Lesley S. reviewed on 2/1/2009 + 50 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Less about "The Future" and more of a meditation on the nature of happiness. First published in 1932 and set in a "Utopia" 600 years later, all the societal structures and rules we live by now have been reversed or replaced entirely: human eggs are fertilized in labs, and developed like lab specimens into babies with predestined castes and occupations; there are no traditional families and the word "mother" is akin to a bad swear word or the punchline of a scatalogical joke; promiscuity is the only acceptable form of interaction because "everyone belongs to everyone"; and mass-produced consumption is the prevailing order. The overriding goal: removing what makes us unhappy in favor of anesthetized social stability.

When a human born of an actual mother is introduced to this "Civilization" and meets the World Controller who rules Utopia, the "Savage" learns that philosophy, religion, literature, and passion are banned because they make the natives uncomfortable and therefore restless, which results in social instability. "But I don't want comfort," he protests. "I want God. I want poetry. I want real danger. I want freedom. I want goodness. I want sin." "In fact then," the Controller responds, "you're claiming the right to be unhappy."

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