Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels

  • by Jonathan Swift
  • Narrated by David Thorn
  • 11 hrs and 35 mins
  • Unabridged Audiobook
3.72 (178
Ratings.
)

Publisher's Summary

Set and written in 1726, This is a marvelously imaginative tale of the four voyages of Lemuel Gulliver. He finds himself shipwrecked and the prisoner of captors ranging in size from 6 inches tall to 60 feet tall and of various other persuasions. But this is just the beginning of a story written, strangely enough to satirize the foolishness and vices of modern men as they were perceived at the time. No one, young or old, can ever forget the Lilliputians and the Yahoos that starred in these wonderful and riveting stories of long ago.
Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) was an Irish novelist, satirist, poet and political essayist. From a very literary family, his uncle married the daughter of a godson of William Shakespeare, Swift was very well educated, receiving an MA from Oxford University and a Doctorate in Divinity from Trinity College in Dublin.
An ordained priest in the Established Church of Ireland, Swift began writing satire, inspired by his misery in his profession. Politically active, Swift incurred the enmity of enough British nobles, that his career as a minister was over. Swift began writing novels, while also writing political pamphlets promoting Irish causes.
Swift's best known work, Gulliver's Travels is filled with satiric references to his current events, and was an immediate hit, written anonymously, it had to be smuggled into Ireland. The Queen was not amused.

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What the Critics Say

"A masterwork of irony...that contains both a dark and bitter meaning and a joyous, extraordinary creativity of imagination. That's why it has lived for so long." (Malcom Bradbury)
"Swift is such a creature of paradox. His prose was like himself, by turns savage, tidy, playful, and ironic. He was a comic genius." (The Economist)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful

Terrific Narration, Very interesting story

Written about 300 years ago this story has aged very well and Gulliver's adventures are event today very entertaining. Gulliver's Travels was meant to mock the hordes of books about adventurous travels released at the time which often exaggerated the dangers faced and the belitteled the intellect of the natives encountered. And so Gulliver meets giants, tiny people, horses which rule over men and people living on a floating island. In addition to the entertainment value these episodes hold it is also very interesting to see how critical Jonathan Swift was of English society and values. This criticism is never voiced by the main character directly, but surface through the discussions Gulliver has with the people he meets.

The Audiobook version published by Alcazar AudioWorks features a terrific Narrator which makes the story a joy to listen to.
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- David Eggerschwiler

Excellent reading, some recording goofs

I'm not here to review the novel but to review the reading and recording of it as it's presented here. The reader's English accent is delightful, though, if you're not reading along with the text version, he does slur some words together when he is reading a part quickly. He also doesn't read the text word-for-word at times (substitutions, word order inversions, skipped words) but, so far, not too much and not to affect meaning (much). There are several recording goofs, where the reader rereads words and sentences, but not often. Overall, I've enjoyed reading along with this reader/performer. He does a fine job bringing Cpt. Gulliver to life.
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- Ami

Book Details

  • Release Date: 08-22-2007
  • Publisher: Alcazar AudioWorks
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