Alison Larkin Presents: Moby Dick and Two Poems by Herman Melville

De: Herman Melville

Narrado por: Jonathan Epstein

Melville’s epic tale of one man versus a great white whale will delight Melville devotees as well as those who have yet to sail on this adventure in this mesmerizing new recording read by Jonathan Epstein.

The mountain whose whale-like shape first gave Melville the idea of writing Moby Dick rests in the Berkshire Hills, Massachusetts, a short drive away from The Alison Larkin Presents recording studio. “I’d been longing to produce Moby Dick ever since I moved to Westeern Massachusetts,” says producer Alison Larkin, “but I wanted to wait to find the perfect actor first. Then, I found Jonathan Epstein.”

At the end of the recording, Larkin interviews Jonathan Epstein and recording engineer Galen Wade about the experience recording the great novel.

Jonathan Epstein is an acclaimed actor who has performed on and off Broadway, in London’s West End, and with the world-renowned Shakespeare & Company. Epstein is the two-time recipient of Boston’s coveted Elliot Norton Award.

Public Domain (P)2021 Alison Larkin Presents

Perfection.

Absolute perfection. Everything from the story to the performance to the production is complete and utter perfection.

A Classic

An exceptional Narration and of course what a story! We’re fortunate to have both at the same time.

Shakespearean actors should read us all classics

I loved this story and the reading of it. I sometimes, like to do a combination of listening and reading a book. This is a great candidate for that because the chapters are so short. When I was reading vs listening, I heard Johnathan Epstein's voice in my head. I'm so thankful for this production and look forward to more Alison Larkin productions.

Amazing performance

Hypnotic. Epstein and Melville are genius. Loved this title. Highly recommend. Gets Melville’s humor spot on.

Outstanding Performance by Mr. Epstein!

In this thoughtful and impassioned performance you will experience Moby Dick as a play. Jonathan Epstein masterfully gives unique vocal accent and distinction to each character. The beauty and intricacy of the language is expressed in every chapter and I savored each one. This performance allows one to experience the epic Moby Dick in a very human and moving way. It is not too dramatic to say that this is a life-altering book.

Magnificent!

Having at 18 pained my way through the assignment of reading what I then took to be a much too long book laboriously detailing more than anyone could ever want to know about whales and whaling I was made curious at age 85 to see what could could have made this damned leviathan of a book one of the best audio interpretations of the year. What was there that even one of our best Shakespearean actors could make worth listening to for 24 hours.
Suffice it to say that at the end I joined the audio engineer who admitted in an Afterword interview to have broken down in tears and sobbing on the night before recording this great interpreter’s reading of the last chapter. No kidding.

Now I know where Kahn gets his lines from

...to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. I'll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames before I give him up. Amazing!

Absolutely outstanding

I listened to this superb audiobook on a long car journey between Georgia and Boston and back again. What an experience! I have come to expect outstanding quality from Alison Larkin Presents productions and this exceeded even my high expectations.

The infamous story has been brought to life by a narrator at the top of his game. Jonathan Epstein's performance has you entranced from the very beginning. My teenage daughter loved it every bit as much as I did.

I found the interview at the end between the producer Alison Larkin and the narrator and the engineer so very interesting. They recorded it during the pandemic and the story about Epstein driving up to Melville territory to record this was fascinating. It was also very interesting to hear from a recording engineer how deeply he was affected by the experience. If I could give this one more than five stars, I surely would.

The Narrator

The Narrator, Mr Epstein, made Moby Dick so accessible for me. I am taking a class on the American Renaissance and this recording was invaluable for my understanding of the work and its timelessness.
Thank you.

Masterful

Jonathan Epstein does an absolutely brilliant job with this book. His accents and dialects are spot on, but most importantly, he clearly understands what Melville was writing and why. The greatness of Melville's work comes through in how engaging the narration is. Melville is tackling the most deep and mysterious themes of human nature. In order to do this, he writes a story that includes keen, scientific observations of the details of the world and of life. Melville's way of dancing back and forth from the action of the story to scientific descriptions of whaling and then back to musing on human nature needs a Shakespearean actor to bring out the breadth of the subject. This production has found that narrator who reads the American Shakespeare in a hugely engaging way. I could not have loved this production more