Typhoon

De: Joseph Conrad

Narrado por: Scott Brick

Calm, stoic captain Mac Whirr has just been given command of a new steamship, the Nan-Shan. He and his crew are transporting Asian workers across the China Sea when a sudden drop in atmospheric pressure alerts Whirr to "some uncommonly dirty weather knocking about".

Soon the steamship, her crew, and the human cargo are caught in the midst of a vicious typhoon. The impending disaster brings out the best and the worst in Whirr; Jukes, the chief mate; Solomon, the wise engineer; and the rest of the crew. Conrad shows that in the struggle for survival, true character will always be exposed.

©2003 Tantor Media, Inc.

Best of the Best

Five stars across the board! This is a great story told by a master story teller. It does not get any better than this.

Cooks a brilliant story out of a storm ...

"Don't you be put out by anything. Keep her facing it. They may say what they like, but the heaviest seas run with the wind. Facing it -- always facing it -- that's the way to get through. You are a young sailor. Face it. That's enough for any man. Keep a cool head."

Conrad can take a simple idea and gradually pull out of it the deep complexities of man. Typhoon is a novella that basically cooks a brilliant story out of a storm + a boat + Captain MacWhirr and his crew. Setting was fantastic. Characters were perfect. Story was tight. Narrative was interestingly rigged with letters from MacWhirr to his wife, Juke to his friend and Rout to his wife. These letters framed the narrative with a reflected look at the distance between those at sea and those who remain safe on land.

I only gave it four stars because I've read/listened to better novels by Conrad (Victory, Nostromo, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim), not because I've read/listened to many better writers