The Shell Collector Audiobook By Anthony Doerr cover art

The Shell Collector

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
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 3 months. Cancel anytime.

The Shell Collector

By: Anthony Doerr
Narrated by: Hakeem Kae Kazim
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.95

Buy for $17.95

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

The exquisitely crafted stories in Anthony Doerr's acclaimed debut collection take listeners from the African coast to the pine forests of Montana to the damp moors of Lapland, charting a vast physical and emotional landscape. Doerr explores the human condition in all its varieties - metamorphosis, grief, fractured relationships, and slowly mending hearts - and conjures nature in both its beautiful abundance and crushing power. Some of his characters contend with tremendous hardship; some discover unique gifts; all are united by their ultimate deference to the mysteries of the universe outside themselves.

©2002 Anthony Doerr (P)2012 Audible, Inc. Anthologies Anthologies & Short Stories Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Short Stories Heartfelt
Beautifully Written Stories • Diverse Engaging Characters • Beautiful Voice • Imaginative Compelling Tales
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
Great outdoor themed stories, with some fish tales thrown in. Narrator’s voice well matched with content. Had me laughing out loud with some of the analogies.

Loved both the stories and the narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I read this after reading one of the author’s short stories in another collection.
The two stories I thought were great were:
The Shell Colector (the title story)
The Hunter’s Wife
Another very good story was:
Mkondo
I generally mildly liked all the other stories in the collection. It is unusual for me to like even a majority of the short stories in any collection.
I will likely read more from this author soon.

The narration was outstanding.

A very good collection of short stories

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
newfound LOVE for this author
storyteller leaves a bit wanting, but very beautiful & poignant stories

Amazing & compelling set of short stories!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Doerr spins highly imaginative, believable tales of a rich variety of characters. A Hunter and his wife with a gift for somehow reaching the lives of deceased creatures, including humans and conveying her visions to those touching her. A fisherman, who is having an affair. A blind shell collector living an ascetic life on a small island near Zanzibar that is interrupted by his encounters with a deadly poisonous snail. Another story involves a natural history museum curator who meats an extraordinary young Tanzanian woman in the jungle while on a solo dig for a prehistoric bird. All of characters are fascinating and relateable. I won’t describe the plots for the other stories, but I found myself engrossed in each of them. I strongly recommend this book for everyone.

Doerr, A Masterful Story Writer

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was Anthony Doerr's, author of the wonderful "All the Light We Cannot See," debut book. A collection of beautifully written short stories that are as much poetry as prose. Each story is so full of bold emotions and exquisite descriptions that I wanted every one to become a full length novel. Hakeem Kai Kazim was the perfect narrator.

Loved Every Story

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

Where does The Shell Collector rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This has been the absolute most entertaining book I've listened to so far. I'd feel so much excitement when I approached the end of my day, knowing I would listen to this book before bed.

Have you listened to any of Hakeem Kae Kazim’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't but he is now my favourite audiobook narrator I've ever heard. His voice adds so much to the earthy feel of this book. I wish he would narrate more books.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I really enjoyed the whale sequence in 'the caretaker'. The description of their large bodies and agonizing deaths was really captivating.

Any additional comments?

Anthony Doerr rights in such a beautifully poetic way, but never reaches the side of excess. All of these stories have such an earthy feel to them which made them so much more entertaining to me. I have a deep passion for the wilderness and this book expresses so much of nature's magic.

Absolute best book I've read/ listened to so far

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really liked the first couple of stories, then I got bored. Nothing really grabbed me in the last stories. I didn't even finish the whole book...

The Shell Collector

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Stories covering a wide variety of situations, carried off with impressive depth and technique. Compelling.

Very solid collection of short stories.

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

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. I don't normally read short story collections, but i tried this because I loved All the Light we Cannot see. I am glad I did.

What did you like best about this story?

Diversity of stories, although I was a bit taken aback at first when some character traits carry between stories, and between his other books, but keep reading. It is OK if many of them like the sea, or the creatures therein.

What does Hakeem Kae Kazim bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He did a good job.

Any additional comments?

In one of his stories a character, while, um, sinning, tangles his fishing line while moving his fishing pole. The author's description of the chaos caused by a small line/pole is wonderful. I fish, and I never thought of it that way. How can such a thing create such a mess? Infer larger life lessons...

Love All the Light We Cannot See, so tried this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved All the Light We Cannot See, but I ultimately was not invested in the characters in these short stories. The language is amazingly visual and did not disappoint. The narrator has a rich voice. I would recommend this book if you specifically like short stories.

I couldn’t make myself care about the characters

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews