Point Counter Point

By Aldous Huxley

A varied and emotionally complex cast of characters interact with one another and the broader society in Britain in the 1920s, their experiences exploring themes of modern living, morality, and humanity.

Point Counter Point reflects many of the same sentiments about the perils of modern life as Aldous Huxley’s later novel Brave New World, but presents these ideas in a more subtle and intricate fashion. Often considered Huxley’s masterpiece, Point Counter Point was the author’s longest and most complex work, and many of the main characters are thought to be influenced by contemporary public figures such as D.H. Lawrence and Sir Oswald Mosley.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jan 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781443432375

Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) is the author of the classic novels Brave New World, Island, Eyeless in Gaza, and The Genius and the Goddess, as well as such critically acclaimed nonfiction works as The Perennial Philosophy and The Doors of Perception. Born in Surrey, England, and educated at Oxford, he died in Los Angeles, California.

Reviews for Point Counter Point

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

De typische Huxley: fijna discussies onder intellectuelen, morele dilemma’s, mensen die vooral zichzelf ongelukkig maken. Satirische ondertoon, met sardonische insteek, en dus pessimistische visie. Virtuoos.Eerste keer gelezen toen ik 16 was, in het Nederlands. Snapte er uiteraard maar weinig van, maar vond het toen al een erg goed werk.

[jvioland_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I cannot recall too much of this book. Even reading a summary, hasn't brought it back to me. It wasn't that long ago, so I'm assuming it wasn't memorable enough. I may have given it a "B" when I had first finished it, but, if I can't recall it now, I cannot be impressed with it.

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A novel, handled very competently by Huxley, This is a satiric and often funny novel of London society in the mid to late twenties. I could contrast this with the longer novel by Anthony Powell, “A dance to the music of time.” If you like the English in moments of disorder this is a good read. Finished Feb.19, 1971

[schmerguls · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

On July 8, 1950, started reading this book and said: It is different from much I've read. It scintillates even in its conventionalistic subject matter, and the story is interlarded with evidences of highbrowity. I like the mode of approach, and am quite refreshed to find such interesting reading in such an ordinary subject-matter story. I like it at the start. On July 10 I noted: Point Counter Point continues eminently readable. Most of the characters are drawn bitingly and caustically. On July 12: Finished Point Counter Point today. It was quite a book--so readable and so calmly assumptious of understanding by the reader. What a host of characters! And how well delineated they were. The story hopped from one to the other. There was Marjorie Caroline, who had left her husband to live with Walter Bidlake, who was the son of artist John Bidlake and the brother of Elinor Quarles, the wife of Philip--who was abstractual and cold, but deeply loved by Elinor. Then there was Lucy Tantamount, whom Walter fell in love with, and her father Edward. And Mark Rampion, who spouted talk and was probably Huxley's mouthpiece. Spandrell killed Edward Webley, head of the British Freemen, a Fascist outfit. And so on. All this I record so I'll have a few threads which will possibly help me not to forget the book entirely. I haven't enjoyed a book so completely, and all the way through, as I did this one for a long time.

[dorotheabaker · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the most extraordinary books I've ever read. I found a copy of it and plunged in with absolutely no knowledge of what it was about or even who the author was. I was gripped from the very first page. The cynical humour and incredibly perceptive analysis of characters that represent almost every facet of the human race reminded me of War and Peace at first (one of my favorite books).Point Counter Point is absurdly intellectual - almost TOO intellectual for me. It's so complex that I can't even describe the things about it that made me love it. However, as someone who 'thinks too much' and has a naturally analytic mind, there were many places where I felt like I was reading something I could have written myself. It's a very exciting experience when you're reading a book and suddenly discover something like that. As a musician, I particularly appreciated the musical references. But perhaps my favorite moment was where Lord Edward's brother rings him up in great excitement to explain that he's just found mathematical proof of the existence of God....

[fleurfleming · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the most extraordinary books I've ever read. I found a copy of it and plunged in with absolutely no knowledge of what it was about or even who the author was. I was gripped from the very first page. The cynical humour and incredibly perceptive analysis of characters that represent almost every facet of the human race reminded me of War and Peace at first (one of my favorite books).Point Counter Point is absurdly intellectual - almost TOO intellectual for me. It's so complex that I can't even describe the things about it that made me love it. However, as someone who 'thinks too much' and has a naturally analytic mind, there were many places where I felt like I was reading something I could have written myself. It's a very exciting experience when you're reading a book and suddenly discover something like that. As a musician, I particularly appreciated the musical references. But perhaps my favorite moment was where Lord Edward's brother rings him up in great excitement to explain that he's just found mathematical proof of the existence of God....

[p_s_patrick · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Set mainly in 1920s London and peripheral environs, Point Counter Point is a literary tragi-comedy detailing the goings-on within a circle of intellectuals, artists, and hapless socialites and political figures. Much of the plot revolves around the discussions they have, and the implications of their contrasting philosophical and moral systems. The story is largely based on conflict and friendships between the characters, either as a result of their various infidelities, the disagreements between the scientific, artistic, and ordinary mind, differing political viewpoints, and the simple fact that some people are introverts and others extroverts.The characters themselves are well developed, and supposedly inspired by actual people, one of whom being Huxley himself.In places this story is as comic as Huxley's “Antic Hay”, though the characters here are more convincing and have greater depth as individuals, as opposed to the tendency Huxley had to caricature in some of his other works. The emphasis on philosophical discussion, as found in other works of his, such as “Those Barren Leaves”, is also present here, though his philosophical message seems to differ somewhat between books.This is one of Huxley's finest novels, and despite the fact that most of the characters here are actually not very nice, a very enjoyable read.

[takeitorleaveit_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

an incredible perspective novel that takes many characters living in the same place and shows how differently they view the world in only a manner Huxley can. issues from lust, succubus, communist clubs, murder, and being too smart for your own good all come up in this absolute classic.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bad people doing bad things, but in a very witty way. That is a brief, if incomplete, summary of Aldous Huxley's novel, Point Counter Point.It is more broadly a "novel of ideas" with a novelist of ideas, Philip Quarles, at its center surrounded by friends and family whose lives are like those of the monsters that Philip writes about in his journal. Just as Philip decides to structure his novel on the contrapuntal techniques of music (think Bach and Beethoven) the novel Huxley has written is structured in the same way. We are presented with an opening overture of more than one-hundred-fifty pages at a dinner party that serves as an introduction to most of the characters. The remainder of the novel intersperses scenes from their lives, letters from lovers and most interesting, the writings of Philip Quarles, who with his wife spends most of the first half of the novel returning from India and who is the closest to a protagonist that we get. While there is a bit of a literary explosion near the end, this is more a novel of the daily lives of London sophisticates in the 1920s. It catalogues their alternately sordid and ludicrous (sometimes both) erotic adventures, which generally end unhappily.I particularly enjoyed the wealth of references to literature and philosophy, Huxley's polymathic mind shows through on every page. Among the literary references was the use of Dickens in a way that captures one of his essential character traits, "the appearance of Dickensian young-girlishness" (p. 19). Overall, I found the play of wit and ideas compelling, enough to bear with the bad people and their antics.

[wirkman_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is Aldous Huxley's greatest novel. Oh, yes, "Brave New World" is also a classic, and indispensible. But, qua novel, this is Huxley's best. It is occasionally very funny, intellectually challenging, and a tad depressing. Huxley's cynical wit is conjoined with his love of dialogue and repartee and philosophic banter, and then placed in an overarching story that satisfyingly reveals the lives of a handful of fasccinating characters, one of them based on Huxley's friend D.H. Lawrence. Very, very good; and highly under-rated.

[linepainter-843540 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Possibly daring for 1928, less so for 2019.

“A bad book is as much of a labor to write as a good one; it comes as sincerely from the author's soul.”

Indeed.

[curious_squid · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Character #1 would say I think A. Character #2 would say I disagree I think B.

Character #3 would say I think C. Character #4 would say I disagree I think D.


Point.

Counterpoint.

sigh...