Moby Dick (Naxos AudioBooks) Audio CD – Unabridged, January 1, 2005

Herman Melville's 1851 novel defies pat description. As myth, it explores the human condition through odd, larger-than-life characters and a consistent, rip-roaring sense of parody. As poetry, Melville ties disparate objects --rigging, an ivory leg, whale blubber, a diverse representation of humanity--into a unified whole, then smashes it to pieces through the great leviathan, Moby Dick, a parable of a complex, wonderful and infinitely dangerous God.In a letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Melville called his book wicked, and I think Melville carried a genuine sense of guilt and reserve about his book through the remainder of his life. The book was provocative in its day, and the fun he pokes at Christendom bewildered his contemporaries. But this novel is Christian to the core, preaching the Golden Rule, lambasting hypocritical barbarism, and valuing of all God's creation. This includes the whale, whom as a man sensitive to animal suffering, Melville defends with great pathos and sympathy without succumbing to an unchristian-like condemnation of the whaler who is, after all, behaving as the Almighty made him, if not as intended. Melville leaves final judgment to God alone.The novel is dark comedy, and it's often ferociously funny. A memorable set piece is the early and sensational encounter between white Christian Ishmael, the omniscient narrator, and Queequeg, a heathen from the remote island of Kokovoko who, paradoxically to the American, "seemed taken of a spirit that would dare a thousand devils." Ishmael sees the humanity in the stranger, "Savage though he was"--and despite the tattoos--for as Ishmael the Christian can't help observing, "You cannot hide the soul." After fending off an axe attack, this white, 19th century whaler settles down for a night in bed with a brown islander, concluding its better to "sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian." This is said with a great deal of affection and tolerance. "I'll try a pagan friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but a hollow courtesy," notes the protagonist. The following morning, Ishmael finds the island native's "arm thrown over me in the most loving and affectionate manner. You had almost thought I had been his wife," then proceeds to describe a tomahawk "sleeping by the savage's side, as if it were a hatchet-faced baby." They are a "cosy, living pair" now. After paying tribute to Queequeg's wooden idol with a Presbyterian's respect for a Christian God's will that is, after all, "to do to my fellow man what I would have my fellow man to do me," the unlikely newlyweds trot into society "with heart's honeymoon," as "bosom friends," attracting stares and tisks galore. It's very funny stuff, especially coming from a Victorian writer, who clearly is telling his fellow citizens just where to go--and where they're likely going.Later Melville dives into deeper satire, painting a gorgeous and tragic portrait of the whale and its pathetic plight: one not unlike our own, as Melville reminds us. As mankind butchered these majestic beasts, "thousands of sharks, swarming round the dear Leviathan, smackingly feasted on its fatness ... scooping out huge globular pieces of the whale of the bigness of a human head." The crew can't resist feasting on these "fritters" themselves, although this "great prize ox of the sea" is "too fat to be deliciously good." The enterprise of extracting oil for lamplights, Melville says, is often unprofitable for its investors - a loose coalition of managers, widows and orphans - but the slaughter goes on nonetheless.At the end of the novel, Melville launches his greatest ridicule, where white Christendom is exposed as its own worst enemy, and where the practice of Christianity, per se, stands in the way of Judeo-Christian benefits. "Now, there is this noteworthy difference between savage and civilized; what while a sick, civilized man may be six months convalescing, generally speaking, a sick savage is almost half-well within a day." Christians, when visiting Pacific islands, will drink from a ceremonial bowl as an uncouth guest drinks from a finger bowl, while pagans earn great value as harpooners and saviors in the West, and when the proverbial ship goes down, swirling into the infinite blackness of sea and death, Westerners cry out for their terminal lives, not believing, while pagans honorably accept their lot with a sense of fate, wisdom and courage.This is because we Western folk don't practice our own beliefs, Melville is saying. This was blistering commentary then, as it is now, and because of the ironic and sarcastic packaging of his message, Melville can be easily misunderstood today. He is both politically incorrect and politically correct at the same time, and this books remains misunderstood and underappreciated to this day: as Jesus flipped over tables in the temple, Melville sets out to please no master except God, truth and justice. This book is a masterpiece, ending with passages of stunning and poetic complexity.A few words on this abridged edition. Great Britain's Orion Books Ltd. has done a superb job of boiling the novel down to this page-turning, witty and lively narrative. I flew through the book for my third time in record time, a validation of the publisher's "In Half the Time" pitch. Important elements are missing, however, including the famous "whiteness of the whale" chapter. And some of the most beautiful passages in the novel, where Melville unleashes glorious defenses of the stricken whale, are given short shrift, leaving this edition a tad cold and ruthless--not Melville's intention. But the story shines through on the strength of Melville's prose, nonetheless, and Orion does a good job of preserving the novel's Shakespearean elements.I would say this edition is ideal for the layman, harried reader or repeat reader--anyone who doesn't have the time or patience to plod through the unabridged version--but for the serious reader, I recommend the complete novel. One complete edition that I highly recommend is Bantam's  Moby-Dick (Bantam Classics) , which includes hilariously clueless reviews from Melville's contemporaries. These texts add an important and relevant context for the story. Would critics receive the novel with comparable naivety today, and would Moby-Dick even find a publisher in today's world of corporation-dominated publishing? Bantam includes D. H. Lawrence's breakout review, as well, wherein the English writer opines that Moby-Dick "commands a stillness in the soul, as awe.... [It is] one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world." And it is.Although Moby-Dick may be the scourge of school age reading lists, it's great fun, and this edition is eminently readable. I recommend it.My Titles Shadow Fields Snooker Glen

You know that thin, sixtyish, balding guy at the gym who still uses a disc-man? Well, since late April, he has been listening to the estimable William Hootkins read MOBY-DICK. And guess what? Thirty minutes on the treadmill, twenty-five minutes on the treadmill, a day-off, and then repeat the three-day cycle and that persistent old guy has powered through all nineteen discs in the Naxos Audio Book. While this old buzzard doesn't claim to have actually read MOBY-DICK, he has heard Hootkins read it--every word. And the Hoot brings this masterpiece--which, let's face it, needed a stronger editor--to life. Any of you out there who have started and then put aside this great book might consider this same expedient approach, thereby ticking off another must-do on your bucket list.In his attempts to read Moby-Dick, this wizened gym rat never overcame a huge obstacle--namely, the voice of Ishmael. Certainly, even the defeated reader will recognize that Ishmael is a brilliant person who makes profound and insightful associations. And when he's talking about the universe, his thoughts haven't dated. But there is also something about his manner of speaking, the rhetoric of his language, that invites the mind to wander. But when Hootkins channels Ishmael? Well, the Hoot takes Ishmael's voice--he's the guy at the dinner party who isn't as charming or as wry as he thinks--and gives it focus and conviction. Then add to the mix Hootkins's orotund baritone, which is like the second-coming of Orson Welles. What you get is a prolix but plausible character and communicator. And while he has no sense of humor, he can hold the stage. Anyway... Call me Ishmael.Some of the chapters of MOBY-DICK are painfully boring. For example, chapters 54, 55, and 56 are: "Monstrous Pictures of Whales", "Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales", and "Of Whales in Paint, In Teeth, & C." And a strong editor might have asked: Gee, Herman, isn't this padding? Even so, Hootkins is a game reader and endows even these chapters with a kind of twisted delight. And the listener who endures such chapters and stays with the complete text will also encounter chapters 42, 47, and 48, which are the absolutely great: "The Whiteness of the Whale", "The Mat-Maker", and "The First Lowering". Then, the listener encounters Melville in his modes of profundity or great action writing. Hootkins, in other words, makes the best of what Melville gives him. And usually, that's a lot.The Naxos version of MOBY-DICK is highly recommended, especially for those who have been defeated in the past by this great American classic.I notice, by the way, that Naxos also offers an unabridged reading of PARADISE LOST. As Dr. Johnson said: "None wished it longer..."

I bought this for myself. Perhaps it has been updated because I read some negative reviews about the text, format and no page numbers. As you can see from the photo, the text here is very clean, chapter breaks in appropriate places, page numbers are included. Very neat looking book. With that being said, the cover will wear off at edges as can also be seen and I have some concerns about the spine holding up. I'm sure it will be fine through a reading and for that, I'm happy with it. I didnt pay $30 for it, but 13 and so I'm not complaining.

I purchased this as a gift only to find out well after the fact that it is only around 200 pages of the book.No I own partial Epic and because it was a gift I will have to purchase another.

Hootkins did a really great job reading through this novel, doing his best to retain interest in even the most boring of chapters. Listening to the majority of the novel in the car, I really feel like I received a much better understanding and experience for my first time going through the book by listening to this particular recording, over another or by actually reading the text. I felt engaged in the story the entire time and I really did lose myself to Hootkins' read.

Cover is nice. Edges all torn up.

Learned more than enough about whales. Some chapters were challenging to read. Learned many new words. Surprise quick ending.

Chose this edition because of the cover art, but the book itself is oddly large, with all the text centered and double spaced between paragraphs. Chapter headings appear in all parts of the page, some even on the bottom with the text of the chapter starting on the next page.

Better than slogging through the book I found. It's complete and unabridged. Only problem was I had to download the notes. I noticed a lot of clicking on the sound but otherwise it's ok. William Hootkins does a brilliant job as the narrator.

This is quite wonderfully read. I've ready Moby-Dick a million times. I'll now listen a million more to William Hootkins' beautiful rendering, where 'the great gates of the wonder-world' swing open yet again - and stay open for twenty-five enthralling hours of superb reading.

Excellent reading and characterization. Try reading several chapters and then listen to William Hootkins bring them to life. A joy.

I feel I was misled with this product. This is essentially a ruled lines notebook. This is not the novel Moby Dick. On each page at the bottom of the notepaper is a quote by random authors...some are from Moby Dick. As nice as it is, I was hoping to be able to read the actual story.

excellent