I finished this book a few days ago and I've been trying to figure out the best way to review this without sounding like the shallow and bitter reader I am. So, naturally, now that I'm hangry, I've decided now is the best time to rant review this book.

Wow, Abby, how mature of you. Classics are supposed to be respected, and here you are, complaining about yet another one. Look, I have lowered my expectations drastically since I started taking more advanced English courses. I understand that classics are not supposed to be appealing in the same way a fantasy heist is. I understand that they are important to read. But that doesn't mean I'm going to enjoy the process.
I love dystopia as a genre, but I knew going into this book that I probably wouldn't like it. My expectations for it were drastically lowered by my disappointment towards 1984 (although I can now safely apologize to 1984 because Brave New World is its demented cousin that should never have visited the family reunion). I had multiple people warn me never to read this book.
To borrow a line I saw on the internet once, the bar was low but this book decided to limbo dance with the devil.
Well, no wonder you hated it, Abby. You didn't even give it a chance.
But I did. I'll be honest when I first started this book, I actually kind of enjoyed it. I was willing to put aside my initial disgust because I found the social commentary and the worldbuilding intriguing.
There, here you go, here are the very limited things I ended up liking about the book:
- the social commentary
- the Shakespeare references
- the fact that I finished, I can say I read this, and I once I take my test on it, I'll never have to think about it again
The social commentary was good, yes, but pretty much everything else was bad. Here, I'll give you a very brief, spoiler-free(ish) summary.
The characters: Bernard is not like other girls. Lenina is just like the other girls. Helmholtz is too smart for his own good (but give him the vibes of a lonely scholar staring longingly out the window, if that makes any sense). Linda is exactly what you would picture given her name alone. John is simultaneously the most basic dude to walk the planet and also the most interesting in a way. Henry? Irrelevant. Benito? Irrelevant. Fanny? I think you get the idea.
The plot: In the simplest terms, guy is mad that he's, like, the only virgin ever and he decides to take a girl on a vacation to a Native American reserve (how romantic) to prove that he's not defective. You think it'll escalate. You think bad things will happen. You come up with all kinds of elaborate theories. And then you're fed the most disappointing semblance of an ending that you could ever imagine.
Oh, Abby, surely you're exaggerating. Look, by all means, read it for yourself. Experience the same disappointment I did. Or just imagine walking out onto your porch, finding a box that looks like it might have a new TV, and then you open it, and inside there's a napkin. It's useful, but that doesn't mean it's what you thought it would be.

Am I glad I read Brave New World? Yes. Do I think it's an important book and a classic for a reason? Also yes. But that doesn't mean I liked it. (And you can try to change my mind all you want, but good luck with that...)