Billy Budd (Abridged) Audiobook

" The edition I read was 99 pages. The longest 99 pages of my life. Should have been about 89 pages shorter. Ugh. "

" this makes me want to vapor in the groggeries along the towpath... whatever that means. yay melville! "

" Read in my "Jurisprudence and the Law" class with Professor Powers at UT Law. "

" As much as I love reading classics, I kind of hated this one. It was so confusing and hard to understand :( At least I got a 100% on my Literary Analysis Paper! "

" I read this as part of a Humanities course on Law and Language. I do not remember being particularly blown away; was happier reading Cabeza de Vaca. "

" Why didn't I love this enough! What did I do wrong! Herman . . . I am sorry. Maybe I will read it again sometime. "

" The only people I would recommend this book to are those who wish to sample Melville's writing without having to commit to wading through Moby Dick. Amazing how the man could take a relatively simple plot that would occupy a few pages and stretch it to novella length. "

" This book opened my eyes in high school. It made methaphor tangible. "

" I had a boyfriend who was the lead character in a college play...I think I could have recited lines from this in my sleep. I attended a preposterous amount of rehearsals and performances...and I don't think the play (as it was performed) was all that great at the time but hard to tell, I was too deeply in like... "

" Listened to this on the way to Hilton Head for fall break, 2007. Exciting story. "

" The worst punishment I could imagine my hell to be is reading this book. "

" I thought this was hard to read but very interesting writing style! "

" as metaphor and as captivating story, this one is nonpareil as far as i am concerned! can i give it 7 stars? i would if i could. it is a timeless and extraordinarily accurate portrayal of the scapegoat (and mimetic) mechanism in human culture. deargoodness. this work is perfect AND priceless. "

" i think it is my all time favorite melville piece. have read it many times "

" I like the Christ metaphor, but I found this one dry and hard to read. I had to force myself to get it read. "

" Honestly, I had to read this book for my freshman year and I honestly did not like it. Excuse my youthful opinion, but I didn't like the ending, the characters.. It's just not my thing. "

" I had to rate this just three stars. Melville's language, although clear and distinct, is just so overdone. I used to think this was just an affectation of his times...but, having more recently read other authors of the era...or slightly afterwards...I realize that isn't necessarily so. "

" Herman Melville's last book which he never published. It was written in the year of his death [1891], fifteen years following his previous novel and forty years after Moby Dick. It was not published until the 1920's. It is a morality play reminding me in that way of Hamlet. It was one of those efforts that every literature professor alive would ask his students to do a discourse on what Melville was really trying to say. You must forgive them, however, because back then they didn't have 24 hour television and Wikipedia to tell them. "

" Let me preface this by saying I had to read it for class last week, so it started out at a disadvantage. It was ok, but nothing special. The plot seemed secondary to Melville's digressions, which while not completely without merit, always worry me in a work so short. That aside, the plot was not terribly interesting and, except for the pivotal scene, predictable. I'm also angry that I had to read it for class, and we only discussed it for 20 minutes. "

" Okay, Melville really can be painful, but he's practically obligatory in AP, so we got through this novella that's anything but a quick read. However, the story of the Christ-like Billy Budd makes you think critically about issues of the law & justice. (We put him on trial in class!) "

" I really enjoyed this famous tragic short story. Not for the light reader. Take your time and keep your dictionary close at hand for a brilliant story about the forces of good and evil. "

" Call me crazy, but I still don't see where this is a "gay book". "

" I just can't warm to anything by Melville, it seems -- with the only possible exception if Bartleby. "

" this makes me want to vapor in the groggeries along the towpath... whatever that means. yay melville! "

" A sad, beautiful story. Some are just too good to live "

" I had to rate this just three stars. Melville's language, although clear and distinct, is just so overdone. I used to think this was just an affectation of his times...but, having more recently read other authors of the era...or slightly afterwards...I realize that isn't necessarily so. "

" School assignment when I was in middle school. HATED IT! "

" Read this in freshman English and hated it. According to my essay, Melville was apparently good at characterization, but all I remember is his wordy writing and his casting Billy as a Christ-like figure. I've never read any other Melville. "

" why does so much 'great' literature suck? "

" I just started this book. I have to read it for Honors English Class. I can't really make a judgement about it right now, but I soon will. "

" I laughed when there was a heated discussion in one episode of The Sopranos about this book. Not one of my favorites, but not terrible, either. "

" There is so much to this short work that I could go on for days talking about it. Great story, characters, symbolism, theme, etc. One of the best I have ever used in the classroom. "

" It's an adventure story about a sailor and his bad fortune in a long work journey and a lot of nice story which make you don't move until finish at least one chapter even. "

" Haven't I said it already? Melville and I? Not friends. Sorry, dude. "

" I was bored out of my mind reading this book. I haven't read Moby Dick yet and after reading this, I have my doubts about even starting it. "

" This is not as compelling a sea tale as that of Moby Dick, but it is thought provoking and a sad tale of naivety, innocence, hatred, anger, frustration and more. A classic. "

" I had to read this book twice: once for honors English and once for Political Science. Hated it both times. Therefore, I was made president of The Billy Budd Society (BBS) at ETSU, which required that all members must never have read Billy Budd or have hated it if they did. "

" Can I give a book negative stars?? "

" Tragic short story that actually took me a really long time to get through. What else was I to expect from Herman? "

" a tough read but rewarding "

" There is so much to this short work that I could go on for days talking about it. Great story, characters, symbolism, theme, etc. One of the best I have ever used in the classroom. "

" From what I understand, this novella grew out of a footnote Melville provided for a poem, which appears at the end of the story. I'm actually quite partial to the poem more than the book. "

" It's an adventure story about a sailor and his bad fortune in a long work journey and a lot of nice story which make you don't move until finish at least one chapter even. "

" I have a serious issue with any book that has a chapter called: "A Digression." "

" One of my all time favorite novellas. I read this at least once a year. "

" A certain trait of his was excessively talked about wasting many chapters. Whole anecdotes that were not understandstandable. The only reason I finished it was because I was forced. "

" Good vs. Evil plain and simple. My prep school drama club did this one. Good job too. No, I was not in that club. Just the audience. Date read is a guess. "

" So you wonder why Billy Budd is so blunt and unsubtle in its symbolism? Simple: it's supposed to be a parable. "

" before this Am Lit class, I hadn't read this text. once I assigned--and began hearing complaints from students about how hard it was--I doubted my intentions. but as I read it yesterday, chuckling as I did, I knew it was a good choice. I really do like Melville and this seems quintessential him. "

" I liked how the novella mixed an essay style with fiction. While it was a bit difficult at times, I found that I learned a lot from reading it. Especially about life on the ship and how a mutiny can be seen as a battle. "

" Emily was right. Booooo Billy Budd booooo "

" WTF did I just read. No clue what happened. Thank god the last chapter had a quick sum up of events. "

" Wish I could've given it a 3.5 "

" Interesting Insites into navel history. library book sale. "

" Reading Project Gutenberg, and too lazy to create a new book to prove it. "

" This book was left uncompleted at the time of Melville's death. It is not in the same league as Moby Dick. Melville was not particularly successful as a writer, and this book tends to show that. Perhaps he only had one truly great book in him. "