Moby-Dick is widely considered to be the Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story details the adventures of the wandering sailor Ishmael and his voyage on the whale ship Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab. Ishmael soon learns that Ahab seeks one specific whale: Moby Dick, a ferocious, enigmatic white sperm whale. In a previous encounter, the whale destroyed Ahab's boat and bit off his leg. And Ahab intends to take revenge.

Public Domain (P)2011 Trout Lake Media

Listening Length

23 hours and 41 minutes
Author

Herman Melville
Narrator

Mark Nelson
Audible release date

May 16, 2011
Language

English
Publisher

Trout Lake Media
ASIN

B00515I6K0
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	23 hours and 41 minutes
Author	Herman Melville
Narrator	Mark Nelson
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	May 16, 2011
Publisher	Trout Lake Media
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B00515I6K0
Best Sellers Rank	#28,440 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #760 in Classic Literature (Audible Books & Originals) #1,362 in Literary Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) #3,116 in Classic Literature & Fiction

Customer reviews

5 star		72%
4 star		14%
3 star		7%
2 star		3%
1 star		4%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Deborah Bailey

It has small letters but it’s a great book

Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2022

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I love this book because I am 10 years old and it’s a classic and all the people I don’t like it I’m sorry to say but you’re crazy and it’s an absolutely good book I recommend that I give it five stars you need to buy it like it’s $10 that is cheap am going to collect Moby Dick books And my most favorite books so I went in first place was dying light nightmare oh alien isolation and coralien it’s better than all those books and I highly recommend it hope you like the book I think you will.

12 people found this helpful

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Smurf

Obvious he was paid by the word

Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2018

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I tried. I really tried. Multiple times. But the page after page describing all the different types of whales in the most minute of detail, and the sentences that stretch so long that by the end of them I'd realize I couldn't figure out for the life of me what point he was trying to make. I finally decided life is to short to torture myself with a book I'm just not enjoying, and I moved on. Maybe I'll try again in another 10 years.

132 people found this helpful

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ViveElan

Wow!

Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2019

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Well, I promised my brother I would read this- well I finally did it. There is a lot to this book. I really want to read some things written about this to help me digest it. Meville's language and writing is beautiful. He extensively researched this book. It made me want to read current books regarding whale behavior and anatomy. The whaling business was horrific, violent, terrible on so many levels. I wonder if whales remember the horror. Horrible, sometimes humans are just incredibly terrible to our precious beautiful world.
There were so many stories within the story: the story of the bird stealing Ahab's hat, the story of the blacksmith who (I believe) got drunk and couldn't help when his family was burglarized. So, many stories. I think the length of it is meant to help you understand and feel the length of the voyages, 3-4 years at sea!
My final thought, at this point, (there may be more later) is that the book is 136 chapters and Moby Dick shows up in the last three.
Just a note: I have read 2 books on the sinking of the whaleship the Essex, that Melville based his story on.

46 people found this helpful

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Chris

An American Classic that can be tough to read but a treat to listen to

Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2017

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A very enjoyable listen. Well narrated and takes a long time to get through, my two main requirements for an audiobook :). I tried reading this when I was young (luckily never given it as an assignment) and it is a tough read. Herman Melville was a master of the poetic phrase and it is beautiful to listen to but a trudge to read imho. A true American classic of the dangers of revenge and mob mentality. It also provides a time-machine like glimpse into the powerful American whaling industry and once again demonstrates the American concept (for good or bad) that whatever the world does we will outstrip it. I was especially pleased with the authors (narrators) view on the belief that mankind could never kill enough whales to endanger their numbers in the ocean and provides an interesting analogy separating their killing from the American Buffalo. Sadly, little did he know of where technology and seafaring were headed just a few decade later. I spent .99 for the kindle book and got the audio for free so I count it as money well spent.

56 people found this helpful

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Dr. David P. Craig

An Astounding Achievement in Literature

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2022

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I have to admit that I have picked up Moby Dick several times over the years and never been able to read it all the way through. One of my New Year’s Resolutions this year was to read Moby Dick from cover to cover no matter what the cost! I can now finally say that I’ve read Moby Dick from cover to cover. Was it worth it? I would say, absolutely yes!

We live in an age of instant gratification and a lack of imagination. Melville’s classic goes against the grain of both of these “modernisms.” Moby Dick is lengthy, verbose, tangential, and yet he manages to wax amazingly and fascinatingly into the realms of human nature, philosophy, science, history, theology, and numerous other realms. It is a journey in reading that I’ve never experienced before.

It helped me immensely to do to things to persevere through the book. (1) I decided to read only one or two chapters a day and not try to rush through it. (2) I read the book along with the Audible reading by Anthony Heald. Heald masterfully read the book and through his interpretations of cadence and accents of the various characters added immensely to the enjoyment of the plot.

Melville’s use of language, change of pace, colorful and imaginative descriptions, and brilliance in his weaving of a myriad of themes makes the book a masterpiece. It took me a few times in my life to get through the entire book, but now that I have made the journey, not only was it worth it, but I will most definitely make this journey again and again. I am looking forward to reading it again. It’s the type of book that has so much depth in its symbolism, so much creativity, so much to ponder, that it bids you to come back and feast again. It’s no wonder it has been dubbed “The Great American Novel.” A well earned and deserved title by Melville. Its ilk will never likely be written again. I will forever treasure Moby Dick.

Take up Moby Dick and read it slowly, and ponder its truths. It will feed your senses and your soul. I am grateful for this masterpiece of literature. I hope that it will continue to be treasured in a world of quick fixes, fast food, and fads. Melville’s book is a delightful respite for the tranquility of the soul - especially as he touches on the meaning of life. I found it to draw me closer to my own sinfulness and the transcendent holiness and justice of God. What an amazing journey. All I can say is “Thank You” Mr. Melville for writing this treasure, and if you have never read it - take it up and read it. If you have already read it, take it up again and go deeper into its truths and delights.

2 people found this helpful

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Owen Chase

Moby Dick

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2018

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I've read Moby Dick several times, but reading it on a Kindle is much easier by simply being self-contained in a light, small package. Moby Dick is one of the most mysterious characters in American literature. It represents many things that are beautiful, terrifying and incomprehensible in the universe. The story of an obsessed captain and his quest to hunt down and kill the great, white whale has become part of our American consciousness , retold in everything from comic books to Hollywood movies. It's a tall tale about the pursuit into the unknown, the struggle between reason and madness; good and evil. It's a novel filled with metaphors and symbols. And the biggest one of all is the great, white whale.

10 people found this helpful

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M. Dowden

A Masterpiece

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 2, 2018

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My all-time favourite book, this is most definitely a masterpiece. Although Melville did have initial success by the end of his life his name was more or less forgotten because novels such as this one did not really sell, indeed this was already out of print before the author died, and when first published met with a bevy of very mixed reviews. Thankfully in the 1920s this was re-discovered and hailed as the masterpiece that it of course is, as well as being the ‘Great American Novel’.

Its structure and plotting were ahead of its time, which was probably one reason it never did that well at its original publication, but also this holds up a mirror to us all, and to be honest no one likes to see themselves, warts and all. With one of the most famous openings in all of literature, ‘Call me Ishmael.’ it is simple and yet eloquent. Within its multiple narrative style so we hear from our narrator, but also this does give us other perspectives throughout, as it draws on many influences and other works, giving us not only an intimate portrayal of the whaling business and life on a whaling ship, but also the different types of whale, and what the whole business was set up for.

Of course as we all know, what should be just a normal whaling voyage becomes something more here, as Captain Ahab is set on vengeance, wanting to locate the whale Moby-Dick, that has crippled him. Changing to a script at times, thus making some chapters more like a play so the structure and planning of this was unlike anything that went before, but it all meshes together quite seamlessly.

Taking in such themes as religion, spirituality, bigotry, the pursuit of the mighty dollar, revenge, hate and love, with friendship and so on this has much to offer any reader, although as with any intelligently written book that takes in many themes and issues this does require a close and careful read to gain the full effect and power of the story. After all, if you think that this is just a novel about whaling, I am sorry to say that you have not understood what you have read. In all once read this is something that you won’t easily forget and is in all a fantastically wonderful piece of prose, showing that the novel is a form that can offer us so much.

35 people found this helpful

SusannahB

Very Good in Parts...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 17, 2019

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I have been meaning to read ‘Moby Dick’ since I was a teenager and although I’ve read a large amount of classic literature over the years, I’ve somehow never quite got around to Herman Melville’s novel which tells of Captain Ahab and his quest to kill the whale that removed one of his legs in a previous encounter. So when I spotted this very attractively presented Penguin Classics Deluxe edition, I decided that now was the time to read it - but was it worth the wait? Well, this is a difficult question to answer because this book is one that totally engaged me in some respects, but not in others.

Firstly I very much enjoyed the beginning of the book where Ishmael meets up with the tattooed Queequeg at the Spouter Inn and of the start of their ‘bosom’ friendship; I also enjoyed reading how Ishmael and Queequeg get taken on to work as whalers on the ship ‘Pequod’ and of Ishmael’s initial meeting with the grizzled one-legged seafarer, Captain Ahab, who is intent on exacting his revenge on Moby Dick; and I enjoyed the author’s descriptions of situation and setting aboard a nineteenth century sailing ship.

What I found a bit difficult was the amount of information about the whaling industry, some of which I found rather upsetting, especially where the author writes about the hunting of female whales with calves, and although some of the information was very interesting (for example: how if a male whale is attacked its fellow males will hastily make their escape, but if a female whale is attacked, other females will try to help her) there was too much that I found discomfiting. I also found there to be a little too much in the way of extraneous information and too many digressions for this story to work well for me and although I know the author had a purpose in writing in this way, I have to admit to finding parts of this book rather wearing.

I am aware that this book is a great American classic and has other themes apart from those that are immediately obvious, and I did enjoy parts of the story and found the ending totally gripping - however, despite being informed that this novel improves with subsequent readings, it's most probably not a book I would pick up again. In summary, I'm glad I finally got around to reading 'Moby Dick', but I’m also rather glad I’ve finished it too.

3 Stars.

19 people found this helpful

Gryphon

Illustrated Moby Dick

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 26, 2019

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I purchased the illustrated Moby Dick off Amazon, I brought this edition to replace my second hand-battered paperback book. This has been one of my worthwhile purchases, for some reason I thought the book would be a slender, but it turned out to be a massive beautifully illustrated edition, don't be put off by the size it nice to have a quality book which can act as a coffee table item for guest to flip through, bedside reading companion. I'm putting my on a book shelve for a rainy day or when one is snowed in and can't get to work. The story is epic and very well written if you into to seafaring stories it a classic, like Gone with the Wind is a romance story to end or romance stories. I can't think of any modern epic stories possible Dune modern time epic stories tend to be done as a series of books not a one off. I like illustrated books and like them not to be flimsy I brought the illustrated special edition The Alchemist and The Restless Girls.

14 people found this helpful

The Prophet Zarquon

Penguin Clothbound Classics Edition – Moby Dick

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 27, 2021

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A great novel. The introduction, notes, glossary, diagrams and maps are excellent. But the text is just awful. It appears to have come out of a malfunctioning inkjet printer – with deformed letters, spontaneous lines of semi-italics, and a great many black flecks in random places. Why? I have hardback pocket editions of literary classics (Chatto, Dent, Cape, Macmillan) produced in the 1920s and 1930s, with beautiful, legible type. How can a century of technical advances result in such inferior print quality? Neither Penguin nor the printer – Clays – should have put their names to this.

I had hoped to buy some more of this range, but I won’t be doing that now. If you want a hardback (and I do) get a different edition. A wasted opportunity. Avoid.

2 people found this helpful

Mariah

Annoying sticker!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 26, 2018

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Lovely looking book, however there was a price sticker on the back and unfortunately it has left a mark on the book, peeling off some of the pattern. I’m annoyed because I ordered 3 of these style books, and the other came with a card around the book with the price on, and I wish this could have been the same for all the books as the sticker has now ruined it.

14 people found this helpful

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