Moby Dick

De: Herman Melville

Narrado por: B. J. Harrison

In the dark depths of the bottomless sea dwells a white demon, taking shape as the Leviathan known as Moby Dick. One year ago, the malefic brute crunched off the leg of the ungodly Captain Ahab, who now swears revenge. So runs the epic tale of Moby Dick, the supernal work of Herman Melville. In this unabridged production, you will walk with the young sailor Ishmael through the fires of life on a whaling vessel. Each character is brought to life by the narration of B.J. Harrison, who also turns Melville’s sometimes over-potent expository information into an easily digestible treat.

Public Domain (P)2013 B.J. Harrison

Thar she blows!

If you could sum up Moby Dick in three words, what would they be?

Great American Classic! B.J. Harrison's reading is amazing. He uses a different voice for each character, infusing the characters with their own personalities, thus bringing them to life. He has an incredible vocal range from highest tenor to lowest bass.

Ishmael, clearly learned, but an outsider, tells the story of Ahab and his desire to wreak vengeance on the white whale that bit off his leg, thus "dismasting" him. Ishmael explores obsession, madness, violence, love and prejudice by making astute observations on the social mores of the times, which are surprisingly relevant today.

One passage that particularly struck me was when Ishmael sees, for the first time, the tatooed countenance of one of his shipmates, Quequeg, a South Seas native, and immediately deems him a savage. However, Ismael quickly realizes that in most ways, Quequeg is more civilized than many of his peers, and acknowledges his error by saying, "Ignorance is the parent of fear." Ismael and Quequeg become fast friends.

Some reviewers have been upset by the detailed descriptions of the killing and processing of the whales. While I'm an animal anti-abuse advocate, I feel that those passages are integral to the existentialist nature of the book. I thoroughly encourage you to listen to this unabridged, rather than an unabridged, edition. I can't imagine that the cutting of any passages would do anything other than alter the deeper meaning of the book. It may take a little time to get used to the Victorian syntax, but the crafting of the sentences and sentiments is well worth the effort.

A classic

I understand now why this book is considered a classic. I feel that I should have read this earlier. I feel fortunate that I read it now. They're making a movie, I hope they don't screw it up.

Classic

Moby Dick is a pretty good story but just a heads up Melville loves to go on these really long monologues and asides. Still, very good story.

I love the English accent!

I evaluated a number versions of Moby Dick before picking this one. One concern I had was that although Melville was an American author, his speech would have most certainly been English. However, many of the orators of this work have contemporary American accents. This to me was not befitting this spectacular book of the time. Consider for ones that Ahab’s speech is all Shakespearean; this is a travesty if uttered with an American accent. No, I say! This book can only be read with an English accent as this orator does so eloquently. Thank you, I say!

best narration!

I finally heard this story in its entirety and the narration was very good! 135 chapters most are short, a classic worth knowing.