Brave New World

Huxley's visionary novel of social engineering postulates a future world in which for the sake of social stability drugs and sex and mindlessness replace truth and beauty. It became a classic almost from its publication. Peter Firth concentrates on the dialogue, giving us vivid characterizations and plenty of drama. His narrative, however, is flat and graceless, a disservice to Huxley's descriptive powers. Worse are the instances of total misreadings--rare, but glaring. While students may find this recording more enlightening than Cliff's Notes, those who listen for pleasure should pass this by. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

When some books are abridged for audio, they lose in the "translation." Unfortunately, this version of Aldous Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD leaves most of its substance on the editor's desk. BRAVE NEW WORLD is the 1932 fable about life in the seventh century, when society is controlled by human geneticists, who breed different classes of people for differing needs. The original novel runs about 270 pages, while this abridgment is three hours. (Audio Partners sells an unabridged recording that runs eight hours). This performance demonstrates what happens when a work is abridged too much. The holes in the story are huge and leave too much to the imagination. In addition, Tony Britton's reading seems to change pace at times for no reason, and the pauses between chapters/sections are sometimes too short and confuse the listener even more. In short, this BRAVE NEW WORLD is definitely not a classic. D.J.S. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

Aldous Huxley's novel of a genetically engineered, drugged-out utopia set in the not-too-distant future seems more prophetic by the day. British actor Michael York's refined and dramatic reading captures both the tone and the spirit of Huxley's masterpiece. His adept characterizations are instrumental in helping the listener discriminate between the book's innumerable characters, and his handling of the contrapuntal sections in Chapter 3 makes song from what might have been a muddle with a lesser reader. On occasion, York tends to overdramatize, making for unwanted melodrama and unintentional humor; but overall this is an excellent performance of a classic and prescient twentieth-century novel. G.B.C. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine