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2.85 AVERAGE
2.85 AVERAGE
challenging
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Herman Melville is the Perd Hapley of classic literature.
Hmmm, it’s a classic, but I don’t think it’s a timeless classic. Some pretty smart people have called it a masterpiece, but I must be missing something.
Billy is a beautiful man. Would his shipmates have really described him that way? I’m pretty sure that sailors have always enjoyed some covert, below deck action, but I thought the sailors of Melville’s day had a terror of ever acknowledging anything like that. Maybe it was a less homophobic time? I have read some articles saying that same-sex friendships have changed a lot since the pre-industrial world.
The Christ analogy is a little too strong. Billy is good and kind, beautiful and clever (but in a guileless, non-threatening way), friendly but dignified, and obedient to authority. That nasty Jimmy Legs just can’t leave him be. Why? What good reason does Jimmy have to bring him down? Is it that he’s too perfect?
The killer punch is also a little too clean. Billy couldn’t stab Jimmy, that would be too messy and would sully the image Melville wants to create, but a single punch that kills the hardened Jimmy Legs is a bit much.
After reading this I was surprised that it gets so much good press. It seems like it is trying way too hard to be great to actually be considered great. I think its more like 2.5 stars, but I'm feeling charitable.
Billy is a beautiful man. Would his shipmates have really described him that way? I’m pretty sure that sailors have always enjoyed some covert, below deck action, but I thought the sailors of Melville’s day had a terror of ever acknowledging anything like that. Maybe it was a less homophobic time? I have read some articles saying that same-sex friendships have changed a lot since the pre-industrial world.
The Christ analogy is a little too strong. Billy is good and kind, beautiful and clever (but in a guileless, non-threatening way), friendly but dignified, and obedient to authority. That nasty Jimmy Legs just can’t leave him be. Why? What good reason does Jimmy have to bring him down? Is it that he’s too perfect?
The killer punch is also a little too clean. Billy couldn’t stab Jimmy, that would be too messy and would sully the image Melville wants to create, but a single punch that kills the hardened Jimmy Legs is a bit much.
After reading this I was surprised that it gets so much good press. It seems like it is trying way too hard to be great to actually be considered great. I think its more like 2.5 stars, but I'm feeling charitable.
herman if you really wanted to fuck nathaniel hawthorne so bad you could have written 180k word smut about him instead of this bullshit.
dark
sad
fast-paced
three stars feels harsh but I had to read this SO carefully and the “truth uncompromisingly told” was definitely “ragged at its edges”. I think Moby Dick was more my taste than this, sadly
challenging
dark
fast-paced
Read this slowly, at a chapter a day, and it made a positive difference, along with other recent Melville reading, and outstanding reading company. My high school memory was chiefly frustration at passive Billy. Now I see the clear set up for inevitability: it could go no other way. Also in high school, I only had a rudimentary sense of unreliable narrators. Anyway, highly recommended!
The story was straightforward, but the writing was a little cumbersome for me. Sometimes the underlying reasons for descriptions of certain things were hard to understand. The characters are simple in their vices and virtues that set the course for future events. The story is full of jealousy, politics, and following the law reaching up to the climax. If only Billy Budd had controlled his burst of emotions with actions! An important lesson to keep in mind, for sure.
I loved a couple of paragraphs that were beautiful that stopped me in the tracks.
I loved a couple of paragraphs that were beautiful that stopped me in the tracks.
"Well, though many an arraigned mortal has in hopes of mitigated penalty pleaded guilty to horrible actions, did ever anybody seriously confess to envy? Something there is in it universally felt to be more shameful than even felonious crime. And not only does everybody disown it, but the better sort are inclined to incredulity when it is in earnest imputed to an intelligent man. But since its lodgement is in the heart not the brain, no degree of intellect supplies a guarantee against it."
"Forty years after a battle it is easy for a non-combatant to reason about how it ought to have been fought. It is another thing personally and under fire to direct the fighting while involved in the obscuring smoke of it. Much so with respect to other emergencies involving considerations both practical and moral, and when it is imperative promptly to act. The greater the fog the more it imperils the steamer, and speed is put on tho' at the hazard of running somebody down. Little ween the snug card-players in the cabin of the responsibilities of the sleepless man on the bridge."
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An exploration of diverse characters and a moral quandary on an 18th century warship. All told in beautiful English prose.
Definitely one of the great classics. Had no idea that Melville wasn’t able to finish it before his death. Such a thought provoking story. Is it more important to follow the letter of the law or to take into account all mitigating circumstances. Don’t miss this short but classic read.