Gulliver's Travels

By: Jonathan Swift

Narrated by: Jasper Britton

Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's Summary

Lemuel Gulliver, a slightly staid ship’s doctor, relates the tales of his astonishing travels. He encounters the tiny, warring Lilliputians; the giant, sceptical Brobdingnagians; the ludicrously intellectual Laputans; and the idealistic - if rather stolid - Houyhnhnms and their bestial servants, the Yahoos. An immediate best seller when it was first published in 1726, Gulliver’s Travels has remained a favourite ever since. It was an attack on the politics and society of Swift’s day, but it is also a polemical, inventive, surreal, vitriolic, and wonderfully imaginative masterpiece, whose powerful satire continues to strike home.

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Public Domain (P)2010 Naxos Audiobooks

18th century satirical science fiction for adults

A long way from the typical children's adaptations! More of a time capsule giving a series of views on European society as explained to all the strange characters in strange lands.

I wouldn't really call it a novel or flowing story, but well worth the listen. Nicely read and nicely produced.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Much Deeper and Thought Provoking Than I Expected

I don't need to tell you that this book is classic. I did not expect the stories of Gulliver's adventures to be so thought provoking. Colonialism, politics, legal systems, and so on. What on first blush sound like "fairy tales" turn out to be perfect devices for thinking about some of the most important questions that humankind faced in 1700 and continue to wrestle with today.

The narrator does an excellent job. Very very clear. Delivers the entire book with just the right tone. A few of his accents are a little weird (Portuguese sounds German at one point), but it really makes no difference and is short-lived.

I highly recommend. I am very glad I decided to listen to this.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Excellent

The story can be extremely monotonous, but the reading is very well done. Would recommend this to anyone interested in the book, you can't do better. My favorite part of the book is the last quarter of it, so you have to get through some boring parts to reach the best ones.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Not as good as I thought it would be

Where does Gulliver's Travels rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

For many years I have always wanted to read this book. However having now listened to it I can say I found it actually rather boring in a lot of places and found myself not really listening to it all. Well performed but the story was just not engaging.

Would you recommend Gulliver's Travels to your friends? Why or why not?

No
It was a rather tedious book

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

A TRUE CLASSIC

I loved the delivery and I loved the story too. My one criticism would be that Swift tends to labour his point somewhat in places. This is the reason for 4 stars instead of 5 but his clwvwr satire makes it atill worth the read.

Timeless classic

Loved all distinct and unique adventures in this wonderful classic. It was difficult to stop listening.

Brilliant!

Jasper Britton narrates this wonderfully and I was particularly amused by his creative impersonation of the Houyhnhms. Superficially, the narrative is entertaining (and even of interest to children) but the fantastical masks a complex text that engages numerous political and philosophical themes of concern to the 16th century and to the Enlightenment in particular. Gulliver's Travels can be both frivolous entertainment and the subject of much deeper inquiry and as such is an intellectual investment.

Totally gripped by the story and the narration.

This was a fantastically narrated story of a book about a misanthropic traveller who uses his new found civilizations as metaphors for the court, animal welfare and the environment.

Witty, funny and a searing indictment of humanity

I can see why this book is a true classic - first published in 1726 and never been out of print. It's prose is straight forward without any archaic use of language, so it is easy to read and enjoy. Whilst you can tell that the book is of another time, it does not feel dated or any less relevant for it's age.
The author relates the politics, morality and class systems of the Europeans in a series of explanations to people or creatures with no experience of our culture, trying desperately to justify the lives of the rich, the cause of wars, or the country's legal system. It is through this device that we are led to see our own inequities, however, the style of writing is witty and humorous enough that we are allowed to take as much or little from the discussions as we like. The fantastical nature of the characters and their exploits turn a serious subject into something highly enjoyable.

Beautifully entertaining

Where does Gulliver's Travels rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Really well delivered and fully in tune with the novel that lifts the veneer of political sophistication, 18th Century, 19th Century 21st Century, any century, to show the folly and crude self interest underneath. Best of all it's good fun.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful