GEORGE ORWELL: A BBC RADIO COLLECTION

This generous set of programs provides listeners with an excellent introduction to George Orwell's works and life. The dramatization of 1984 gives a somewhat hurried and incomplete sense of the book, but the acting is fine, and the story still harrowing. The same is true of ANIMAL FARM (script by Orwell), which conveys the book's theme of overwhelming injustice. Episodic dramatizations of Orwell's biography--his time in Spain, his life up to writing 1984 and his death, and his early experiment in poverty, DOWN AND OUT IN LONDON AND PARIS--are performed by polished and congenial actors whose deliveries are well paced and affecting. The audio programs won't replace reading Orwell's books but do provide a helpful and engaging supplement to his work. W.M. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2020]