The Vagina Monologues

By: Eve Ensler

Narrated by: Eve Ensler

Length: 1 hr and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

A poignant and hilarious tour of the last frontier, the ultimate forbidden zone, The Vagina Monologues is a celebration of female sexuality in all its complexity and mystery. Hailed as the bible for a new generation of women, it has been performed in cities all across America and at hundreds of college campuses, and has inspired a dynamic grassroots movement - V-Day - to stop violence against women. Witty and irreverent, compassionate, and wise, Eve Ensler's Obie Award-winning masterpiece gives voice to real women's deepest fantasies and fears, guaranteeing that no one who hears it will ever look at a woman's body, or think of sex, in quite the same way again.

"I am so pleased to present this just-recorded audio edition of my play for people to hear in America and around the world," Ensler said. "Often during my travels performing and in discussions about The Vagina Monologues, many people have asked me to make a recording so that they could listen to it again and again. With the online introduction coming just before V-Day 2001, it also means a lot to me that the Audible.com sales of The Vagina Monologues will help support the expanding movement to stop violence against women."

Listen to an Interview with Eve Ensler.

©1999 Joan Marcus
Photo Credit: Susan Johann
1998, 2001 by Eve Ensler
(P)2001 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Spellbinding, funny, and almost unbearably moving...it is both a work of art and an incisive piece of cultural history, a poem and a polemic, a performance and a balm and a benediction." (Variety)

Great. Eye opening. Narration was incredible.

Beautimous book. Necessary. Very eye opening for both me and my husband. Yes there were funny parts, but it was all needed and all terrific. Bob is the real MVP.

An incredible listen...Completely engaging 2 hours of listening

I was thoroughly and pleasantly surprised at the content and stories in this book. I am a 56 year old woman. I remember hearing about “The Vagina Monologues” and later, touring and visiting college campuses with my college aged kids when “The Vagina Monologues” was being performed. Somehow, I thought I knew the content without attending the performance. I could not have been more wrong, and my only regret is that I didn’t attend The performance years ago or listen years ago so I would have had the insight of this story and play. I think most women can connect in a very real and deep way with the material and stories. I think any male would benefit greatly and call it a “must read” for people who really want an experience that will help to understand-on a very deep level-the closed off sexuality that women of all ages grow up with that represses and depresses them and they never explore or give much thought to why . There are horrible tragedies exposed in this book. Destroyed innocence and destroyed and horrific traumas discussed. There is also some very, very funny monologues that had me absolutely laughing out loud. Time for me to think about the issues in this book again. They are just as important for today as they ever were. The writer has addressed this topic in a very complete way somehow—and in less than 2 hours! This is an important book and play. A must read.

A Thought Provoking Listen

I have never heard anything like it. It is truly eye opening and thought provoking and I wish I'd listened to it years ago.

The opening chat with Eve Ensler is informative, if a little slow, however once the main part of the monologues started I didn't see the time pass.

Truly inspiring, a great listen.

don't listen when the kids are around

This was extremely funny. I think I heard the word "Vagina" more in this than I have my whole life. Only problem is that if you have small children--don't let them listen. There is a lot of profanity.

excellent!

i laughed, i cried, i recommended it to everyone i knew

Liked it, but not unabridged

I'm only specifically talking about the audible version.

If you have watched any recorded performance of this already, the audiobook is not worth buying because it's mostly the same script. If you like better audio quality than a YouTube video or want to support the author, then have at it.
This is listed as unabridged, but there is no forward from Gloria Steinem as there was in the physical book.
In the forward there is a compelling part about the architecture of buildings that house patriarchal religions being a place for men to symbolically give birth instead of women. When I first read it I scoffed- but I considered it more, and that's honestly why I bought the physical book. It was a bit disappointing not to hear that in the audiobook.

Way too short for audio

Although I found this book funny and lite, I think it might be better to see it in a live play instead. To spend the time listening to the book or to spend it on a nice night out at a theatre, laughing and sharing it with friends would be much more enjoyable....go for the play! I found it ended too soon and left me wanting something more.

A must read!

I will continue to suggest this book to all women for the rest of my days!

The Vagina Monelogues

This was the first time I had heard this, even though I knew About it before. I am a little ambivalent about it, but definitely a good lesson to round you out. It helps to know all sides of the story

Great collection.

Each monologue was interesting, many were funny, many made me stop and think. I really enjoyed the collection and how varied it was in terms of the ages, races and class backgrounds of those discussed. It also included both heterosexual and homosexual essays and never felt biased, to me, toward one or the other.