Aldous Huxley: Island

Hi again

I couldn’t resist and started reading this the moment I got it.
Island by Aldous Huxley has 286 pages and I bought it at De Slegte.

“In Island, his last novel, Huxley transports us to a Pacific island where, for 120 years, an ideal society has flourished. Inevitably, this island of bliss attracts the envy and enmity of the surrounding world. A conspiracy is underway to take over Pala and events begin to move when an agent of the conspirators, a newspaperman named Faranby, is shipwrecked there. What Faranby doesn't expect is how his time with the people of Pala will revolutionize all his values and -- to his amazement -- give him hope.”

The ideas Huxley puts forth as the basis of his Utopian Island of Pala are profound and based on thorough thinking and a great knowledge.
Even though we all know it’s not possible, it is a pleasure to read about this possibility and to embark on a daydream/deep thinking about it. How would I organize it? What is important in my opinion? What part has science in it? What roles should work and industry play in daily life?
There isn’t much of a plot however, so don’t read it expecting that. A fault I made at the beginning of the novel. It took me some time to get into the novel because of these wrong expectations.
What you can expect is a novel that will make you think about our society, the way people behave and the way we treat our world.
This novel is almost an essay or a frame for Huxley’s ideas about his ideal society. It is a succession of discussions or descriptions about this society and how it works.
The great thing is; Huxley makes it seem possible. So why doesn’t it exist? According to Huxley it’s because we don’t want to make it work.

A very thought-provoking novel for everyone who’s in the mood for something like this.
Definitely recommended.

Happy reading!
Helena