Moby Dick cover art

Moby Dick

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Moby Dick

By: Herman Melville
Narrated by: Frank Muller
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £19.73

Buy Now for £19.73

Summary

Its famous opening line, "Call me Ishmael", dramatic in its stark simplicity, begins an epic that is widely regarded as the greatest novel ever written by an American. Labeled variously a realistic story of whaling, a romance of unusual adventure and eccentric characters, a symbolic allegory, and a drama of heroic conflict, Moby Dick is first and foremost a great story. It has both the humor and poignancy of a simple sea ballad, as well as the depth and universality of a grand odyssey.

When Melville's father died in 1832, the young man's financial security went too. For a while he turned to school-mastering and clerking, but failed to make a sustainable income. In 1840 he signed up on the whaler, Acushnet, out of New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was just 21. A whaler's life turned out to be both arduous and dangerous, and in 1842, Melville deserted ship. Out of this experience and a wealth of printed sources, Melville crafted his masterpiece.

Public Domain (P)1987 Recorded Books, LLC. Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Sea Adventures Adventure Thought-Provoking Witty
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c

Critic reviews

"Master narrator Frank Muller makes the most of his astonishing theatrical talents and vast experience to perform this tale of extraordinary drama. Muller uses emphasis and pauses to bring clarity to the visual depictions of life on the high seas, as seen by the doe-eyed Ishmael as he is led by the maniacal Captain Ahab. Listeners will hear the depth of emotions in Muller's voice as he paints the stark and shattering visuals of this classic story of revenge and, ultimately, survival." (AudioFile magazine)

All stars
Most relevant
I came to listen to this book having seen the film and with some knowledge of the story. But the book has more in it than I could ever have imagined. It is truly a work of great fiction. The main story itself is only probably a tenth of the book. The other nine tenths contains tales and facts which will entertain, amaze, inform you and even make you smile. Reading the book would always be a daunting prospect but not so listening to it read by a master story teller, Frank Muller, it is sheer joy. I heard his voice in my head long after I stopped listening. I cannot recommend this audio too highly.

An amazing classic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Moby Dick, grippingly read in this version, is a true and unique classic. Yes, it is unorthodox in its construction, mixing together adventure and myth, an examination of the technique, history and sheer brutal power of the whaling life, symbol and reality - but that mixture is part of its uniqueness and power
Captian Ahab hunts the white whale which wounded or "dismasted" him halfway around the world. His hatred for the beast is so powerful that it stills any opposition to his quest and leads to ultimate destruction. Is this a prophecy? Man wounds nature until nature destroys man? You can read the whole book in so many ways.
I love the way small objects in the great whale hunt become ambiguous emblems. A tomahawk becomes a peace pipe; a coffin becomes a life-saver and so on.
It's a book like the sea itself. It has storms and squalls and beauty and ferocity and some doldrums and calms. But even when it is at its most wordy, you know that the whale will rise again from the depths to strongly tow the book and Ahab's ship along.
The narrator does a fine job. His voice is steady but dramatic and there are no slips or hesitations. A perfect reading.
It's tragic that after publishing this book in 1851, Herman Melville, harpooned by critics, sank more or less out of sight and the book was only "rediscovered" as a masterpiece around the 1920s.
If you haven't yet boarded The Pequod or encountered its crazed captain, this audible version of the book might start your voyage out in great style.

A wonder of the watery and literary world

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved listening to this book. I have wanted to read it since I was a child but the length put me off. Listening to it is a most enjoyable experience especially this version, read so eloquently. The reader gets the voices right and captures well the poetry of Melville's classic work. It is one of the few audio books I will listen to again.

Just Brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If you've already decided you're going to listen to this famous American novel, this is a great edition to pick: Frank Muller is an absolutely joy to listen to. His pitch and speed are very easy to listen to, and he handles the wide variety of characters, scenes and expositions expertly. Highly recommended.

On the other hand, if you're trying to make your mind up about the novel itself it's not so clear. While Moby Dick has a great central story, it's not nearly as long as its enormous length implies. This regular length story is padded with an enormous amount of detail. Most, but by no means all, of this detail is interesting, but having sections of encyclopaedia unapologetically crammed into various parts of the story is jarring. Melville could have done with a good editor, who would hopefully have forced him to weave the pertinent detail into the story and leave the rest out!

The other issue is the characters' use of language. The novel was published in 1851, so obviously you'd expect a certain amount of archaic language. However, I suspect that this dialogue would have been considered flowery and archaic even in 1851. Pompous, even.

I don't want to leave you with the impression that it's a bad book: it's not. I have enjoyed it, and its insight into whaling in the first half of the 19th century. However, despite its reputation, it's certainly not without some significant flaws.

Great narration, but Melville needed an editor

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Two things i've been doing for many years; listening to audiobooks and trying to read Moby Dick-normally getting about 3 pages in and giving up, and then telling people what a load of rubbish it is. Frank Muller is for me the king of narrators, and he deftly brings each of the characters in Melville's masterpiece to life,as a result i now consider Moby Dick to be the best book i've ever 'read', and by a nautical mile the best audiobook i've ever listened to. Essential.

Essential listening

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews