In general I really enjoyed this book! Very comparable to Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar so if you liked that you'll probably like this one too. The one major thing I'll point out is that this is a highly religious book as far as celebrity memoirs go. I didn't know going in that she was Mormon (though I should have guessed based on the fact that her mother was a popular family vlogger). Shari has in no way deconstructed her Mormon faith and she talks at length about God and even describes "signs" she receives from him as they inform her journey. Just want to call it out because it's really unavoidable, but if you're not someone who's bothered by that kind of thing it's a good read.

As a non-monogamous, non-religious woman in her late 20s it seems I am not the ideal audience for this book! I went in really expecting to enjoy it based on my experience with 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 and instead it was a slog to get through despite not being very long. My primary criticisms fall into two categories: The characters- Every character in this world is cruel, unpleasant, and unlikable in their own ways which made the reading experience arduous because there wasn't a single positive relationship, likeable character, or even dynamically unlikable character to latch on to. In general there's a sense of weird unreality to all the characters, it feels fundamentally divorced from human nature or the way that humans interact with eachother in a way that makes me question if it's an intentional choice or if Aldous Huxley just didn't get out much. The "This was Obviously Written in the 30s" of it all: The worldview of this book hinges on God, Monogamy, Chastity, and Righteous Suffering being cornerstones of civilization without which we would lose our innate humanity. I was rolling my eyes a bit reading about this vision of the future I'm obviously meant to be horrified by where women sleep with who they want and the primary social force is friendships rather than monogamous relationships and the nuclear family. Honestly sounds a lot like my own life, which I guess in Aldous Huxley's mind is a perversion against the natural order. But it was written in the 30s so I guess that's what you get. Also worth mentioning the period-typical racism. Not to say that there's not value in the idea of controlling the masses by indoctrinating them to enjoy the role that society requires of them (with the aid of surface-level pleasures to help the exploitation go down easy). However, other books and movies have taken this idea and run with it in the intervening 90 years so it has less impact than I assume it did when the book was initially published. I did also enjoy the anti-capitalist sentiment, which is the one place I'll credit this book for bucking existing power structures. In a Brave New World every part of human life in society is optimized to consume as much as possible and that is a reality we are rapidly descending into. Still, the reading experience just wasn't enjoyable for me and a few inventive concepts can't save that. TLDR; The least cool thing that a sci-fi book can do is reinforce existing power structures and Brave New World commits that crime thoroughly.

Rufi Thorpe, if I could I would kiss you directly on the mouth. JB asks on page 216 "When you fall in love with a book, is it the character or the author you're falling in love with?" It must be both because I love this book so much and so thoroughly that I love you too. I love the world you created, every character so richly textured and almost hyperreal. I love the grit and the stress and the softness and the joy. I love the places where I expected a zig and got a zag instead. I swam around in the water of your imagination, I breathed it into my lungs, and it tasted like being invincible. Like a new earth, familiar but strange, hopeful and beautiful. This book is perfect. No notes.