Reviews

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

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alekei's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

1.0

mlcf's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.0

kpeeps111's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

Take everything you think you know about Moby Dick and throw it in the trash. This book is 25% whaling buddy comedy, 25% futile quest for vengeance (the most boring part), and 50% GLORIOUS WHALE FACTS. This book is fantastically unhinged. Ishmael is incredible. Three quarters of the way through its casually revealed our dreamy sailor scholar king is covered in tattoos of whale dimensions. He didn’t have a pen and paper. My favorite part is probably where he ranks whales and insists they are definitely fish and not mammals just because it feels right to him. Incredible, hilarious, magnificent, beautifully written. There is so much to mine, and this isn’t even touching the societal themes. Brilliant.

“So ignorant are most landsmen of some of the plainest and most palpable wonders of the world, that without some hints touching the plain facts, historical and otherwise, of the fishery, they might scout at Moby Dick as a monstrous fable, or still worse and more detestable, a hideous and intolerable allegory.”

zbmorgan's review against another edition

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4.0

While I would have not enjoyed this in high school, it was a fabulous read as an adult. Melville has a way of writing prose that is enjoyable, characters who are lively, entertaining, and different from each other, and tossing in the ocassional sentence that is so profound that you have to stop and read it twice, close the book, and contemplate.
This book is not usually presented for what it is - a 500 page non-fiction book about whaling, and a 150 page great sea-going tale, woven together, with most of the nonfiction at the front and, let's be honest, most of the ripping sea adventure at the tail end. They are both excellent, but I think the dissapointment some feel in this work is because they are expecting something else.
If nothing else, you will be left both understanding how toxic a grudge can be to you and all those around you, and being profoundly grateful we no longer use whale products for every day life.

bookishbucketlist1992's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

jekaluleka's review against another edition

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1.0

This book took me a year and a half to read because I hated it so much. We get it, Herman, you know shit about whales! Here I was trying to read a book about the American dream or whatever and instead I got like 500 pages of whale anatomy.