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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic waiting for revival,
By Chosroes III (NC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Eyeless in Gaza (Library Binding)
True, its didacticism inevitably keeps it from being considered a purely novelistic masterpiece. And some transitions-- like Anthony's committment to helping Mark in the revolution-- are awkward. But amongst the non-canonical novels of the 20th Century, "Eyeless in Gaza" is one of the very finest. Huxley's bold manipulation of chronology-- the backwards-and-forwards movement through the early decades of the century-- gives the book a symphonic undertow; it seems all at once breathless and grandiose. Huxley's psychological acumen has never been sharper: Helen is one of his most persuasive and complex female characters, and Anthony's spiritual journey is convincingly elaborate. Not only does "Eyeless in Gaza" have Huxley's trademark highbrow comedy, but a genuine sense of pathos (rarely does Huxley indulge so much sincere emotion in his characters). And the author's eye is particularly cinematic here: the dog dropped from the aeroplane is one of his most surreally brilliant images. This novel is one of the most compelling attempts to give comprehensive expression to the spiritual condition of European humanity between the Wars, and easily deserves to hit a few reading lists and syllabi.
25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Life of Meaning over Nonsense,
By
This review is from: Eyeless in Gaza (Mass Market Paperback)
Fascinating novel. Although I've only read two other Aldous Huxley novels to date ("Brave New World" with "Revisted", & "Island"), I have to say that "Eyeless in Gaza" has piqued my burgeoning interest in Huxley's other works. In many ways, it's a strange and difficult novel. It is composed of 54 disordered chapters dealing with various aspects of Anthony Beavis' life between his youth in the early 1900's through his mid-forties in the 1930's. The novel begins in medias res, and each chapter is a potential entry point providing glimpses of Anthony's life at crucial moments in the present, past, and future (depending on where you start). Time is tweaked here in much the same way as in Faulkner's, "The Sound and the Fury" where the storyline is divided amongst four people's parallel lives. Huxley's boundless structure allows Anthony Beavis' life to rise and fall on the waves of a mystical ocean of time with its contrapuntal rhythms. One drawback to "Eyeless", and perhaps Huxley in general, is that his writing style is somewhat dry and cerebral. His characters, like D.H. Lawrence's (a friend of his), often come across as representations of ideals, or "symbols" rather than full-fledged, multi-dimensional characters, and the exterior scenery sometimes suffers. One notable exception is Helen Amberley, who is one of the more complex, and interesting characters in the novel. As for the scenery, the most vivid scenes are not the physical atmosphere, but each character's experience of an event. Examples include both Anthony and John Beavis' individual responses to Mrs. Amberley's death; Anthony and Brian playing with a toy boat on the school dormitory rooftop; or Helen flicking away a butterfly at Anthony's villa. Huxley's descriptive style and focus is simply more erudite than it is sentimental or emotional. Admittedly, there's a fine balance in such a highly condensed intellectual novel as this, and for the most part, I think Huxley manages to pull it off without being didactic or cold (readers who don't make it past the first 3-5 chapters probably won't go for it though). Details aside, once you grow accustomed to Huxley's style and structure, Anthony Beavis' story is rewarding. After the death of his mother in 1902, his life is shattered. He avoids World War I due to a training accident/injury, and feels lucky. The central aspect of the novel is Anthony's increasing diffidence towards life. His meeting with Mary Amberley in 1912 (ala Mrs. Robinson/"The Graduate") really throws a monkey wrench into his life, and adds fuel to the general lovelessness and cynicism displayed in the summer 1933 chapters. It is she who convinces Anthony to tragically betray his best friend, Brian Foxe in 1914. Eventually, in the fall of 1933, his Marxist leaning friend Mark Staithes convinces him to "break free" of his negativity and attend a revolution with him in Mexico. There, Anthony has a chance encounter with an eccentric traveller named Miller, whose Buddhist centered philosophy changes Anthony forever. It is from all the 1934+ "meditation" chapters in which we see Anthony's sea-change from a life of indifference to one of meaning and purpose. Huxley's method in displaying this "progression" from modern dissatisfaction and pessimism, into selfless positivity and pacifism is the whole of "Eyeless in Gaza"; and nothing short of amazing in my opinion. With subtle undertones of World War One echoing in the backdrop, the impending hostility of World War Two thumps from the future. Caught in between these institutionalized and mechanical worlds, are ordinary men and women like Anthony and Helen navigating the treacherous waterways of idealogy, politics, peer pressure/society, and conscience as best they "know how" (i.e. are trained to do). In some ways, this novel is a lead-in to "Island" in which Huxley attempts to depict an ideal society populated by such self-actualized citizens as Miller, Purchas, and Anthony Beavis. On the whole, "Eyeless in Gaza" can be demanding (it should be read at least twice - once by chapter, and once by date), and because Huxley doesn't spend a lot of time describing place or character, it can be easy to loose sense of the action the first time through. However, once you begin to appreciate Huxley's intentions, "Eyeless" blossoms into a unique and powerful literary mosaic that you will find it hard to forget.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Answered several questions that his other writing had raised,
By A Customer
This review is from: Eyeless in Gaza (Library Binding)
I read this after Brave New World, his subsequent set of essays (Brave New World Revisited), and Island. I found the latter disappointing, partly due to my (mistaken) expectation that it would contain Huxley's "answer": it outlined his utopia in almost excessive detail, only to conclude that it was indeed impossible. Whilst the last of his set of essays contained a prescriptive outline, only when I'd read Eyeless in Gaza did I feel that I'd begun to understand his message properly. These four books are clearly not intended to amuse and entertain. However to anyone that wishes to understand how Huxley thought about these problems, I would recommend reading all four sequentially. The whole was, for me, more than the sum of the parts.
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