The Sheep Look Up
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The Sheep Look Up
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Narrated by:
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Stefan Rudnicki
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By:
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John Brunner
About this listen
In a near future, the air pollution is so bad that everyone wears gas masks. The infant mortality rate is soaring, and birth defects, new diseases, and physical ailments of all kinds abound. The water is undrinkable - unless you're poor and have no choice. Large corporations fighting over profits from gas masks, drinking water, and clean food tower over an ineffectual, corrupt government.
Environmentalist Austin Train is on the run. The "trainites", a group of violent environmental activists, want him to lead their movement; the government wants him dead; and the media demands amusement. But Train just wants to survive.
More than a novel of science fiction, The Sheep Look Up is a skillful and frightening political and social commentary that takes its place next to other remarkable works of dystopian literature, such as Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and George Orwell's 1984.
©2014 John Brunner (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc., and Skyboat Media, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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What listeners say about The Sheep Look Up
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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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- M
- 13-02-23
Can’t get over the prescience
In the 51 years since publication, so much of this book has come to pass. We haven’t fixed the social and environmental issues Brunner was then aware of, and we’ve added a few more of our own since. The prose shows its age for certain, but the multiple story arc structure is surprisingly contemporary, as are the frequent and abrupt closures of some character’s stories. I’d consider using this as a set-text for school students, instead of the usual 1984/Brave New World combination.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Daniel J. F. Goodwin
- 08-05-23
Still relevant
A book that contains all the fears about disease and pollution and global catastrophe that still haunt us. The absence of mobile phones and the internet are all the stranger as this future world of Brunner’s is our present in that we are very conscious now of environmental change and global epidemics. The narration is good as well except for a very poor New Zealand accent but that didn’t really detract. I look forward to a Stand on Zanzibar!
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- A
- 25-08-21
Exhausting and poorly converted to audio format
I found this book exhausting, for two main reasons. Firstly, the content. This is a straight "what if" of what our world would look like if the environmental campaigns of the 60's-90's had not succeeded. If you have any kind of background in environmental sciences or are aware of current environmental challenges, it's very depressing. Secondly, the book jumps around between the actual story (which is woven together from a number of different stories) and excerpts from various forms of media. The narration doesn't make the transitions obvious, which makes the book hard to follow in places.
I am still glad I read it because it's a classic, and I guess it might entertain those for whom it's not all too realistic. But I am glad to have finished it, and I look forward to never reading it again.
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3 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
- mannorak
- 05-05-18
First time I read this for 40 years
Stunningly prescient. A Silent Spring for the 70s. Take this as a terrible warning. You don't need a weatherman.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 16-08-20
Avoid if you're tired of racial identity politics
Premise is great but the book is just constantly going on about the big bad white people and victimised black people long after the point has been made. I appreciate the book isnt recent, but for someone living in our modern day, that has to listen to the garbage racial politics in the media 24/7, this book is just not an escape. Its cringe inducing and every character is a tired racial stereotype. Makes the book very hard to take seriously.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Mathias Michael Hertz
- 08-11-21
Very slow start.
Didnt finish as it didnt catch my interrest, so could improve further on. But slow and boring character introduction, and no apocalypse so far.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- J M Watson
- 23-12-21
Avoid
Awful, unrealistic, rambling, contrived, lecturing, often ridiculous try anything by Kim Stanley Robinson instead.
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1 person found this helpful