Gulliver's Travels

In the later sections of Swift's nineteenth-century satirical travelogue, Robert Hardy's delivery is exquisite. When, for example, Gulliver visits the land of the Houyhnhnms, who are intelligent horses, Hardy whinnies their name with enthusiasm, letting his voice rise and fall. When Gulliver visits Glubbdubdrib, Hardy hammers home Swift's multiple consonants to underscore the satiric effect. However, early on, during the Gulliver adventures that will be more familiar to most listeners, his visit to Lilliput, where everything is tiny, for example, Hardy's delivery is considerably more restrained. While always clear and professional, it lacks the amused tone he so effectively employs later. G.T.B. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

Edward Leeson's abridgment preserves the high points of Swift's classic while seamlessly removing repetitive or tangential material. Martin Shaw's narration is smooth and intelligent; he delivers Swift's ridiculous words smoothly. Shaw speaks in Swift's invented languages as a trained actor, moving in and out of outlandish characters evocatively. However, his narration is too even and lacks any sense of threat or emotional upset. When Gulliver is tied to the ground by the Lilliputians, or longs for the company of the horse-like Houyhnhnms, Shaw sounds as relaxed as he did when talking about Gulliver's dinner. This removes the edge from a social satire that should be truly cutting. G.T.B. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

Naxos follows its usual practice of punctuating the narrative with carefully chosen classical music segments appropriate to the mood of the particular part of the story. Neville Jason reads this classic satire, supposedly a travelogue to remote islands with bizarre inhabitants, with an intense British voice that is crisp and effective. This is a heavy abridgment of the original, with some choppiness in continuity. Everyone will recognize the Lilliputians and the giants of Brogdingnag; the airborne islanders and intelligent horses are less familiar. Abridger Daniel Eilon retains the story's essential core, and Jason captures the tone well. D.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Swift framed an incisive parody of his times in the form of the first-person travel book popular in his day. Instead of exotic ports of call, Gulliver chances upon -- but who doesn't know the general thrust of the tale? And the general thrust is about all we get in this abridgment. Less than meaningless today, the satire has been pared down to emphasize its fantastic and adventurous elements. The diction being beyond most modern kids, this is an ably read costume romance for adults. Those wishing to get the jokes should find the Norton annotated edition of the text. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

In this abridgment, Hugh Laurie brings us a Lemuel Gulliver unamazed by his matchless adventures. Swift's satire is pointed, as always, but this narrator's world-weary delivery dulls many of the writer's barbs. All the familiar scenes are here: Gulliver immobilized by the cords of the Lilliputians, putting out the palace fire with his unconventional hose, humbled by the gigantic Brobdingnags, cowed by the horsey Houyhnhnms. Sometimes the listener is grateful for Laurie's transparency: When Gulliver is kidnapped and force-fed by one of the Brobdingnag's pet monkeys, the prose is sufficiently horrifying and nauseating without an actor's gloss. However, in more charming moments, such as Gulliver piloting a tiny ship across a basin of water, propelled by the giant children's breath, one wishes for just the slightest trace of narrative awe to indicate that Gulliver doesn't travel this way every day. T.M. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Narrator Jasper Britton is spirited and enthusiastic in the latest rendition of the eighteenth-century travelogue to nonexistent lands of Lemuel Gulliver. The story is essentially plotless, but Britton keeps the satirical inventiveness rolling along. We all remember Lilliput, with the tiny people, and maybe even Brobdingnag, with the very large people; but how about the angular folks of Laputa, with their bizarre, useless experiments, or the enlightened Houyhnhnm horses that never lie and practice birth control? Gulliver shares stories of England with his various hosts, and Britton is adept at translating Gulliver's outrage and disbelief at obstructionist lawyers, crooked politicians, needless wars, lack of education for girls, and everything else. The whinnying, horsey voice of the Houyhnhnms that Britton adopts is particularly noteworthy. A.B. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

Gulliver's encounters with fantastic peoples and creatures--from the small-statured Lilliputians to the stargazing Liputians--reach to the far corners of the world. As narrator, David Hyde Pierce wonderfully captures the wit and irony of this much-loved classic. Despite Gulliver's detailed, and sometimes cumbersome, descriptions of strange lands and their inhabitants, Pierce doesn't miss a beat. His melodic voice wraps perfectly around Swift's eighteenth-century language. His pronunciations of the imaginative languages are delightful, especially the neighing expressions of the Houyhnhnms, a utopian society of horses. In a book in which the author's voice comes through on every page, Pierce's consistently matter-of-fact tone fits Swift's own. His reading highlights the author's humor and sarcasm, pulling the listener into this fantastic journey. D.M.W. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine