Preview

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 $9.32

Buy for $9.32

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

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.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

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)

What listeners say about Billy Budd

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    186
  • 4 Stars
    82
  • 3 Stars
    61
  • 2 Stars
    24
  • 1 Stars
    15
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    191
  • 4 Stars
    70
  • 3 Stars
    32
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    6
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    148
  • 4 Stars
    77
  • 3 Stars
    55
  • 2 Stars
    21
  • 1 Stars
    11

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

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

Sad but beautiful story

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

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Delivers a punch!

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. 

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Verbose

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

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Didactic

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.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

a great Voyage of a story

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

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

A great book

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.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Wonderful!

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.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Wow

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

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Intriguing narration, classic historical fiction.

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.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Very good

The narrator is good. His voice is very deep and somewhat brooding.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful