Brave New World

By: Aldous Huxley

Narrated by: Michael York

Length: 8 hrs

Publisher's summary

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

Critic reviews

"British actor Michael York's refined and dramatic reading captures both the tone and the spirit of Huxley's masterpiece." (AudioFile)

Brilliant story with a great narration

It's a long time since I read Brave New World. So long that I had come to remember only its reputation. Surely, being a classic from 1931, it was stuffy and quaint? Why else would we have had to read it at school? How wrong I was. This book felt fresh, with brilliant writing for the most part. Michael York was an ideal narrator. He pronounced the words as I expect them to be said! Technically the story was plausible. I wish it wasn't so short.

Worth the voice

The voice actor overdid it both in stress and volume throughout the book, but don't let that stop you. This book was great and worth the voice

Almost couldn’t finish because of the performance

York’s performance made me dislike a book that I loved when I read it myself. The audio goes from whispers to shouts, forcing you turn adjust the volume every few seconds. The most disappointing is his voices for dialogue, especially female voices. His characterization of their voices makes every character unlikeable, ridiculous and even mentally disabled. He leaves no room for the reader to interpret irony of the characters’ speech and beliefs ourselves; he forces it through our eardrums.

Didn’t age well

A good performance of a classic novel. Yet the story itself seemed pedantic, now in the 21st century.

The world we live in now is eerily similar

Always interesting to read how authors from the past imagined the development of technology in the future. The similarities to our world today - the conspicuous consumption, the technological advancement and meds removing us from our felt sense of the world, the hierarchal class structure that represses social mobility, the attempts to eliminate all difficulty and struggle. Give yourself until at least the visit to the Reservation if you’re having a hard time getting into the story.

Chilling

Chilling and thought provoking, a fast yet heavy listen. I loved it. Fabulous narrator. Incredible story.

Torturous Listen

The story could have been presented SO MUCH better had the performer not been speaking in a mocking shrill every time he portrayed a character. It was distracting, menacing and repulsive.

Interesting story

Great choice of voice actors for narration to use an actor, famous for portraying a character in a movie about dysfunctional future society (Logan’s Run) to read about yet another of the same.

Relevant but boring

An interesting but dated story. Very little connection to the characters and their development. Narrator performance was fine but the message in the book could have been delivered in a better manner.

Dystopian future… please note that before you embark on this novel

The narrator is not doing this story any favors but if you can listen past that…. This is a great warning for what we are moving toward if we keep giving up our free will for an easier life. The author is highlighting the things that we are ok compromising for the appearance of “equality”, showing how the caste system can quickly be manipulated and our feelings and views of one another can be used to control an entire world. A good listen if you are willing to take off the rose lenses the modern age has implanted.