I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this read. The first few chapters were utterly terrifying. Huxley wrote it in the 1930's and it was controversial, but I think it has more poignancy in today's society. Human conditioning and manufacturing, are we really that far away?
I will admit that I started to lose interest when the book started delving into the characters; Huxley's attention to detail was just so wonderful, but I don't think his character development... or more his making his characters sympathetic... was as good as it could have been. I like that I have a hard time figuring out the main character. Was it Bernard? Was it John?
Huxley has a very engaging writing style that I appreciated. In the beginning, he mentions a lot of detail about the whole human conditioning situation and it still manages to be interesting!
Apart from the beginning, I can safely say that one of my favorite parts is when John, the savage, is talking to the director near the end. The director talks about how incorporating old things (the Bible, Shakespeare etc) wouldn't have any effect on the population because they, first of all, wouldn't understand it, and secondly, they wouldn't be interested. I feel like that's where mission trips and missions generally fall short. You introduce them to this new information and experience and then you just leave them to figure it out for themselves. That's for a different entry though...
Back to Brave New World...
Overall impressions:
Really enjoyed it, was absolutely terrified, didn't associate with any of the characters, find myself connecting it to situations I find myself in, and would consider reading another of his books.
I would recommend it because it is short, it's easy to read, and it's extremely poignant.