1984

New Classic Edition

By: George Orwell

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Blackstone Publishing presents a new recording of this immensely popular book.

One of the most celebrated classics of the twentieth century, Orwell’s cautionary tale of a man trapped under the gaze of an authoritarian state feels more relevant now than ever before.

George Orwell depicts a gray, totalitarian world dominated by Big Brother and its vast network of agents, including the Thought Police, a world in which news is manufactured according to the authorities’ will and people live tepid lives by rote.

Winston Smith, the hero with no heroic qualities, longs only for truth and decency. But living in a social system in which privacy does not exist and where those with unorthodox ideas are brainwashed or put to death, he knows there is no hope for him. He knows even as he continues to pursue his forbidden love affair that eventually he will come to destruction.

The year 1984 has come and gone, yet George Orwell’s nightmare vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is still the great modern classic of negative Utopia. It is a prophetic and haunting tale that exposes the worst crimes imaginable: the destruction of freedom and truth.

©1949 Harcourt Brace and Company, renewed 1977 Sonia Brownell Orwell (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

• Nominee, 2008 Audie Award, Classic

"It is probable that no other work of this generation has made us desire freedom more earnestly or loathe tyranny with such fullness." (New York Times, 1949)

Prophetic in so many ways

George Orwell knocked it out of the park with this one! I absolutely love how thought provoking this story is and how we can see so much of this happening in different ways in different parts of the world today. Just fascinating!

Great classic. Well written and well read.

There are several examples that can be pulled from this and be seen in our every day lives. The appendix seems to have a small hidden message so don't skip over it thinking it's boring.

great book

another classic! everyone needs to have this book in their minds! I loved it and will always have it in audible and paper.

Goodthink

The story isn't all what it cracked up to be...a bit boring. It did not live up to the hype

Absolutely Perfect

If you could sum up 1984 in three words, what would they be?

Forever Genre Defining

What did you like best about this story?

Being inside the mind of the main character as he goes about his life in this dystopian society is amazing. And piece by piece you learn about the society he lives in. Sometimes the book will mention something in passing and you won't notice how insane it is until later.

What does Simon Prebble bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Everything

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I listened to most of this book in one sitting. It was incredible

Great story and narration

I loved everything about this audiobook. The book is terrifying and brilliant, and the narration is some of the best I've heard. I highly recommend!

good old book

This was a high school reading that for some reason I wanted to read again. such a good story.

Great story, great author, great narrator

What made the experience of listening to 1984 the most enjoyable?

Simon Prebble brought this novel to life with his smooth reading, and wonderful enthusiasm. Great reader.

Which character – as performed by Simon Prebble – was your favorite?

Winston

Head cannon.

Wonderful narration, very good warning for our future as well. Read it carefully and enjoy

Great book. Should be required reading.

Every high school kid should be required to read this book. It exemplifies liberalism taken to its natural end game.