Island

Island by Aldous Huxley

I think I wasn't in the mood to read this.

This book had been calling me for a few years now. It was sitting on the shelf in the library, in the same spot, in it's ragged form, for years now. It looked to me like nobody had taken this book out in decades. I had read Brave New World and liked it, and recently I ran across a few references to Island. That (and a lack of other books in hand) made me borrow the book.

I knew the general idea - a Utopian island. It started out okay with a shipwreck, some talking parrots, and an introduction to a new society. An isolated society built on the principles of doing what didn't work in the rest of the world (and specifically European society).

The writing was detailed and flowery (especially the details about the flowers). So, it was a slow read. But then it got even slower when Huxley started explaining the Utopian society. It felt like a personal rant on things he didn't like, and thought he could do better with. Things like medicine, spiritual tranquility, the role of work in one's life, industrialization, Capitalism...it went from shipwreck to political theory in a few chapters. Action to political theory. I had to put the book down. It felt like Huxley was preaching, was being selfish, and not really moving the story along. Which is a bit of a let down since I had really enjoyed Brave New World. I assumed it would have been similar.

Oh well, I gave it a shot. I will say it wasn't really the writing or the story that turned me off. It was just personal taste I suppose. There were some great ideas in there. But, a lot of words too (as in huge blocks of conversation preaching about how bad things are in the world). This may be just the book for you. So, don't take my opinion and go with it, there are plenty of other great reviews to consider before mine.

I had also just come off a binge of the HBO documentary - The Anarchists. So I was probably at my brain capacity for extreme political ideas.