Moby Dick

By: Herman Melville

Narrated by: B. J. Harrison

Length: 24 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Outstanding! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Moby Dick has long been one of my favourite books and after twenty years of enjoying it as a book I decided I’d give an audio version a go instead. This unabridged version read in all its glory by B.J Harrison gave new life and depth to a story I know and love so well. Absolutely outstanding! By the end I was in tears because I really got sucked into the drama and emotion and didn’t want it to finish. I would give it ten stars if I could. Bravo! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A true wordsmith

It takes listening / reading a classic such as this to reveal just how far our collective vocabulary has fallen over the decades. Each sentence in this book has been carefully crafted. Not a paragraph goes by without the use of an archaic word perfectly selected to provide precise meaning.

A joy to listen to and hours of appreciation coupled with sadness for the literature of today.

A Whale of a Tale

An epic book, and well read by BJ Harrison - he did a good job voicing the characters, though I found the tone of his narrative style to be a bit pompous in inflection for my taste, which wore on me a bit. Still, very well done. Love this story

Fair.

Endless obtuse soliloquies and descriptions. Almost no action. Story moved fairly well in first and final few chapters.

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.

Gripping Classic

I revisited this classic book, having studied the abridged version in high school. It was better than I remembered, although it does tend to get bogged down in details at times, which is why it was abridged, I guess.

The performance was great overall, though a little over-the-top in a very few places. By the epic ending, I was hooked and wanting to know more about the New England whaling industry, which is thankfully, now defunct. Incredible to me that people actually did this at one time. Great tale of morality, hubris and character study.

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.