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Loved the book, loved the performance

Revisado: 09-20-23

Whether you know about this historical event or not, you are in for an adventure. I've known (and read a little) about the Belgica, Gerlache, Amundsen, and Cook for years, but this is the first DETAILED account available in English, and the author does a wonderful job with an incredible story that, while primarily involving foreign expoits, rocked the world and eventually had dramatic consequences for English-speaking explorers at the turn of the 20th century. Most notably, this fleshes out a long-awaited presentation for everyone fascinated by a truly enigmatic American anti-hero, Dr. Frederick Cook and his relationship with Roald Amundsen. (Full disclosure: I despise what I know about Robert Peary and his megalomaniacal and destructive pursuit of fame. But this story doesn't concern Peary.) If you read this story, (which until now has been a footnote in the biography of Cook), take the time to explore more about Cook. One final comment. I have no idea what other reviewers found so objectionable about the narrator. The only nautical mispronunciation I noticed was BOE-sprit for bowsprit, and his use of the incorrect but almost universally used pronunciation of Peary as PAREee instead of PIERee. I thought the narrator did a five-star job. (Note he doesn't voice the characters because they were primarily speaking in foreign languages.) Anyway, three enthusiastic cheers for Julian Sancton's remarkable effort to bring this truly stunning story of man vs. nature to the English-speaking world.
P.S. One reviewer complained about an extremely short reference to climate change. Honestly, that was merely a very brief self-effacing comment by the author on the realization that by visiting Antarctica using modern transportation, he was contributing to the current unmistakable destruction of the south polar icecap.

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A bad version is better than no version at all.

Revisado: 02-24-23

Bryan Godwin does not know how to narrate. But at least he tried! Narrating this classic must have been incredibly difficult, and I thank him sincerely for doing it. But if you listen to it, you should be prepared for some major flaws. First of all, the entire book is read as if he's in a race to finish it. It is read with absolutely no pacing and at a breakneck speed. I discovered by setting my Audible app to play at 80% speed on my iPhone actually made it MUCH BETTER. Of course, that doesn't help with the total lack of pacing.

Audible used to have his Volume 1 of Mardi. Myself and several other listeners left it very negative reviews, and now Audible has taken it down, which is a real shame. A bad version of this wonderful book is better than no version at all! Another glaring fault is Mr. Godwin's total lack of understanding for how to pronounce many many English words. GUN-wail, FOREcastle, omniPOtent, archipelLAHgo. He pronounces Beatitude as if it were spelled BEEtitude, personage like perSOHnidge, frigate as FRIDGEit, Zoroaster as zorROASTer, Greenwich as GREENwich. Melville has fun with heteronyms. And the narrator has to be on his toes! Godwin pronounces "ranging" to rhyme with "hanging" when it should be RANGE-ing. He pronounces tier as TEER when the context uses TIE-er. There are many many many other examples. I actually made it into a little game, listening for these boners as they came over the spoken text. Finally, there is not even the slightest attempt to voice the characters. Not that that would have been easy! It wouldn't have been.

So please, Audible, just because of my criticisms, it doesn't mean I regret listening to this book. I never would have read this visually, so an audible version, even one that is this bad, is to be appreciated. To Mr. Godwin -- thank you sir for attempting this book. It must have been extremely difficult. Frankly I don't know how you managed, given the trickiness and verbosity of Melville's writings, to read it so quickly with nary a stumble throughout. In spite of its considerable flaws, your work, sir, is nevertheless a tour de force and I thank you for it.

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Read too quickly. Outrageous pronunciation.

Revisado: 09-07-20

Since this is the only rendition we have of this book (not to mention the complete lack of Volume II), one hesitates to criticize. I applaud any one who tackles Melville. But to have a complete lack of knowledge of the pronunciation of nautical terms, like gunwale, forecastle, or even a common word, like basin (this narrator repeatedly pronounces this word (BASS-in)) means your listener will be jolted from your narration.

Secondly, this book is read way way too fast. The entire book (or half-book) is read at one speed: in a hurry. It is like the reader has no clue as to or no feeling for what he is actually reading.

One thing I should say in favor of the narrator and that is he is able to read very quickly and not stumble over the words. He may pronounce some words (there are dozens of examples) incorrectly but he reads (way too quickly) in an extremely distinct and clear voice.

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Poor pacing. Jarring pronunciation.

Revisado: 09-07-20

Please, anybody who considers narrating this genius' work -- learn how to pronounce the sailing terms therein. That a story from Melville needs to interrupted with "forecastle" or "TrafahlGAR" or "tarry" (rhymes with Mary) when it should be "tarry" (rhymes with sorry) [to give 3 of dozens of examples]. To read Melville and have no appreciation for nautical terms (like pronouncing "gunwale" incorrectly) or, for example, his fiddling with heteronyms (tarry/tarry is not the only one found in HMs work). Plus, this narration is completely devoid of any pacing. Every sentence, if it contains 2 clauses, is read in two explosions: first clause; pause; second clause.) There is practically no attempt to give any pacing -- almost as if the narrator isn't really paying attention to what he is reading (and the Melville narrators are exclusively male). Finally, and really this is more forgivable, there is no attempt to voice the characters when Melville uses direct discourse. This is not the only klunker in Audible's Melville listing. See my review of Mardi.

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See previous review of this book by me

Revisado: 06-18-03

I forgot something. I know some may feel my review is just nit picking, but as this book relates, mathematics is poetry. If it's read incorrectly it just simply spoils it, in an important way. Especially when the author mispronounces the MAIN CHARACTER's historical name. Well, I forgot something. The MAIN POINT of this book is something called aleph null. That's written as the hebrew letter with a "0" subscript. But the author pronounces this "aleph zero" about 200 times. That's just unforgiveably slopppy, to not know the proper way to describe the central point of the book you're paid to read.

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esto le resultó útil a 31 personas