Reviews tagging 'Death'

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

23 reviews

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, and Animal death

Moderate: Medical content, Cannibalism, Death, Slavery, and Alcohol

Minor: Antisemitism and Grief

voilajean's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Animal death

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Cannibalism, and Death

Minor: Antisemitism

tomtomonomtom's review against another edition

challenging dark funny informative tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Jfc. This book took me a year and one month to read (possibly due to my poor attention span and the onslaught of whale/maritime data that I have to make sense of) I ended up finishing the book instead of abandoning it out of pure spite. 

The first part (around ⅓) is interesting and Melville's humor is hilarious. The second part is dry and the plot moves slower than before, it's just pure whale facts– Melville basically bludgeons you into submission with an encyclopedia. The latter part of the book (thankfully), the action picks back up. 

Also, the prose can sometimes cause a headache or two so you may need to list down (and search) some of the maritime terms used to avoid future confusions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Racism, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Colonisation, and Cursing

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

ran_sophia's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.0

The author has put some nice ideas in the book, but he buried them under a pile of descriptive text, which did not have to be there in such quantities. The only positive thing was the great quality and elaboration of the audiobook I was listening to. I had to put that physical book away and it was unreadable. I finished a book, thanks of that audiobook. Overall, the book did not read me well and was sometimes lifeless and tedious to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Animal cruelty, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Alcohol

novelyon's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i can't believe the novel started with the "there is only one bed" trope and ended with ahab trying to attack and dethrone God

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, and Racism

Moderate: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Violence, and Cannibalism

Minor: Slavery

yrlaevelyn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative reflective

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Racial slurs, Blood, Cannibalism, Death, and Racism

seanml's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

In some circles this has been referred to as the greatest of American novels. I wanted to know the basis for this, because surely there must be some merit if it is still brought up today. What did I find? I found that Moby Dick is, in a way, two separate books. First, there is a book of whale anatomy. Our narrator Ishmael, being a member of the crew, has many things to say about the process and subject of the whaling industry. Dozens of chapters will go by that are more educational than narrative, and that is why the book is so vilified: This educational content is like 80% of the book. Or at least it feels that way. The second part of this book is the story of our ship, the Pequod, and Captain Ahab’s relentless search for the malicious white whale. And this, surprisingly, was everything it was said to be. The sea is described like the primordial all-encompassing force that it is, and Melville through Ishmael taps into the innate fear of such an alien place, making this book scarier than many books in the horror genre. And within this void is Moby Dick himself, who comes and goes like a cosmic horror of the great deep, presaged by strange omens and otherworldly harbingers. So I recommend the narrative portion of the book, despite it being the minority of the page count. So why might this be called the greatest American novel? There are two possibilities. One, it is, but this is unlikely. Or two, this book was written in the mid-1850s, and there were like two books back then, so it was either this or Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and this one is pretty cool. 8/10.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Racism, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Xenophobia, and Racial slurs

Minor: Alcohol, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Sexism, Slavery, and Cannibalism

lowpolylea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Cannibalism, Child death, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Grief, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts

call_me_ishmael's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book can be challenging but, boy, is it worth it. I recommend listening to an audiobook to help you get through. (Librivox has a great free recording done by Stewart Wills.) The style is very experimental and not a straight-forward adventure story. But even though it is dense, there is a lot of humor, wit, reflections on humanity, and lovable characters within. Herman Melville raises great philosophical questions about man, nature, and God. There is a reason this is considered the great American novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Death and Racism

msjenne's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, and Religious bigotry