Cup of Gold: A Life of Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, with Occasional Reference to History - John Steinbeck Audiobook

Written by John Steinbeck
Read by Ronan Vibert
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
Release date: 05-12-15
Publisher: Penguin Audio

From the mid-1650s through the 1660s, Henry Morgan, a pirate and outlaw of legendary viciousness, ruled the Spanish Main. He ravaged the coasts of Cuba and America, striking terror wherever he went. Morgan was obsessive. He had two driving ambitions: to possess the beautiful woman called La Santa Roja and to conquer Panama, the “cup of gold”.

Steinbeck’s first novel (1929) and sole work of historical fiction, Cup of Gold is a lush, lyrical swashbuckling pirate fantasy, and sure to add new dimensions to listeners’ perceptions of this all-American writer.

Critic Reviews—-”Narrator Ronan Vibert’s bravura performance enhances the poetry and romance of Steinbeck’s first book…. He imbues the dialogue with quiet, intense emotion but stays appropriate to the characters and their situations. This restrained passion adds energy and color to the text, and draws the listener in…. Vibert does this minor work in the Steinbeck canon proud, turning the book into a play performed in the intimacy of the listener’s mind.” (AudioFile)

Another—–Although quite different from Steinbeck’s later, better, work, it shows hints of what would come to characterize his fiction: a strong sense of the natural environment and compassion for human frailty.

Like most of Steinbeck’s novels, this work has a moral. It’s not a particularly subtle moral: essentially a variation on “be careful what you wish for”. The manner in which the moral plays itself out is a little tedious, the last quarter of the work is disappointing and the ending is odd. These are definite weaknesses, but it is a first novel after all.