This was the first fiction book that showed me what it’s like to enter another world every time I opened the book, the alternate reality that I somehow have control over imagining, quite different from visual entertainment like movies and TV shows. Enlightening experience.

The tragic ending of the soma and orgy-porgy-induced suicide, and the confusing line between utopia and dystopia. The defect of the holy fool against a harmonious yet somehow deeply unsettling world.

One thought I had while reading was, “I must know my reason why it is worth living like John.” Because the society shown in the book, although maybe not entirely replicable, is possible to be mimicked closely in the current age. A hit of the distracting noises of TikToks. A quick browse on the web for a quick nut. Whatever food you desire you can easily order on UberEats. Entertainment on demand on all kinds of platforms, of all kinds. Tested drugs, so widely used that it is a rare occurence to find someone who haven’t ever been intoxicated. Why, in this comfortable world, do I desire to be the solid rock, eroding away beautifully against the current of the common?