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Herman MelvilleMoby Dick, or the Whale

Librivox recording of Moby Dick, or the Whale, by Herman Melville.

Read by Stewart Wills

Few things, even in literature, can really be said to be unique -- but Moby Dick is truly unlike anything written before or since. The novel is nominally about the obsessive hunt by the crazed Captain Ahab of the book's eponymous white whale. But interspersed in that story are digressions, paradoxes, philosophical riffs on whaling and life, and a display of techniques so advanced for its time that some have referred to the 1851 Moby Dick as the first "modern" novel. (Summary by Stewart Wills)

For more free audiobooks, or to become a volunteer reader, please visit librivox.org.


This audio is part of the collection: LibriVox

Artist/Composer: Herman Melville
Source: Librivox recording of a public-domain text
Keywords: librivox; audiobook; literature

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: gez - - October 18, 2009
Subject: Thanks
Thank you, Stewart Wills, for reading Moby Dick to me. Your reading was excellent and made my DC commute seem much quicker. I appreciate very much the tremendous amount of time you put into this volunteer project. Thank you, sir.

Reviewer: prat - - September 23, 2009
Subject: Great reading
Its difficult to do a better job than this.

Reviewer: alamedared - - January 29, 2009
Subject: Timeless
Today's readers new to Melville ---and those that had to read this book in school--should listen to this version of Moby Dick. Melville's epic is intertwined with American history as it combines pure sea-going adventure, an encyclopedic background of whale trivia, with a questioning of our personal demons. Moby Dick is timeless and has influenced so many writers---there would no Jaws without it!! Enjoy.

Reviewer: elisabeththorn - - April 6, 2008
Subject: discovery
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Reviewer: hikinandbikin - - January 11, 2008
Subject: Well read, but what a let down
First off if you know you like the story Moby Dick you should download this. It is well read and I think captures the story. Also, this review is for the common reader not a literary critic.
However, If you have always heard about how great Moby Dick is but never read it, save yourself the time. Moby Dick is the kind of book that rambles through a massive string of jarring storytelling shifts to the point of being utterly frustrating. As the story progresses you soon discover that about every other chapter does nothing to advance the plot but is rather a complete change of subject to some highly detailed minutia that while loosely tied to the book add nothing to the story. It is like a Kevin Costner movie but worse. After I finished the book, which was a complete let down, I was left wondering how in the world Melville became known as a master. Perhaps I just don't get 20 century literature.

Reviewer: jrain - - January 5, 2008
Subject: But the reader!
Unfortunately I can't recommend listening to this version of Moby Dick. In the voice of a talking book you hope for either an actor that can invoke the narrator's or author's spirit or simply a good reader who just fades into invisibility, letting the words do their magic. With this recording you just get an artless nagging which distracts endlessly from Melville and Moby Dick. -jrain

Reviewer: TheBookworm - - November 4, 2007
Subject: Excellent reading
Well done Stewart! This must have been a HUGE project... but it's well worth it. Gratefully The BookWorm, Manchester, UK.

Reviewer: Chris Hughes - - April 12, 2007
Subject: A great read
A great book, and a fine reader - as good as you could pay for, for free!