Billy Budd Audiobook By Herman Melville cover art

Billy Budd

Preview
Try for $0.00
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.

Billy Budd

By: Herman Melville
Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $10.28

Buy for $10.28

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

About this listen

Billy Budd, an orphaned, illegitimate child suffused with innocence, openness, and natural charisma, has been impressed into service aboard the HMS Bellipotent. He is adored by the crew, but for unexplained reasons arouses the antagonism of the ship's Master-at-Arms John Claggart, who falsely accuses Billy of conspiracy to mutiny.

Set in 1797, Herman Melville's Billy Budd exploits the tension of this period during the war between England and France to create a tale of satanic treachery, tragedy and great pathos that explores human relationships and the inherently ambiguous nature of man-made justice.

Public Domain (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Classics Inspiring
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_T1_webcro805_stickypopup

Critic reviews

" Billy Budd has excited the most admiration and commentary of any work by Melville except Moby-Dick. It has the translucence and the loose weave of last works. A lifetime sifts into it. Whenever Melville ventures onto shipboard, the reader feels the deck beneath his feet." (John Updike)
"In this last of Melville's works, published posthumously, the author dramatized the clash between natural goodness and innocence as personified by Billy Budd, and unprovoked evil as embodied in Claggart." ( Masterpieces of World Literature)
Gripping Tale • Moving Prose • Rich Narration • Timeless Story • Masterful Writing • Soothing Voice
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
Sometimes a book is written so well that what is not written is most important.

Billy's interview with Vere

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

It seems the author was fond of using as many syllables as possible when fewer would suffice.

Verbose

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

The story of Billy Budd is timeless and burns with a gemlike flame but the writing feels instructive and preachy. The performance here is strangely wooden, more recitation than embodiment.

Didactic

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

Didn’t expect this story would be as moving as it is. Available for free. Thank you.

Sad but beautiful story

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

Whew! Quite a powerful short story! Set in 1997 aboard a English war ship this story about a an able seaman held appeal to me as an aficionado of sailing ships & its crews. This fiction occurs in that labile period shortly after the English Navy mutinies & not long before Nelson’s feats. I found it necessary to plow through excessive descriptive sentences characteristic of the writing style of Melville’s time but after all the characters were developed the storyline smooths out to become a gripping tale that I won’t soon forget. 

Delivers a punch!

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

a wonderful day all the voyage and a life Billy Budd. another great story by Herman Melville

a great Voyage of a story

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

A wonderful book that I found to be developmental and maturative for a young man coming of age such as myself. I found this book to be relatable and generally intelligent. I further highly recommend this book.

A great book

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

Stefan Rudnicki’s voice alone is worth the listen. Melville’s now archaic language and style is a wonderful treat, full of interestingly constructed sentences and rich word choices. I found myself smiling and even laughing out loud in spite of myself at the sheer joy of masterful writing. Melville is a legend for a reason.

The story unwinds with a sense of foreboding, a tacit knowledge of approaching tragedy, and finishes in moving prose. Let this sea tale and Rudnicki’s sonorous baritone roll you into another time and place as a great audiobook ought.

Wonderful!

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

So many words. It was difficult to hear the story through all of those unnecessary words.

Wow

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

The narrator’s voice is rich and soothing, but the English accent he imitated was poorly done. Good consistency in the uniqueness of each voice of the characters.

Intriguing narration, classic historical fiction.

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

See more reviews