12 h 48 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if escaping a hungry ship means entering a paradise you may not be able to leave?
In Herman Melville’s Typee: A Romance of the South Seas, Tommo and his shipmate Toby flee a whaling ship in the Marquesas Islands. They climb steep green slopes, lose their way and reach a hidden valley. The Typee people welcome them, but Tommo’s injured leg leaves him dependent on strangers whom outsiders fear as cannibals.
Tommo finds kindness, companionship and reasons to wonder at his own fears. Kory-Kory tends him with devotion, while Fayaway shares quiet hours on the lake. Yet care and confinement become hard to separate. Through this uneasy stay, Melville questions what European visitors, missionaries and trade bring to island life—and what they take away.
What you’ll discover
- Escape into uncertainty Follow Tommo and Toby from salt meat and hard biscuit into steep, unfamiliar mountains.
- A welcome with limits Feel Tommo’s uncertainty as generous care leaves him unsure whether he is guest or prisoner.
- Life beyond the ship Explore breadfruit meals, patterned tattoos and the customs that shape daily life in the valley.
- Companionship on the lake Join Tommo and Fayaway in a canoe, where closeness offers a pause from his fears.
- Civilization under question Consider Melville’s sharp challenge to the damage European and American visitors cause in the Pacific.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers who like sea stories, travel writing and early American fiction, and anyone curious about what Melville wrote before Moby-Dick. It may be less suited to those who want fast plotting, since long stretches describe customs and daily life.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A ship too long at sea
- Into the mountains without a map
- The valley opens its doors
- A hurt leg and a gentle captivity
- Daily life in a world without money
- Fayaway, taboo and the rules of the valley
- Tattoos, warriors and the fear of the feast
- What civilization costs the islands
- How the book is told and why it lasts
Who’s who
- TommoThe young narrator, a sailor who flees his whaling ship, falls ill in the mountains and lives among the Typees while longing for home.
- TobyTommo's cheerful shipmate, who shares the escape into the mountains and tries to find help for his friend's injured leg.
- Kory-KoryTommo's devoted servant in the valley, who feeds him, carries him and guards him with unfailing loyalty.
- FayawayA young woman of the valley, kind and graceful, who becomes Tommo's close companion and shows him the lake.
- MeheviThe dignified chief of the Typees, who welcomes the strangers and treats Tommo with respect.
- Mow-MowA fierce one-eyed warrior who seems to resent the stranger and watches him with suspicion.
- MarheyoKory-Kory's gentle father, an old man who loves collecting scraps of cloth and iron.
- KarkyA skilled tattoo artist who is determined to mark Tommo's face as a sign of belonging.
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 12 h 48 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Typee
by Herman Melville· 1846
A runaway sailor finds shelter but fears captivity among islanders.
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Language: Italiano
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 9
A ship too long at sea
The story opens aboard a whaling ship called the Dolly, which has sailed for six months without once touching land. The crew is tired, hungry for fresh food and sick of the salt meat and hard biscuit that make up their meals. Tommo, the narrator, dreams aloud of green fruit, fresh water and solid ground. Melville writes these early pages with humor and real longing, and the reader feels how small the ship has become.
The ship finally reaches Nuku Hiva, one of the Marquesas Islands, and anchors in a great bay. Tommo has little love for the captain, whom he sees as a tyrant who treats the men harshly and keeps them bound to a long voyage. The crew has signed on for a cruise with no end in sight. In Tommo's eyes, to stay on board is to waste his youth.
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The author
Herman Melville
1819–1891 · American novelist and poet
Herman Melville (1819–1891) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and poet. He was born and died in New York City and also lived in Massachusetts. He published Moby-Dick in 1851, Pierre in 1852, and The Confidence-Man in 1857. His unfinished Billy Budd was published after his death, in 1924.
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What is Typee about?
Typee tells of a sailor named Tommo who deserts a whaling ship in the Marquesas Islands and lives for weeks among the Typee people. He enjoys their welcome and fears they may be cannibals.
Is Typee based on a true story?
Partly. Melville deserted a whaler on Nuku Hiva in 1842 and spent time in the Typee valley. The book blends his real experience with invention and material from earlier travel writers, so it is fiction rooted in fact.
Who is Fayaway in Typee?
Fayaway is a young woman of the Typee valley who becomes Tommo's close companion. She takes him on the lake in a canoe, and her kindness gives the book some of its warmest scenes.
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