Huxley's final novel is his antidote to Brave New World, an attempt to describe a radically sane society. Like Brave New World, it's a didactic look at the possibilities of human societies -- don't look for deeply drawn characters or for intricate plots, it's all about the setting. Island was popular with the 1960s psychedelic movement, and if Leary and company had paid better attention to it, things might have gone much better.