
Two Years Before the Mast
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Narrated by:
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Jim Killavey
About this listen
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Editorial reviews
This is a classic account of life at sea in the 1830s, written by a Harvard dropout determined to set sail and experience the "real world". Author Richard Henry Dana said his goal with the book was to "to present the life of a common sailor at sea as he really is - the light and the dark together." Performer Jim Killavey's deep voice and Yankee accent is a great match for these vivid stories, which don't shy away from the many cruelties and hardships experienced by sailors. While this is an older recording that lacks the precise sound quality of newer works, sailors and those who wish they were will appreciate its salt-drenched charm.
Critic reviews
"Possesses...the romantic charm of Robinson Crusoe." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Dana's later, distinguished career as a maritime lawyer came through in his scholarly prose and I came to enjoy his writing style. Why did the Harvard educated son of a prominent Boston family ship out as a common sailor? His book answers this question and hints of his later advocacy for the oppressed and as a foremost abolitionist.
Dana's "Before the Mast" is a vivid account of life aboard a merchant ship from a deckhand's perspective. His descriptions of sail and rigging handling get a bit technical but he does it so well that even I, a landlubber, generally understood the varied and often dangerous tasks of a seaman. And I could see Mexican California as Dana described it.
The narrator, Jim Killavey, did a superb job of conveying Dana's brilliant grasp of events and sensitivity to the human condition. This book is truly a classic.
Sailing to Mexican California
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meh
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Essential California history and vivid story
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Timeless yarn
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great yarn
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boring
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Spectacular book
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The book is full of nautical jargon, to the extent that a non-sailing person will at times be lost trying to keep up. And the story loses a lot of interest as a result of all the jargon...I wish the author had focused more on the human interest aspect of the voyage, because when he did, he wrote an interesting narrative. But then he was back to talking jargon again...and I finished only half the book.
High on nautical jargon
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Boring text, worse reader
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Would you try another book from Richard Henry Dana and/or Jim Killavey?
Dana was one of my favorite authors in the Harvard Classics or Five Foot Book Shelf and will remain so. Listening to this narrator is like listening to pigs playing Mozart, and be payed to do so.What did you like best about this story?
The authors descriptive narration is dragged down by the reader.How did the narrator detract from the book?
From page one or was it simply his first mono tonal attempt at ruining a literary classic.Was Two Years Before the Mast worth the listening time?
NOAny additional comments?
I have noted the narrator as one to never listen to again and I will delete the purchased book, it is to bad that someone such as Marsters or Brick could not have narrated the book I would buy it againUnexpected disorder
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