Billy Budd, Sailor

Published more than thirty years after Herman Melville's death, this unfinished novel tells the tragic story of Billy Budd, a sailor pressed into service on the HMS INDOMITABLE, a British frigate. Although popular with his shipmates, Budd incurs the wrath of Master-at-Arms John Claggart, a situation that builds up to a deadly confrontation. Many of Melville's unpolished passages read like philosophical ruminations rather than dramatic narrative. William Roberts uses this to his advantage, narrating with the persuasive tone of a debater. His reading will leave listeners pondering Budd's situation even after the novel is finished. The musical excerpts seem superfluous in the early chapters but underscore the drama later as Budd's situation becomes clearer. J.A.S. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

[Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with DEAD AIR and THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE.]--American religious organizations have long embraced radio drama as a vehicle for their messages. Now comes Focus on the Family, syndicating a variety of plays to religious stations on the low end of the FM dial, and now offering them on CD. Produced overseas, these are professional handsome offerings, with didacticism nearly invisible. Father Gilbert, a Scotland Yard detective turned Anglican minister, fights crime like any other shamus, only his perpetrators lurk in the bowels of hell. In DEAD AIR, while appearing on a "chat show," Gilbert receives a chilling phone call that appears connected to a set of murders. It turns out that he is the intended victim, his soul coveted by demons. It's a bit like PBS's "Mystery" series with a soupon of FAUST. THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE and BILLY BUDD are faithful and endearing versions of C.S. Lewis and Melville, respectively. The former, first published in 1950, derives from Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, a series of sophisticated children's allegorical fantasies set in the mythical kingdom of Narnia. The author was a scholar as well as a writer and religious apologist. The latter presents the often dramatized allegory of good, evil, and self-sacrifice on the high seas of human destiny. Y.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2003 Audie Award Finalist (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine