Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Typee  By  cover art

Typee

By: Herman Melville
Narrated by: George Guidall
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.49

Buy for $21.49

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Editorial reviews

You probably heard of this novel when studying Melville in high school or college. You learned that it's a minor work and haven't thought of it since. But this was Melville's most popular book during his lifetime. It's a great adventure story, told by a master storyteller, and gives the feeling of having been lived firsthand. (For the most part, it was.) George Guidall provides a spirited narration of the plot-driven passages and enlivens expositional chapters (for example, Melville's extensive anthropological observations). Guidall's gift for wry humor and the arch comment serves him (and listeners) well throughout.

Publisher's summary

Herman Melville is one of the greatest figures in literary history. His classic Moby Dick is generally considered the finest novel ever written by an American. Yet in Melville’s day, Typee was a far more popular book. Largely autobiographical, this classic adventure story is set in the South Seas, where a runaway sailor is captured by the Typees. Described as “a fierce and unrelenting tribe of savages," the islanders have no intention of letting their captive go.

Public Domain (P)2002 Recorded Books, LLC

What listeners say about Typee

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    48
  • 4 Stars
    36
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    54
  • 4 Stars
    17
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    39
  • 4 Stars
    25
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Peeping Typee is Tapu; Reading Typee is Noa!

Herman Melville's first book Typee is a blend of creative memoir, cultural commentary, and good story telling. Melville recounts and elaborates on his experiences among the Typee cannibals on the French Polynesian island of Nuku Hiva (Marquesas Islands) in 1842. Typee ended up being Meville's best-selling book during his lifetime, no doubt due to both his skill as a writer mated with his romantic story of life among Polynesian savages.

The book flows nicely and balances between the chasms of cultural superiority & nobel savage worship that can easily dominate these types of books. Reading this made me think of similar types of long-form journalism that catch fire in our day (Junger to Theroux to Conover to Vollmann). While approachable, it isn't Melville's best work, but shows early signs of motifs that would show up later in Moby-Dick, Billy Budd, etc.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Sailors view

I’ve sailed solo across the pacific and anchored my boat in the bay at Taipevai. How have I never read this classic?! The locals are fabulously welcoming and friendly. Though the valley has a few paved roads now, with a little hiking, the platforms for the houses and the carved stone faces of the gods were still to be found.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Great treatment

The narrator does a wonderful job with this minor classic. Part novel, mostly travelogue, and full of charming descriptions and turns of phrase.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Average Story with a Below Average Narrator

The story takes 11.5 hours to tell what could be said in 3 hours--pretty much filled with useless meandering descriptive words that do not add any value to the story as a whole. Melville is too bombastic which makes it wearisome. On top of that, the story is unbelievable. Still, I trudged on because I wanted to learn what happened in the end. Instead of a bang, I got a little peep. Moreover, the narrator is horrible. Half of the time he sounds like he is speaking with a mouth full of marbles and the other half of the time I found myself wishing that he would swallow the mouth full of saliva because that's what it sounded like to me. This is my first Melville and I'm working my way to Moby Dick. I hope the journey gets better.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Well, written, engrossing true story

Herman Melville displays his writing chops with this amazing, true travelogue. The narration is expertly done by an actor who is quite familiar with the material.
Thoroughly enjoyable!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A not too absorbing Travel Diary, BUT...

...the vocabulary, syntax and metaphor of Melville remain both a inspiration and reproach to the peddlers of the written word today. What a GIANT of the English Language. Few authors can compare. Recommended for anyone who wants to be swept away - not so much by the south sea tropics - but by the beautiful eloquence of a master’s pen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Suprised

Was suprised and very satisfied with this recording. Great narration and a great story. I would recommend without hesitation.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!