
Billy Budd, Sailor
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Narrated by:
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William Roberts
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By:
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Herman Melville
About this listen
Written some 40 years after Moby Dick, Melville's Billy Budd is a moving tale of good versus evil. Set aboard a British navy ship at the end of the eighteenth century, a young, innocent sailor's charm and good nature put the men around him at ease. Ship life agreed with Billy. He made friends quickly and was well liked, which infuriated John Claggart, the ship's cold-blooded superior officer.
Mutiny was a continual threat greatly feared by naval officers. Even minor offences were dealt with harshly to keep crews in their place, regardless of whether the accused was guilty or innocent.
The envious Master-at-Arms becomes obsessed with the destruction of the 'Handsome Sailor' and torments the young man until his false accusations lead to an eventual charge of treason against Billy.
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As many may already know, there are various copies of Billy Budd (BB: Foretopman, BB: Sailor, etc.) because Melville never published the novella in his lifetime. However, I listened to this audiobook while reading along with the Norton Critical Edition of Billy Budd, and the changes were hardly distinct (except for the name of the ship Indomitable vs. Belipotent and an added paragraph towards the end of the novella).
Anyway, I've listened to this audiobook 4 times since I bought it, and it's a great version in my opinion.
A good reading of a classic story
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I would recommend this to my entire family, friends, my book club!
I chose this rating because of how cool, well written, amazing well read, and overall fantastic the book was!!!!
Awesome
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Billy Budd
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Billy is eventually put under false charges, and reacts violently. Thus, Billy becomes unfairly charged, but being properly prosecuted for his violent reaction when unfairly charged. Needless to say, the crew is in Billy’s favor, but the book next weights the need of the admiralty law to prevail and keep order and the crew’s demand for true and proper justice.
A short novel, with multitudes of character interactions, deep seated conflicts in right and wrong, justice and equity and the disregard of those in control for the common man. All that counts is keeping those in power in authority.
Great little story.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
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William Roberts was the perfect voice for this story and gave an authentic sound to this tale. If you enjoy classics, give this short story a listen. It did not disappoint.
Short Piece of Classic Literature
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Billy Budd is basically the perfect guy if a bit simple. He's beautiful and friendly and everyone likes him except for the guy that doesn't due to a genetic defect of character. That guy, also a good looking guy who, aside from his crappy police officer type of job and the aforementioned character defect, accuses our Christ figure in front of the captain. Billy reacts by getting so tongue-tied that he slugs the "cop". The cop naturally dies. Now we get to the meat of the story, in the post-trial monologue scene. Here the captain must convince the officers/jurists that regardless of how awesome Billy is and how sketchy that other guy may have been, Billy's got to go down for the crime he committed.
They hang him.
There's some light follow-up afterward but basically, the act of hanging Billy didn't earn anyone karmic credits.
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