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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
Words can't tell you how much I loved this book, and I am ashamed it has taken me this long to read it, although that is probably a good thing. Melville's novel is layered...very, VERY layered. Want to know in-depth about various whales? It's there. Want to read luscious, visual, heart-wrenching prose? Moby Dick is absolutely covered in it, and is probably the most beautifully-worded novel I have ever read. Religion? Melville covers various aspects of several religions, mostly Christianity, and there are numerous references to Jonah (of course). History? Moby Dick is based on several different historical whales of massive size. Again- I could go on and on and STILL come nowhere near telling you how great this book is. I absolutely love it and am honestly glad I was able to wait and read it and appreciate it instead of having it "assigned" to me in a literary course. This is an adventure. An epic. An odyssey. It truly, without a doubt, is an absolute masterpiece and I cannot encourage you enough to read it.
As an English teacher, I promise never,ever to make a student read this bloody book!
It’s a great story they said. Awesome drama they said.
They lied.
Boring laxidasical meandering rambling.
Some interesting detail on whaleing practices in the late 19th century. But my god it goes on and on and on about detail about the taxonomy of whales as described to someone who described to Meldrum
They lied.
Boring laxidasical meandering rambling.
Some interesting detail on whaleing practices in the late 19th century. But my god it goes on and on and on about detail about the taxonomy of whales as described to someone who described to Meldrum
epic.
i admire most the collage-like progression of the chapters, some encyclopedic, some narrative, some like scenes from shakespeare, some like cutscenes in a video game.
assisted by the notes in the appendix, i enjoyed the reference to Melville’s evolution in the text. plot-holes, erroneous details, and incomplete characters reveal the tortuous and chaotic nature of the book’s writing.
while reading this book, i’ve reflected on the somewhat intangible characteristic of great art: idiosyncrasy. systematic plots have no heart, and certainly randomness is artless, but somewhere in between, with charming oddities and beautiful clumsiness, is where deep art is found.
i find too that Melville is a master of the nautical, wet clime of his prose. i feel, as in synesthesia, in some Didion or Pynchon novels, the arid dustiness of southern california; in Faulkner, the swampy and cloying humidity of the south. so too in Melville to i feel the dank, mossy darkness of the open ocean and the Pequod’s taverns. Melville employs humorously the salty language of the sea, like the demasting of Ahab.
I know that this is like “the great American novel” or whatever but it is such a fucking snooze. I’m convinced that people who say they genuinely enjoyed this are just lying, and so many people have done just that that now we’re forced to consider it a classic.
slow-paced
I enjoyed this book so much more than I ever imagined I would. Such beautiful prose! Here are a couple of examples:
"And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar."
"Were I the wind, I'd blow no more on such a wicked, miserable world. I'd crawl somewhere to a cave, and slink there. And yet, 'tis a noble and heroic thing, the wind! who ever conquered it? In every fight it has the last and bitterest blow."
I'd like to study this book in greater detail at some point, but it was well worth my time. I also wish Goodreads allowed half-star increments in their ratings, because I'd give this one 4.5.
"And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar."
"Were I the wind, I'd blow no more on such a wicked, miserable world. I'd crawl somewhere to a cave, and slink there. And yet, 'tis a noble and heroic thing, the wind! who ever conquered it? In every fight it has the last and bitterest blow."
I'd like to study this book in greater detail at some point, but it was well worth my time. I also wish Goodreads allowed half-star increments in their ratings, because I'd give this one 4.5.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
informative
tense
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
O how mighty we humans tend to think of ourselves, we restless, willful creatures with such hunger that are hard to be pacified!
Struggled through every fear, dissected even what we revered, all in the name of our thirsts! For them we’ve come so far that the great shroud of the sea is being largely unveiled—but never ever absolutely, and the ones who want to triumph over nature will find themselves in Ahab’s ending—for I believe there definitely exists a being like the white whale that is Moby Dick of the secret sea!
Melville distorted the fact that sperm whales are not the largest of all whales in order to bring more awe to Moby Dick, but his technique didn’t work with me. What he had refused to admit made his epic tale closer to a complete lie. Ishmael’s undeniable truth became hyperboles, and more than a few times this reduced my enjoyment of the entire book immensely.
Struggled through every fear, dissected even what we revered, all in the name of our thirsts! For them we’ve come so far that the great shroud of the sea is being largely unveiled—but never ever absolutely, and the ones who want to triumph over nature will find themselves in Ahab’s ending—for I believe there definitely exists a being like the white whale that is Moby Dick of the secret sea!
Melville distorted the fact that sperm whales are not the largest of all whales in order to bring more awe to Moby Dick, but his technique didn’t work with me. What he had refused to admit made his epic tale closer to a complete lie. Ishmael’s undeniable truth became hyperboles, and more than a few times this reduced my enjoyment of the entire book immensely.