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Moby Dick

Written by: Herman Melville
Narrated by: William Hootkins
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Publisher's Summary

"Call me Ishmael." Thus starts the greatest American novel. Melville said himself that he wanted to write "a mighty book about a mighty theme" and so he did. It is a story of one man's obsessive revenge-journey against the white whale, Moby-Dick, who injured him in an earlier meeting. Woven into the story of the last journey of The Pequod is a mesh of philosophy, rumination, religion, history, and a mass of information about whaling through the ages.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2005 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd.
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What listeners say about Moby Dick

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Masterpiece

Great story and performance. Always wanted to go through this book and was finally able too with audible.

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It’s a classic for a reason.

The narrator was brilliant. Able to cast a unique voice and timbre to each character.

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Fantastic

It would be difficult for me to read this book, but listening to it was excellent. Well worth the time.

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Worth hearing

What an odd American tale. I enjoyed the performance. I learned a lot about American whaling.

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Best reading out there!

It was a very dramatic reading. Loved it! Hootkins is fabulous. I have heard other readings of Moby Dick and nothing comes close to Hootkins

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Oh Captain, my Captain.

Wonderfully read. Truly.

At time the narrative can be somewhat tedious in its chapters on describing cetaceans, but it’s understandable that at the time this was written, there was no way to ‘google’ whales.

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Excellent Performance

While there is no doubt this is a great, timeless novel, parts are just as tedious as a three year whaling voyage. But the passionate narration helped get me through and I'm so glad I did! Thanks for the free classic, Audible!

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Quite Possibly the Greatest Novel I’ve Ever Read

This book is unbelievably good and the narrator is amazing. His Ahab impression is precisely how I imagined the disgruntled captain would sound.

Most People think that Moby Dick is about a man seeking revenge on a whale. While that may be the surface synopsis, I now realize that it’s actually about a man who cannot, despite his own admitted desire to do so, let go of his past, and it ends up destroying him and everyone around him.

Ahab has so strongly sought revenge that it has become a part of him like some malicious parasite. He has defined himself via his desire to exact vengeance upon the Leviathan, and since his identity is so tightly tethered to this desire, he begrudgingly proceeds on with what he knows will be his doom. Without Moby Dick there is no Ahab, and thus the two become one with the sea.

The characters, the themes, the whimsical imagery and elaborate use of metaphors, this book has it all! I kept thinking that one part would be my favourite only for it to be replaced by another. It just kept getting better and better and it’s climax and conclusion genuinely gave me shivers.

I’m definitely going to be rereading this masterpiece once a year going forward.

My sole criticism is that Melville goes off on weird tangents about miscellaneous whale trivia. There’s literally an entire chapter about the different species of whales.

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Excellent

Being much older now then when first exposed to Moby Dick I think I have learned a few things.

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Simply the best

If you’ve ever struggled reading this book I highly suggest listening to the audio version. The narration is incredible and brings to life this book.

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