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Essays
- Penguin Modern Classics
- Narrated by: Ben Arogundade
- Length: 24 hrs and 57 mins
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Essays
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Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
The articles collected in George Orwell's Essays illuminate the life and work of one of the most individual writers of this century - a man who elevated political writing to an art.
This outstanding collection brings together Orwell's longer, major essays and a fine selection of shorter pieces that includes 'My Country Right or Left', 'Decline of the English Murder', 'Shooting an Elephant' and 'A Hanging'. With great originality and wit Orwell unfolds his views on subjects ranging from a revaluation of Charles Dickens to the nature of socialism, from a comic yet profound discussion of naughty seaside postcards to a spirited defence of English cooking. Displaying an almost unrivalled mastery of English plain prose, Orwell's essays created a unique literary manner from the process of thinking aloud and continue to challenge, move and entertain.
This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Bernard Crick.
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What listeners say about Essays
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Suley
- 18-03-23
The reading does Justice to this extremely influential essays written with passion and honest opinion.
The reading does Justice to this extremely influential essays written with passion and honest opinion.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ken Bryant
- 18-08-21
Excellent insights into the mind of a genius...
One of the things about Orwell that I love is his curiosity and willingness to change his mind when better information is available. everything is up for criticism, every ideology, everyone, even himself.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 30-03-23
great essays - bad choice of voice over
Orwell’s essay are incredible but couldn’t get over the choice of voice actor. Orwell writes with great passion and this just didn’t shine through in this audio. I would highly recommend anyone to listen to Peter Nobles version of Orwell’s essay as a comparison.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Albert T
- 07-09-22
Where’s Crick?
Is Geo. Orwell the supreme essayist? I learned to enjoy the narration. Where’s Crick? (Introduction). As others have mentioned, the lack of a Chapter Index is very slack by Penguin. You have to scroll through the chapters to find the essay you want - How the poor die.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 02-02-21
Essay titles missing
Classic essays, but the titles are not given in the chapter screen, which makes it difficult to navigate the audiobook.
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22 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Matthew
- 08-09-21
An unusual choice of voice but great
An unusual choice of voice but it was, I think, an inspired choice. I really loved Ben Arogundade reading and go back to listen to it often. And the essays are of course some of the greatest written – insightful and truly truthful.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- KK
- 02-06-21
Excellent
I found this book enjoyable and insightful.
This particular edition is excellent value because it contains over 24 hours' worth in one book.
It includes the famous ones, too, but as has been pointed out by other reviewers, the headings are missing.
I thought the narrator was excellent, too. There were a couple of mispronunciations (one in particular that someone really should have picked up during the editing) but I thought the voice fitted very well. Looking for a voice exactly like Orwell's own doesn't make sense to me, especially as Orwell had a severe throat injury of course. The essays are brilliant whether the voice is young or old, male or female, etc. I look for a narrator with a pleasant voice, good narration, and not many mispronunciations, which is just what we have.
I was spurred to write this review by seeing the one-star reviews mentioning the narrator. I consider these to be unjustified to the extent that would make me question their motivation.
(One claims he is unable to delete the book, which I don't believe, and moreover, an audiobook sample is usually sufficient to be able to tell whether you like the narrator's voice or not. Moreover, both these one star reviewers have, at this moment of writing, only one review/rating to their name, which is this book. I can't prove this but in my judgement, the one star reviews are in bad faith.)
This is one of my favourite audiobooks.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- BardBeats
- 28-02-22
Wonderful listening
Listened to all of these essays - I notice there has been some criticism of the reader as 'monotone', but really I thought the fairly neutral style suited the prose very well. Letting Orwell do the talking in this understated and appropriate performance.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mintu Miah
- 01-05-23
Awful narration
The essays speak for themselves. They’re by Orwell, after all. The narrator mispronounces a great many words. The chapters are not labelled. It’s a bit slapdash by Penguin.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- DWB
- 21-05-21
Dreadful reading
The narrator mispronounces words, clerk, cant &c (he thinks it's can't) & many other misreadings.
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7 people found this helpful