I was in my 20’s when i last read this, somewhere between 25 and 30 years ago, and i still think it’s a very good book.
There is, however, a problem with this book: Aldous was very clearly a product of Victorian England and his use of words really reflect this, especially in his early writing, and there are the very occasional racial words/comments used — which i counted twice.
It’s a very awkward place to find oneself, caught between two cultures. By my standards the use of such language is completely unacceptable, yet, having read a few Victorian books and also post Victorian books, like this, written by those who were educated by Victorians, it is clear that the use of such language was, very much, the standard of the day.
Do we now throw the babies out with the bath water? Admittedly, by contemporary standards, the bathwater we are dealing with is now considered untreated sewage, but in it’s day it was considered fit for drinking. I certainly don’t feel that Aldous was, in anyway, being racist and derogatory, but simply using the words and cliches of his day.
As to the rest of the book it is very clearly a satire and critique of England in the early 1920’s and it’s very clear that Aldous was not supporting of many views expressed in this book, but laying bare the thinking and ideas of his day. If you are interested you can read much more about this on it’s Wiki page.
The interesting thing for me is that just over 5 years ago i spent 3 years living at one of England’s great houses and its huge estate, including parklands, shrubberies, woods, Italian gardens, ponds, lakes, etc., and it certainly made reading about Crome a whole different experience. Sadly, to be honest, the upper classes, and their sycophants, haven’t really changed much from the attitudes and behaviour satirised and parodied within Crome Yellow.
This book is also, very much, the forerunner to Brave New World, and i would suggest a must read for fans of that book.
