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Moby Dick

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Moby Dick

By: Herman Melville
Narrated by: Anthony Heald
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About this listen

 The outcast youth Ishmael, succumbing to wanderlust during a dreary New England autumn, signs up for passage aboard a whaling ship. The Pequod sails under the command of the one-legged Captain Ahab, who has set himself on a monomaniacal quest to capture the cunning white whale that robbed him of his leg: Moby-Dick. Capturing life on the sea with robust realism, Melville details the adventures of the colorful crew aboard the ship as Ahab pursues his crusade of revenge, heedless of all cost.Public Domain (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Sea Adventures Adventure

Critic Reviews

"The greatest of American novels." ( Atlantic Monthly)
"[A]n intense, superbly authentic narrative. Its theme and central figure are reminiscent of Job in his search for justice and of Oedipus in his search for truth."( Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature)
All stars
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Very pretty writing style. At times it got too detailed for my brain to stay focused on the story.

packed

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It has some good parts but it is very hard work to get into, the performance was good just the writing makes it difficult

Hard Work

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I haven’t been able to face getting back into Moby Dick since I was at school, so the Audible book felt like the most accessible. And I wasn’t disappointed. The tale itself is at its best a swashbuckling tale of camaraderie, mateSHIP and obsession and at its worst a sailor’s detailed manual of every single detail you could ever need to know about boats, whales and sailing knots. When it’s not getting bogged down by itself the story is a joy, and although Anthony Heald only appears to have one other accent as his disposal for characters, I grew to love him and his narrative styling over the course of the rather epic run-time. Would recommend if you love complete and utter immersion in the language.

“There she blows!”

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Having this book read to you is excellent. I have tried reading this book in novel form several times and given up. But it is just excellent having it read to you. Most enjoyable. Give it a go !

Brilliant classic

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Hermin Melville's story rightfully holds its place in the pantheon of classic 19th century literature. Whilst I spent the whole time feeling sorry for the whales, the book is an entertaining and balanced exploration of the whaling world as it existed in the 1840s-50s. The character studies and internal subjective thought perceptions of the various persons itself is wonderfully captured and presented. And the narration of this edition is simply masterful.

A true classic and an absorbing tale

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A 130 chapter look at the whaling industry, filled with funny anecdotes and incidents to make you ponder, capped off with a 5 chapter story about Moby Dick and Captain Ahab....

its a trip

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Anyone hoping for a fast Clipper though another Classic, will be disappointed. For this book is a slow boat with frequent ridiculously digressive stops. I was bored, tormented and had persistent mutinous thoughts of finding an abridged version. On finishing, I listened to the BBC’s In Our Time podcast, in which three academics lovingly discussed the book.

For all that, I am glad that I got through it. I would not have survived without the brilliant narrator. Certain parts were funny; characters were well-drawn, the detailed discourse on whaling was very useful in understanding the fabulous story itself and the action sequences.

I survived reading Moby Dick, so can you

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i read this when i was young and loved it, as an audio book in chunks of 2 hour blocks it was harder to follow the story. still delightful, just one of the rare few thats better read then listened to

harder than usual to get into for an audiobook

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the 15 hour build up was worth every second of the 30 minute conclusion.

what an ending!

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Brilliant prose, but so much fluff and unnecessary information on whales species we never see.
A modern edit would be brilliant.

Old Storytelling

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