ISLAND

For listeners who revel in social critique and utopian philosophy, Aldous Huxley's 1962 work will come alive, especially with Simon Vance's energetic narration. Vance layers the narration with voices for a catalogue of characters--from precocious children to raspy elders, from East Indian students to robotic myna birds--all teaching a Westerner about the ideas and practices of a fictional Polynesian ideal society. Will Faranby, a shipwrecked journalist, learns about the society's notions of child rearing, education, health, and death, all liberally sprinkled with Eastern religion, psychology, and mythology. Like BRAVE NEW WORLD, this treatise intends to be mind bending and life changing, qualities that are emphasized in Vance's passionate telling. Not a novel with characterization and plot, ISLAND instead focuses on conversations about compassion, awareness, harmony with nature and science, and hope. R.T. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2016]