Lord Jim (AmazonClassics Edition)

By: Joseph Conrad

Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell

When Jim, a young merchant seaman, joins a ship carrying Muslims to Mecca, he's flush with heroic daydreams. But after only a few days aboard, the Patna hits something in the night and begins to take on water. In a crucial moment that tests his courage, Jim cowers and abandons ship rather than risk his life to save the pilgrims. Tried for shameful dereliction of duty, the guilt-ridden Englishman sets forth to make amends for his past in the remote territory of Patusan.

As the curious Captain Marlow now attempts to understand Jim's history through various fractured narratives, Jim becomes defined by the memories of others - some true, some invented, and all inescapable.

Upending the expectations of nautical fiction, Joseph Conrad created a profound exploration of one’s perception of self, of time as both healing and destructive, and of trying to know the unknowable.

AmazonClassics brings you timeless works from the masters of storytelling. Ideal for anyone who wants to listen to a great work for the first time or rediscover an old favorite, these new editions open the door to literature's most unforgettable characters and beloved worlds.

Revised edition: Previously published as Lord Jim, this edition of Lord Jim (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.

Public Domain (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved

Not for everybody, but fantastic for some

The performance is top-notch and really holds this long and meandering novel together. I read Lord Jim ("read" it--did I finish it? was I able to understand it?) in high school, about 30 years ago, and vaguely remember it seemed worth returning to some day, because I didn't know what the heck was going on so much of the time, but felt like at the core of the novel was something significant. Having re-read Heart of Darkness a few times over the decades, I know that my appreciation for Conrad has the potential to grow. (Honestly, I find he's hit or miss, even then, though.)

Well, Lord Jim goes on for hours without spitting out what the thing at the heart of the novel even is. It dances around it, frustratingly if it's your first time. Even I, knowing where this was heading, found myself saying out loud in the car many times: "Just say what you're talking about!" But if you know what the central defining event is--from reading it before, or hearing about it or something, which I actually recommend in this case--then it's not a big problem. It's delicious, actually, in the exploration of character and psychology and fragmentary knowledge and the impossibility of full knowledge (its main theme), reminiscent of The Brothers Karamazov, I'd say--only without the mystery lingering for so many hundreds of pages. Lord Jim spits out what is going on after a little while, and then the whole rest of the novel is a nice development from the precipitating fact. It's not as meandering as a Melville novel, though the comparison to Dostoyevsky and Melville is not gratuitous.

I would never ever assign this to high school students. Tomorrow is my 48th birthday and I have a PhD from Yale in French Literature, and I still think it's criminal to make a 17-year-old read this book. But for a seasoned and savvy reader with some appreciation of Conrad already, this is one of the greats in my opinion. Maybe not to read three or four times--but it's unforgettable and has some truly quotable moments that astound in their ingenious prose and depth of perception.

Brilliant Storytelling

Conrad is a genius at storytelling, and in Lord Jim there are stories within stories. This is also very much a psychological novel. Conrad’s language is brilliantly
descriptive. The narrator, Chris MacDonnell, is perfect for the role of the story’s narrator because he really sounds like a veteran seafarer might sound. All around great story and narration.

A fascinating character study, also an adventure

"Lord Jim" is a fascinating character study. I just finished listening to Conrad's "Shadow Line," in which the hero is a wholesome, intelligent, but simple character in a wholesome, well-written story; while "Lord" Jim is his peculiar, self-absorbed, navel-gazing, neurotic opposite. The contrast between the two is delightful in itself. English professors might take issue with me here, but I thought Jim's friend, the narrator of the story (I mean within the story, not the reader for Audible) went on much too long and was too absorbed in -- almost obsessed with -- "Lord" Jim. It got a little old in that respect. But the story was interesting, over all; and the other characters, mostly minor (certainly minor in Jim's eyes) were also interesting and sympathetic. A book I've wanted to read for years but never got around to reading (too much to do all the time, which is why audio works for me) -- well worth it, I'd say.

An uncomfortable but necessary examination

expect no adventure, though the elements are there. Moreover be shown a window of reality crashing into expectations. A mirror to who we think we are against who we really are.

Another great Conrad.

Well worth the time and effort. Belongs with the other great novels of early modern times.