Preview
  • A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

  • By: Henry David Thoreau
  • Narrated by: Jim Killavey
  • Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars (8 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

By: Henry David Thoreau
Narrated by: Jim Killavey
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.97

Buy for $20.97

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Very similar in style to Walden, and in fact written while he stayed at Walden Pond, this account chronicles Throeau's 1830 boat trip. In it, he weaves together travel writing, essays on religion, history, and lyrical poetry, as well as his own unique philosophy.

Public Domain (P)1990 Jimcin Recordings
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Editorial reviews

Voice actor Jim Killavey gives a melodious performance of A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, American writer and philosopher Henry David Thoreau’s first published book. His rich voice complements the expansive nature of the text, which is rife with symbolism and surprising in its structure. Thoreau’s narrative is an account of an excursion he took with his elder brother John in 1839. The pair travelled by boat and on foot, journeying from Concord, Massachusetts, to New Hampshire. The book is a moving memorial tribute to John, who died in 1842.

What listeners say about A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

powerful book and good reading

I have trouble understanding why people download a long book and then blast ( often unfairly as in this case ) the narrator. Samples are provided so you know what you are getting. I like to judge for myself so listened to the sample in spite of a review that had such a "blast."
I liked the sound and got the book. Moral of the story...You would not buy a car without taking a test drive. Don't get a book without listening to the sample and trust your own ears.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Thoughtful book

This is very much like WALDEN. If you want a fast paced advice book...forget it. This meanders, much like WALDEN, and switches from mundane to profound again and again. A book to savor, not to rush through. Unlike another reader, I had no problem with the reader..he was laid back but that's the kind of book it is. Sound quality was fine at 4.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book. Awful reading.

I would advise listening to the sample a couple time so you can decide where or not you can listen to this recording. I listened to the sample once, and I thought, 'Well, maybe it will grow on me. Give the guy a chance." Well, it didn't grow on me. The narrator of this recording seems to be clueless to the patterns, cadences of Thoreau's gorgeous prose.To my ear this reading is so bad that I'm not sure if I will ever finish this book. He pauses within sentences where he shouldn't, and rushes though phrases where he needs to slow down. He emphasizes unimportant words, and over emphasizes others, all very arbitrarily. The voice subordinates where it should coordinate, and vice versa. It seems, at times, that he is reading one...word...at...a...time. Many of Thoreau's sentences are long and flowing, but the reader seems to not be able to go with the natural flow of human speech. He can't make it though these kinds of sentences in a manner in which the listener can have any sense that he is at the beginning, middle or end of the sentence. You're listening along, and you might be ten words into the next sentence before you realize the last sentence has already ended. Or there's a weird pause and you're trying to figure out if it's the end, and then it just picks up and chugs along like rail cars rolling down a grade, unhitched from the locomotive. It's maddening.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Truly Awful Reader!

I only decided that the reader of "Concord & Merrimack" was not a robot when I listened to his reading of Walden, which is slightly better. Every syllable the same pitch, same tone, same volume, same tempo -- except when a word is apparently unfamiliar when it's sounded out with long pauses between syllables. If indeed the reader is a flesh and blood human it's obvious he has less than no interest in what he's reading.

In addition, the sound quality of the supposedly high-quality file format I chose is execrable. Obviously exported from the lowest possible quality Mp3 or other lossy format.

A horrible experience and one I hope not to repeat!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful