the new world (especially not the leader) would acknowledge or even study different types of literature, governments, religions, societies and science, because they were all illicit or simply forgotten. And this conversation connected the society of the World State, which seems incredibly dystopian, with our ‘normal’ world and society, which made me question the impossibility of a society like the World State. What if we actually aren’t that far from collapsing into such a regime?

Mond’s speech about giving up science, art and freedom for stability hit me hard. Especially because he talks about his love and passion for science, which he decided to give up for the good of the World State. That idea felt hearbreaking to me. Science is supposed to be about curiosity and pushing bounderies, but in the World State, it’s just another thing they control to keep everyone “safe”. It made me think about how much of our individuality and creativity we might already be sacrificing for the sake of comfort today. Aren’t we all already victims of it? As small kids we learn how to suppress our creativity and ideas in order to follow a set of rules and this carries on with us through our lives.

As I have mentioned, what surprised me the most was how much of what Mond said felt true, not just in the book’s dystopia but in real life. The World State prioritises happiness over freedom and while I don’t completely agree with that, I could see the parallels to our modern society. So many people, myself included, sometimes choose distractions – like scrolling through social media or binge-watchng shows – over dealing with uncomfortable truths or emotions. We will always choose momentary happiness over long-term comfort and freedom. It’s scary to think how easy it is to fall into a version of that shallow and controlled happiness.

 

In the book “Brave New World” (by Aldous Huxley), we are introduced to a concept/theoretical future society, which brings up many questions and feelings along the way, for example, the feeling of unease, especially towards the end of the book. I have personally got this feeling because at the end of the book the “Savage” breaks the laws of this society; Everybody lives without knowing what pain, reality, or freedom is (at least not in its full extent) and when the news spread to London about the Savage I was even afraid that he was going to be captured, held in some sort of institution and forcefully treated so that he would forget about his wills (drugged). Along with the feeling of unease came the feeling of empathy, as the people didn’t understand the full concept of reality, they came to his house on the hill, bothering him, and leading him to commit suicide in his home; that last part especially gave me chills as not only was I not expecting him to commit suicide, but I thought he was going to move to another place, so seeing him do that to himself was rather disturbing. Going back to the beginning of the book, I was disgusted at society’s standards, but also I was pretty interested in the structure of the aforementioned society and how it worked on the inside. To avoid a society like this I believe it is right for us to balance our life between controlled and democratic governments; this means that while the people have power and may always vote out/ kick out the Leaders who become to controlling, and make sure that the government always supports their ideas, but it is also important for us to understand that the labour that the lower classes did may be done by robots, meaning we may have a good society – with all of the freedom and will – while being modern and efficient. Moving forward, I have personally had a couple of questions circle my mind throughout this book, for example; Why are all of the main characters named with russian names or names that correlate to russian people? (for example: Lenina, Bernard Marx), how did society become like this? Why was the use of drugs condoned and perhaps even encouraged by the government? This book turned out to be a roller coaster of feelings for me as I believe it not only proposes insane ideas, however it also plays out a whole melo-drama at the end which was sad to read about. I want to say that although the book had some disgusting moments its overall motive was understood by me and it makes sense on how it is relevant to us today; that is just one example of a modern world, and who knows if the future will be worse.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley presented an interesting take on a vision of the future. However, despite the interesting ideas, and world-building, I did not enjoy the book very much. The author’s writing style did not resonate with me. In addition, I did not enjoy the sexual aspect of the world. It was understandable that the sexual aspect was a very crucial part of the story, and that by the author emphasizing sexual themes to create a dystopian society drastically different from our own, It would make it much more dystopian and faraway from our society. This shock value added to the dystopian feel of the story. However, I did not care for it. Though I must admit, it is a thought provoking book, It raised many questions for me, such as: if society reached this state, would it be reversible in any amount? Could it be possible to revert back into viviparous days? Or would society continue to spiral further into dystopia? I also think it’s interesting to consider how much our upbringing and environment determine our eventual outcomes. 

There were aspects I enjoyed. I rather liked the ending. I liked the thought that there was only one man who did not fit anywhere. He had been outcast and observed as if an animal in a cage at the zoo. He belonged to no place and lived in a grey area. I imagine three stripes, the left one being the savage reservation, the right one being the “civilized” society, and then John in the middle. All by himself. Perhaps the line has bars that act as the windows for people to glare through and make a mockery out of him. That’s how I visualized it.

 It could be said that John fell into the power of the World State’s conditioning. He participated in the orgy, ingested soma, and subsequently commited suicide, demonstrating the struggle to overcome the World State’s conditioning. That in particular, made me consider our reality and the conditioning we receive at schools that will affect us till the end. How is it any different? The values and behaviours of the people in the Brave New World seemed completely normal to them, they were considered to be civilized. What’s the difference between us and them? The values and beliefs that school reinforces, society also calls us civilized when we follow those values. If a John did come into our reality would he meet the same fate?

I did enjoy the aspect of soma as well, that drugs were necessary for the upkeep of happiness and it was one of the only times I could make a connection between their world and ours. But overall, The book left me wanting more. I think the book was an interesting experience, that I have learnt something from. And I am happy to have ventured out of my reading comfort zone. 

 

Aldous Huxley book, Brave New World, left me with mixed feelings; it was both interesting and uncomfortable. It’s one of the books that stays in your mind because it asks big questions about being yourself, having freedom, and what we give up to make life easier.

One of the most interesting parts of the story is how people are trained. They have been socialized to accept their lives and therefore, for the most part, do not even know that they have lost their freedom. It made me reflect on how our world influences us: ads, schools, and traditions mold the way we think and what we want. Huxley’s world is extreme in a way, yet close to reality somehow.

The other thing that caught my attention is how they used to teach the kids moral values through hypnopedia.  I belive this wouldn’t have worked in real life because these running nurses would have eventually found out that all those values taught are not real. They may have even questioned the system themselves and lost faith in it if they saw kids being programmed instead of learning naturally.

I also felt sorry for John, the “Savage.” He wants a life with deeper meaning, but in the end, he feels hopeless. His story shows that people need challenges and purpose to feel alive. A life with no problems might seem nice, but it can feel empty. This reminded me of times when I’ve grown the most by facing hard things instead of avoiding them.

Eventually, Brave New World taught me to appreciate those aspects of real life-that were imperfect and disorderly. The world in this novel is frightening because it does not seem impossible. It was a call for the preservation of our freedom to think and feel and decide-even to decide things which are not easy. This book doesn’t ask only “What if?” but “Is it worth it?” and gives food for finding your own answer.

If I were to rate this book from 1-10, I would rate it -13/10 (I’m being generous). This book was DEFINETLY not for me. The reason why I didn’t like the book ‘All Quiet On The Western Front’ was because I just didn’t find it interesting. When it comes to ‘Brave New World’ I’m just left dumbfounded and wondering WHO THE HELL COULD ACTUALLY ENJOY A BOOK LIKE THIS?! WHO WOULD EVEN WRITE THIS THING AND BRING IT TO LIFE?! So, my curiosity got the best of me and I decided to do my research. Oh my, my, my the things I have discovered. This book is a popular book… to be banned. I’ll just end with that because I’m supposed to talk about my personal opinion and not mention anything from google (I broke that rule. Whoops!), so allow me to get back on track. I found this book stupid and if it weren’t for being forced into reading this book, I would’ve never touched it, never looked at it, not know about it’s existence, and I would’ve been happy… living my nice innocent life. At the moment, I dnf this book, but I’m getting there. Even when I will finish it, I don’t think my opinion will change.

If this book had a different story, different characters, different author, different cover, different name, and ENTIRELY different events, then I would’ve loved this book and maybe even read it twice. I don’t want to say everything bad about this book, but it left me no choice I COMPLETELY LOATHE THIS BOOK! It should’ve come with a warning. In my opinion, Aldous really wasted such a good title on such a terrible piece. I don’t want to say everything bad about the author, so I won’t. He’s creative. I’ll give him that. Not really in a good way, but still. I mean, his writing style wasn’t bad. It could be more clear, but I’d say I understood it well and the way it was written made it interesting. Especially how the text painted a picture in my head (most of the scenes in the book made this a bad thing). I would love for Aldous to write a book about literally anything else. For my sake and everyone else’s. If I were to recommend the book ‘Brave New World,’ I would recommend it to no one because it would make me sound insane. Right after someone asks me, “What is this book even about?” I can already see myself making a ‘I’m screwed face.’

If you want to keep your psyche protected, listen to my advice and DO NOT READ BRAVE NEW WORLD!

Brave New World By Aldous Huxley, is an “intriguing” book, to say the least, and this is not in a good way. Personally, I did not enjoy brave new world. I felt like it went overboard in the overall themes of sex, and this made the author seem controversial and “strange”. Starting off, this book went “overboard” with the ideas of sex, The whole point of the book right from the get-go was that it took place in a society where sexual thoughts and sex in general were frowned upon, considered bad, and reproduction was automated. But throughout the book we see several moments that disprove this, For example, early on in the book, we hear some people say that nurse Linda is “charming”, in a sexual way. Yet this should never have happened due to the whole idea that sexual thoughts and ideas are considered bad. This pattern is seen consistently throughout the book. This makes the reader think that Aldous Huxley is a man with consistent “sexual urges” that cant seem to control them in his writing. To add on to this pattern of going overboard with sex in the story, at one moment, the author visualizes children “playing with each other”, in a sexual way. This is a detail that none of us needed to see, and makes us think that the author may be rather controversial. I don’t know if this has changed in the “future” of this story, but I don’t think children are usually able to feel sexual pleasure until they are 10 at minimum, and in this story it is suggested they are much younger than 10. I will leave it up to the reader of this personal response to take away from that what they can. In my opinion, this book would have been more enjoyable if the author included less sexual themes, but didn’t omit them fully from the story. I think the saying: “Less is more”, is something that the author could’ve taken into account, and I believe it would’ve drastically improved his book.

Overall, I did not enjoy this book, and it could have been better if Aldous Huxley included less “sexual” themes, because this work of literature made by him makes Huxley seem like a man who cant control his sexual urges.

 

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley got me feeling a little bit of discomfort but it also got me thinking about the modern path of society. This society is Huxleys vision of a extremely controlled, technologically higher world where the elimination of individuality instead of group unity is both unsettling and strange. This novel made me think and reflect on ways which our own world and society relies on technology to control and make our lives, from using social media platforms to using AI to do our work for us, and how these inventions could impact the real connections and values from a true person.

The differences between Benard, Lenina, and Johns personalities fascinated me. The fact that in the novel Benard felt lonely in a town and society where everyone is supposed and expected to fit in made me think of how many of us in different way these days most of the time feel that we don’t fit in with what and how the society expects. Lenina stands for the risks of seeking happiness without thinking or emotional detail. Her life is consistently pleasant although it is quite obvious that she doesnt feel fulfilled with her life. John although his exposure to a higher “natural” life is destroyed by the society he becomes apart of. Johns situation seemed to be example of the impossible issue between independence and social pressure.

Huxleys study of how learning and technology potentially could influence some human behaviour was very confusing. There are some worries about the trade off between freedom and happiness because of the way that the government uses soma to keep all the people full of happiness and to remain calm while preventing them from ever having and experiencing a genuine sad emotion. it made me question wether if we actually live in a better society where effectiveness and comfort are are valued more than personal freedom and emotional detail.

Overall, Brave New World is a cautionary story emphasizing the risks of disregarding independence, critical thinking, and personal independence, instead of social peace and temporary happiness. Although I thought this book was good I think that it is not something I would read on my own because it is not the type of style of reading I like but I would recommend this book to those who are interested in science and books about mystery.

‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley is a strange and controversial book revolving around two characters; Bernard and John. This book is not only banned in many countries, but it is also banned in Canada. Personally, I did not like ‘Brave New World’ for a variety of reasons, most of which can be backed up by the fact that in order to move along, very bad topics and scenes are brought up for what reason? The problem is, I do not see the author putting them in for the sake of addressing them or for the character to overcome it, maybe not even for the sake of bringing awareness. I see why people (and many) were triggered by this book, and reasonably as well. Huxley kind of normalizes the use of these bad topics in his book, and it worries me.

My main problem is this: the book is (reasonably) banned in Canada, but not only do we have access to it, we are reading a book that contains a sense of normalization of slight CP, SA, drugs, and etc. I find myself wondering, was this even allowed? And also, the end is very disturbing, it moved very fast and, well… that happened. If we absolutely had to read this book, I’d rather it be in the older grades. I’d also like to understand why Huxley wrote the book like this, and what gave him the thought it would be so immature? The characters in this book feel like they’re written like children, or maybe that’s just because this is such a controversial book.

On a positive note, it does give us an idea that people during Huxley’s time really were dreaming of flying cars, or helicopters, or… whatever it is they drive. I honestly don’t know. But, truthfully, this book makes me question a lot: why did Huxley feel the need to put such topics in? And how, if anything, did their society come up with the though that there is no use for old things? Why do we change POV? Why was the book overall written like this, and why did Huxley choose to go down the path he did? Is there even any reasoning behind the book? It’s hard for me to believe so, but it’s also hard for me to believe that the work was written just to fulfill a twisted thought or fantasy. It’s hard to come to terms with anything in this book, let alone the book itself.

As a side note, shouldn’t we be reading Romeo and Juliet? And I wonder why this book was even allowed to be shown to grade 10’s. It’s just adds to the unappealing-ness of this book, when you realize we’re reading this at 15… reading about a book thought to be the future, a future where drug abuse, child… stuff, and other disgusting things are normalized and accepted into society. Where everyone, in a sense, is brainwashed.

I thought the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley was an interesting book and I had never read a utopia/dystopia before. It makes me think about whether the world Huxley describes will be our future and what the positives and negatives about that could be. I personally think that I would not want to be in a world where nothing bad ever happens and where people can not express their feelings how they should be expressed. Just like John, I would want real danger, and books, and other suppressed items. Brave New World is like the quintessence of perfect, but I do not agree with the system. Children in the book are taught to hate books and nature by hypnopaedia and infant conditioning meaning that they will never (not like get a choice though) learn about the past. I did not like that the females in the book were being treated as if they were objects which makes me think that their world is not advancing in that way, but degrading. The Savage, as John is called in the book, also holds some rudeness since he does things that the new society disapproves of, such as reading, which seems absurd. For being someone different, you are considered a weirdo or as Huxley puts it, a savage. I think the World State seems to be built upon lies but it is unclear what the lies and truths are. I think Huxley makes us sympathise with some character, such as John, but not with others. He writes about John in an empathetic way in a way we can understand because John is most like us which allows readers to understand him better than the other characters. The last few chapters in the book were focused on John living by himself and trying to become a better person again, but unfortunately people from the World State find him and bother and tease John to the extent that he lynched himself. These last couple chapters built more empathy towards John for the readers because we got to know him better, even though he was committing self-harm during the process.

Overall, Brave New World was an interesting book about a future society that I do not agree with, and I found parts of the book that I was not comfortable reading about which I think should not be mandatory to read in school.

Reading Brave New World made me feel curious and worried. In brave new world the society is ruled by technology and rules. People in this book are happy because they are basically forced to be. This make me think about the amount of dependency we have for technology this days and that it could go that far. The book made me think that we could be losing our individuality and even maybe our freedom without noticing.

Something that stood out to me all through the story is how the people use the drug “soma” in this story. It reminded me of how people use drugs and social media like an escape from their problems kinda how the characters used soma. This helped me reflect on the importance of not avoiding our problems and challenges and confront them instead of finding an escape in things like social media and drugs like some people do in real life. Another thing that had an impact on me was how relationships in the book were really superficial and shallow. How strange it is to me that families don’t exist and that the characters shouldn’t have deep connections with other characters. This made me reflect on the importance of taking care of our loved ones and paying more attention to them rather than to technology and work. It made me remember how important connections with other people are.The character I liked most was John the savage, because his character felt the most human to me, because he didn’t fit into the rules and the controlling of his world and wanted a life the truly meant something rather than a shallow one with no connections and true feelings. His final made me sad.

I think brave new world is a good book to reflect on changed our world in facing, although is not the type of book I like to read, it pushed on my boundaries and talked about many topics I’m not comfortable with.

Brave New World written by Aldous Huxley, provoked controversial thoughts within me. Standing at one side, I liked the book for its futuristic palette including the Greek alphabet to characterize humans (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon). But on the other hand, I really despised the constant sex throughout the book. it was a bit much, although I understand that sex throughout movies, shows, books, and games, can be used to show a strengthened relationship, this just seemed overused and I really hated it, especially the children in chapter three learning about it and running around naked. I can never get that out of my head. I would be fine reading a book that had hints of it and light sprinkles of intimacy but having a book revolving around sex seems overwhelming. Apart from all this, I liked the format of everything about the book. The way Aldous Huxley changed the year from ACE (After Common Era), to AF (After Ford) really shows his growth in imagination. His indifferent idea of happiness also reflects on his wide imagination, instead of superpowers or being a kid getting whatever you want, he drifted towards something a little more… personal. The book really struck the thought of what the future could be like as well. Technically, Aldous Huxley did write about a Utopia with happiness through physical intimacy, and it strikes the thought, what if the government actually allowed this? Would Huxley be right or would this provoke other dangers within a couple? Mainly what scares me is the control others would have over us, people in power would literally have the control to manufacture humans as they like, and if one of them decides to sabotage it, the world goes to hell. A BIG thing that I think about though is truly, is this a utopia or a dystopia? Because the only reason for it being a utopia is the pleasures of society, literally, but it could be characterized as a dystopia due to the separation of old and new society, freedom, and some old knowledge is suppressed to keep order, and soma is used to basically stop you from having an intimate relationship with someone (some might call it mind-control or something). Overall I would say that this book is like a 5-10, I like the format of society, and the intense thoughts it can heighten about the world today, BUT, the repetitive mention and acts of physical intimacy is really irritating.