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Summary: Point-Counter Point is the Best Book I have ever read.
Review: I read this book several years ago and I am now adding it to my personal library. As one of your editorial reviewers notes, Aldous Huxley's explanation of the motives for actions filled gaps in my understanding of peoples' thinking. It is as valuable as a psychological textbook, and it is a lot more interesting. Seconding the reviewers' comments, this book is as appropo today as in the recent past. Modern man can reflect on the personalities of the characters and see how they betray themselves and others with subtle repressions of their real feelings. For the lovelorn on Valentine's day, Huxley's portrayal of a venal vixen provides soothing understanding for those who have endured similar rejections. Also, commentating on what one of the critics said, that Huxley showed his disapproval of science; this is another reason why it is a great novel. Science ignores the human spirit.
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Summary: Huxley is stunning
Review: I spent two weeks on this book, and I know that this masterpiece needs to be reread at least three more times to grasp Huxley's message. His characters are portrayed so meticuously that I was able to relate myself to several of them. I love how Huxley will have an exchange between two or more characters and then explain situations or aspects of that person's life that made them act that way. Philip Quarles and his father are my favorite characters in the novel. This is a perfect example of how literature should be written. I can't believe this novel only received a measly six reviews...
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Summary: completely engaging and very insightful
Review: I thought Point Counter Point was probably one of the best books that I have ever read. What drew me in the most was the ability Huxley has to portray many characters, all of whom are very different. The subtle way in which Huxley questions the idle spirit of modern man are at once both funny and disturbing. It is amazing how little has changed since the publication of the book...All in all, I was left feeling awed that someone could write a book that was so good.... and I was sad to have to finish it... it was the type of book you wish could last indefinately.
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Summary: 200 pages and counting
Review: I'm roughly two hundred pages into this work and can't put it down. While other books have fallen by the wayside temporarily this book is so easily consumed. The book's character development is a joy thus far. Be warned, Brave New World is nothing like this work, so if you are looking for something similar, click on the G. Orwell link at the bottom of this page.
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Summary: Huxley is genius personified
Review: I, like many, with Brave New World as my only prior exposure to Huxley, was not quite sure what to expect with Point Counter Point. Rated the #44 fiction novel of the 20th Century by The Modern Library, I felt obliged to give it a read. Firstly, it is entirely unfair, and furthermore foolishly inane, to even begin to compare it to the dystopian genre of Brave New World. It's apples and oranges. The true mark of a genius is the irrefutable fact that his work cannot, and should not, be fastidiously placed in a box, or in essence shortsightedly confined to a category. That is readily apparent with Huxley, and more importantly Point Counter Point. A prodigious and incendiary denunciation of 1920s English aristocracy and their partners in crime, the supercilious intelligentsia. Huxley exposes them for nothing short of morally bankrupt, intellectually vacuous, and hopelessly incorrigible. Point Counter Point strikes me as a book for the more intelligent among us, i.e., those who strive to read challenging and illuminating literature that is not only profound, but highly enjoyable as well. You will treat yourself to intensely stimulating debates between Huxley's eclectic cast of characters as they argue the merits of science, religion, communism, fascism, capitalism, fidelity, etc, etc, etc. Although Brave New World receives all of the ink (and rightly so), Point Counter Point makes an incontrovertible case that it is a definitive classic in its own right.
Rating:
Summary: Huxley is genius personified
Review: I, like many, with Brave New World as my only prior exposure to Huxley, was not quite sure what to expect with Point Counter Point. Rated the #44 fiction novel of the 20th Century by The Modern Library, I felt obliged to give it a read. Firstly, it is entirely unfair, and furthermore foolishly inane, to even begin to compare it to the dystopian genre of Brave New World. It's apples and oranges. The true mark of a genius is the irrefutable fact that his work cannot, and should not, be fastidiously placed in a box, or in essence shortsightedly confined to a category. That is readily apparent with Huxley, and more importantly Point Counter Point. A prodigious and incendiary denunciation of 1920s English aristocracy and their partners in crime, the supercilious intelligentsia. Huxley exposes them for nothing short of morally bankrupt, intellectually vacuous, and hopelessly incorrigible. Point Counter Point strikes me as a book for the more intelligent among us, i.e., those who strive to read challenging and illuminating literature that is not only profound, but highly enjoyable as well. You will treat yourself to intensely stimulating debates between Huxley's eclectic cast of characters as they argue the merits of science, religion, communism, fascism, capitalism, fidelity, etc, etc, etc. Although Brave New World receives all of the ink (and rightly so), Point Counter Point makes an incontrovertible case that it is a definitive classic in its own right.
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Summary: A profound book by a consistently profound author
Review: In Huxley's books, its not just the plot that captivates. Huxley's insights on society and people are so on target and so truthful, it's amazing. His ability to translate truth into words is incredible. In Point Counterpoint, there were countless numbers of these insights. Here are a few of them:
"Work's no more respectable than alcohol, and it serves exactly the same purpose: it just distracts the mind, makes a man forget himself. Work's simply a drug, that's all. It's humiliating that men shouldn't be able to live without drugs, soberly; it's humiliating that they shouldn't have the courage to see the world and themselves as they really are."
"But there is in debauchery something so intrinsically dull, something so absolutely and hopelessly dismal, that it is only the rarest beings, gifted with much less than the usual amount of intelligence and much more than the usual intensity of appetite, who can go on actively enjoying a regular course of vice or continue actively to believe in its wickedness."
"But the very possession of a body is a cynical comment on the soul and all its ways. It is a piece of cynicism, however, which the soul must accept, whether it likes it or no."
If these statements strike you as surprisingly truthful, then Huxley is for you.
For everyone who is interested in the focus of the book, I would say that it concerns the mind/body dichotomy (which you can sort of see in the third quote I included).
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Summary: It's just a book.
Review: Lots of people have overanalyzed and overhyped the books on this site, but let me tell you this: Point Counter Point is Huxley's finest work. Sure "The Doors of Perception" and "Brave New World" are popular titles, (popularized by quasi-intelligent hippies who THINK they understand things) but Point Counter Point really shows just how perceptive and thorough Huxley's literary style is. If you can disassociate Huxley's "cult" fans from his actual work, this is the one title I would reccomend. Stunning....
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Summary: Godless, Fornicating Characters? No way! Not Huxley!!!
Review: Point Counter Point provokes all kinds of philosophical thoughts in my young, impressionable mind. But isn't that what I need? I love the way Aldous Huxley makes his readers think about their godless, fornicating lives and the impact it has on them and their world. Few authors cause me to feel the love for reading I have like Aldous Huxley does. Regardless of my age, I am a senior in high school, Huxley stampeded his way into my heart with Brave New World in ninth grade; then with Doors of Perception in eleventh; now he does it with Point Counter Point. I can live without a major plot as long as he continues to build his characters. No flat characters exist in any of Huxley's novels. Read them. Fall in love with him like I have.
Rating: 
Summary: Point Counter Point
Review: Point Counter Point, considered one of Aldous Huxley's best novels, is an omniscient intertwining of myriad characters in all their glory, sin, sophistication and harsh cynicism. While little actually happens in the plot of the story, there is so much detail given to each character that we can essentially see their life through their eyes for the duration of the text. If it weren't for Aldous' ability to awaken his characters within the reader and donate a most wise introspective commentary to compliment each one, this book would have been a total loss for all involved. It is his insight and sheer breadth of intelligence that make all of Huxley's works a must-read for anyone in any generation. That said, I will add that I personally found this book to be almost a complete bore, and even fought myself to not put it down almost every time I picked it up. I realize that this is contradictory to everything I've just said, so allow me to explain. Keep in mind that this is pure opinion. Of Aldous' works that I have read, I find a sharp distinction between his early and latter writing. Antic Hay, Chrome Yellow, The Genius and The Goddess and Eyeless in Gaza and Point Counter Point are novels that address problems of an era that was, frankly, deceased long before I was born, and I found little interest in them because of this. I'm not saying that they weren't brilliant or provocative in their own right; merely that they spoke of things that were beyond me. Contrastingly, Brave New World, Brave New World Revisited, The Encyclopaedia of Pacifism, The Doors of Perception, Heaven and Hell, Ape and Essence, After Many a Summer and Island have each blown me away almost completely, and each in their own way. I couldn't say enough about any one of these novels, and in fact skipped writing a review of Island because I simply couldn't say anything intelligent enough about it that would come close to the level of brilliance within the text. I believe these novels to touch upon a much more personal philosophy that the others did not; each explores a personal avenue, often relating social implications to the fray, whereas the former group deals most explicitly with social implications and how they affect his characters. Broad statement I know, but this is a general summary of my thought patterns. Back to Point Counter Point, as this is supposed to be a review of the text, I won't be saying anything else about it. I feel that I can't do it justice since I didn't enjoy it, and insulting it for being outside the scope of my personal preference would be idiotic and more worthy of a Newspaper than this site. This was originally posted at www dot yourwords dot ca
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