Typhoon, with eBook

This classic sea yarn of 1903, in which a fairly stupid captain somehow pilots his steamer through a horrendous storm, is remarkable for its evocation of life aboard ship, its quirky eloquence, and its psychological insight. None of these qualities pertain to narrator Brick's reading. He is "phoning it in" here, an unusual defect in this usually excellent young reader. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

Of the three kings of sea yarns--Melville, London and Conrad--the latter surely possessed the greatest eloquence. All could create excitement, draw memorable characters and find the depths of human experience in the depths of the ocean. For sheer beauty of language, for the liveliest and most original expressions, Conrad reigns as first among equals. His early novella, TYPHOON, in which a British steamer battles a hurricane in the South China seas, exemplifies these virtues in spades. So does the narration of British actor Roger Allam. He retains the author's mellifluousness even when he fails to make good on his superb beginning and loses the thread of the narrative. In addition, his characterizations are particularly vivid. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine