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Brave New World

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Brave New World

By: Aldous Huxley
Narrated by: Michael York
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About this listen

Originally published in 1932, this outstanding work of literature is more crucial and relevant today than ever before.

“One of the most prophetic dystopian works of the 20th century”—Wall Street Journal

Cloning, feel-good drugs, antiaging programs, and total social control through politics, programming, and media—has Aldous Huxley accurately predicted our future? With a storyteller’s genius, he weaves these ethical controversies in a compelling narrative that dawns in the year 632 AF (After Ford, the deity). When Lenina and Bernard visit a savage reservation, we experience how Utopia can destroy humanity.

A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, Brave New World is both a warning to be heeded and thought-provoking yet satisfying entertainment.

©1932 Aldous Huxley; 1998 BBC Audiobooks America (P)2003 BBC Audiobooks America Classics Dystopian Genetic Engineering Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Fiction Mind-bending Thought-Provoking Wall Street Utopian

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Critic reviews

"British actor Michael York's refined and dramatic reading captures both the tone and the spirit of Huxley's masterpiece." (AudioFile)
All stars
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Set sometime in the distant future (A.F. 632 which may translate to around 2540 A.D. according to some calculations), in an advanced dystopian world; this was at times a fascinating but challenging listen. However, I could not help feeling somewhat disappointed by the end as I did not find it to be the classic that it was alleged to be.

Often compared to Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four", but very different in terms of the worlds both authors so carefully constructed, I found Huxley’s style of writing at times to be overly verbose and difficult to follow. It also made me wonder at times how far he was trying to exhibit his own philosophical beliefs at the expense of the plot and overall story.

I found nearly all the characters unlikeable. Naturally, the only ones I truly sympathised with were John and Linda. No doubt this was deliberate on Huxley's part, as to an outsider looking into this so called "civilised world" where people had been conditioned to show no real lasting unity to one another, you could only feel appalled at their self-centredness. John the Savage (as he was unfairly referred to), represented our world and programming, and his reaction to the likes of Lenina and some of the lower caste members and their behaviour was at times desperate, but understood.

When you take a step back and take it all in, the world Huxley created here is truly frightening, but nonetheless captivating.

Finally, I found Michael York's narration rather strange and somewhat irritating at times. Some of his choice of accents for the characters were quite bizarre and not well thought out (Bernard's and John's especially), and kind of took some of the gloss off of this work.

Imaginative, But Flawed!

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Superb. An absolute classic! This thought provoking tale of social engineering is made even more accessible by the masterly narration of Micheal York. Sheer auditory pleasure!

Better than a gram of soma....

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I first read this book 25 years ago at school. Time (or my age) has made this book even better! Well read by Michael York. If you like George Orwell's 1984, you'll love this.

Memories

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The narrator made this a chore to get through and seemed to just use it as a chance to practice his unbearable attempts at provincial accents.

Unbearable narrator

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Narrator does each character in extreme English regional accents which makes no sense and distracts from the story.

For such a famous book it should be re-recorded with new narration

Interesting book ruined by narration

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excellent performance! interesting subject to think about. the plot is not exciting. i do recommend it though.

good

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The ideas are great but the story isn't. The narrator was at times unbearable. Still worth it.

Mixed feelings

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Such a highly rated classic. I was naive to expect more from it. It just wasn’t true to life. Credulity was stretched more than I had anticipated.
On the other hand seeing the savage perceiving faults in the distopia of the brave new world, and vice versa, as described in a book written in the early thirties, viewed by the reader over eighty years later provokes interesting thoughts.

Fantasy.

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A 'must read' in that it still says a lot about society. That doesn't make it a massive page-turner though. I found the story itself a bit meh.
Also, the 'credits' or whatever they are after the book has finished are SO abrupt. Really spoilt quite a profound ending.

Meh

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Would you listen to Brave New World again? Why?

It is worth a listen/read, but I wouldn't return to it.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Michael York does a good job of the general narration, but some of his accents are a little silly and don't really fit within the context of the story.

Any additional comments?

Overall this is an enjoyable story. It deals with some interesting ideas, but does sound dated in places.

Interesting Story, OK Narration

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