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The Wall

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About this listen

Nominated for the Booker Prize 2019.

Narrated by BAFTA-winning actor Will Poulter.

Kavanagh begins his life patrolling the Wall. If he's lucky, if nothing goes wrong, he only has two years of this, 729 more nights.

The best thing that can happen is that he survives and gets off the Wall and never has to spend another day of his life anywhere near it. He longs for this to be over; longs to be somewhere else.

He will soon find out what Defenders do and who the Others are. Along with the rest of his squad, he will endure cold and fear day after day, night after night. But somewhere, in the dark cave of his mind, he thinks: wouldn't it be interesting if something did happen, if they came, if you had to fight for your life?

John Lanchester's thrilling, hypnotic new novel is about why the young are right to hate the old. It's about a broken world you will recognise as your own-and about what might be found when all is lost.

©2019 Orlando Books Limited (P)2019 W.F. Howes Ltd Fiction Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Emotionally Gripping Scary
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I never would have chosen this for myself... but our book club has selected it. My heart sinks when I hear that anything is set in a dystopian future... because most are based on unbelievable premises and not consistent in their architecture. This scenario was - just, and only just - ‘believable’ so that was a help. The storytelling was good, and narration excellent so I did actually finish the book (well, finish isn’t actually what happens, but I got to the end of the reading...). But there are too many cliches, too many disasters, too much despair. It’s not what I look for in a book, but you may think differently.

Hmmmmm....

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Will Poulter embodies the young conscript, Kavanagh, in this dystopian near-future fable which is all too plausible. From the start, John Lanchester instills a sense of the loneliness and cold felt on The Wall, a structure that came into being after some unnamed change, pitting those on and behind the wall against those outside of the wall, the others. The larger society, like the change, is not elaborated on and this adds to the overall feel of the story. A cracking good tale and beautifully performed.

The Wall an audible experience.

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Very impressed by the narration. Story captures the spirit of the current political climate (pun intended?) and the worries we all have.

Great narration, interesting story

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I think anyone who likes a dystopian story (I do) will enjoy this book (I really did!)

The setting is grim and the characters, who are battling to keep their country free of the Others, display resigned acceptance for the job they have to do.

The plot is well executed and although the overall story is hardly a cheerful one, the story keeps you interested. This audiobook works particularly well.

A well executed audiobook

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Couldn't stop listening, and now I'm sad it's over! Fantastic story and really well written.

Gripping stuff!

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