Hey i am reading brave new world for school. Is it the book like the show? Or is it modified?
yes and no. the show took a lot of elements from the book, but they certainly did modify it quite a bit. these are the most significant changes i can remember, consider these a heads up for how the book will differ:
cjack60 is not a character in the book. the epsilons aren’t really all that significant in the book to begin with, if i remember correctly. they’re kind of just... there.
lenina doesn’t have as much character development. she’s a little one-note in the book, fair warning.
helm is a guy in the book. they gender-swapped the character for the show. (same goes for mustafa; i believe it’s actually spelled “mustapha” in the book)
the end of the book is a lot darker than that of the show. i won’t spoil what happens for you, but since you watched the show first, you’re probably gonna wind up disappointed and/or saddened by how the book ends.
also, with the book being written in the 1950s, there are quite a few almost racist elements to it that the show fixed in its adaptation. the savagelands is a savage reservation, so it’s very much like a native american reservation, and might borderline demonize/put down their rituals. you’ll also see an “n” word pop up a few times throughout the book. not that “n” word, but certainly something close to it and not all that better.
the sex in the book isn’t nearly as explicit or attractive as the show makes it seem. it’s a lot more cringey and awkward and while i think it might still be implied that same-sex couplings happen in the universe (i’m 100% sure on that, it’s been a few years since i last read the book), they’re hardly shown so the focus is a lot more on male/female relations.
oh! also, there’s no indra. the book is from the 50s, so they really couldn’t imagine computers, let alone AI. i don’t even think those contact lenses are in the book, i think the castes are all indicated by the clothes people wear.
basically, i would say that if the show was your initial introduction into this world, you’ll probably wind up disappointed by the book as it’s very dated, a little depressing, and quite a bit cringey at times. i read it first, a while before the series came out (i remember i wound up reading it a second time in 2017 for my senior english class, and that was around the time they first announced the series, though obviously it took a while before i got to see it), so i actually really liked it, at least because i found it much more interesting than most of the other “classics” i had to read in school.
assuming you also like dystopian stuff like i do, you may like it too! but don’t expect it to be as good as the show. you’ll definitely be disappointed if you set your expectations that high.
but do let me know what you think of it when you’re done or as you read it! i’m curious to see how people will react to it after watching the show first.
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